This past Sunday, at the International Chabad Rabbinical Conference in New York, I had the honor of hearing an incredible talk by my colleague Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff, who is a deaf Rabbi.
He spoke about his incredible journey and the challenges he went through since his childhood and of the rejection he received along the way and how he was told he just wasn't going to make it in life. He then described the warm embrace he felt from every Chabad Center he visited even though he didn't understand one word they said. He described how this led him to a journey to embrace who he was and the challenges that he faces and to use them to change the world and reach people that no one else is reaching.
He now runs the Chushim center which he launched in Israel that serves the 15,000 deaf Israelis and does incredible programming, classes and life cycle events for those who don't always have an easy time being included.
I highly recommend watching his story along with the story of the doctor in the same link over here.
Another powerful moment was when we had a collective condolence hookup to the family of Rabbi Zvi Kogan who was just murdered in Dubai, after hearing from two of the Chabad Rabbi's from Dubai who shared their thoughts and sentiments.
I had the honor of meeting and hearing Rabbis and community leaders from literally all over the world, including Israel, Dubai, across the USA, Israel, South America, Europe and so many other countries.
Hearing from my colleagues in Ukraine and Russia about their experiences along with so many others from Israel about their challenges, was mind blowing and tomorrow at Chabad at the Kiddush and during the service, I plan on sharing some of the very powerful anecdotes that I heard.
I had so many random conversations with people from Israel, Ukraine, South America and so many other places. Two examples inlcude speaking to someone who relocated with his family to a small city in Kazakhstan to strengthen Judaism for the small community of a few hundred Jews in his city and surrounding villages, or speaking to a colleague whose house was blown up on the border of Lebanon, yet continues to serve his community in so many ways.
Meeting US Congressman Rep. Ritchie Torres and being able to thank him for being such an incredibly strong voice on behalf of the Jewish people and Israel, was something I was grateful I got to do.
This week's portion which describes Jacob's journey in leaving Israel and going to Charan and then facing a huge amount of challenges, yet at the same time succeeding in raising a family and having a very positive impact on his surroundings, encapsulates so much of our mission and purpose in this world. The job isn't always easy, challenges and moments of pain are sometimes in abundance, yet the goal of creating something better and more beautiful and bringing out the inherent good of this world, is something we continue to strive towards and know that we will ultimately succeed with.
With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos to all!
Am Yisrael Chai!
Yisroel
P.S Please see below some of our upcoming Chanukah Programs and more, and kindly note that our annual Matching Fundraiser will be launching on Monday Dec 16th.