On some days the new out of Israel can make you numb with pain.....
When twenty one young soldiers who were dads, sons and siblings, were killed in in Gaza in one day, what else could one even think about....
Each life was another world cut short, leaving so many loved ones grieving behind...
The Dreyfus Blood Libel charges are being repeated all over again, except for this time, it is the Hague at the World Court....
Sometimes it feels how is this going to end, we are being impacted and attacked on every front...
Thousands of years ago, the Jewish people faced a terrible dilemma as they escaped Egypt only to be ambushed and trapped several days later, with nowhere to run and hide. The roaring ocean was to their backs, the mighty Egyptian army was in front of them, and huge steep cliffs lay to their right and left. Indeed all seemed lost, and it finally seemed like it was the end of the road...
The Midrash tells us, that in those dramatic moments the Jews debated and split in to four schools of thought. One group advocated mass suicide, another group advocated praying to G-d, while another advocated complete surrender and finally, the last group advocated fighting to the death.
In those scary moments, G-d uttered a single sentence to Moses, that changed the course of history, "Speak to the Jewish people, and they shall travel forward" and as Moses tells this to the people, he tells them, now is not the time for prayer, panic, surrender, or even to go down fighting, for G-d will fight this one out, and your job is to move forward.
Moments later as they move forward, the sea splits and the rest is history....
Indeed this is not a story from the history books, it is a message for life today.
At times in our personal world, or our collective world, we feel stuck, trapped, surrounded on all sides, no hope left, and how can one have faith anymore. Yet then, we are reminded of these words "Daber El Benei Yisroel, Vayisaoo", "speak to the children of Israel, and they shall march forward".
As tough as it is out there, we are reminded of this timeless call, that even when the going gets tough and really tough, we must stick to our mission and march on through the mud and the darkness, with joy, a positive mindset, and with the unbreakable knowledge, that no matter what, we will G-d willing overcome every challenge that stands in our way, as we have done time and again throughout history.
Morale, faith and hope, and a positive mindset are perhaps the most powerful ingredients of success in overcoming challenges of every kind.
This sea too shall part.... we must keep up the march!
Yisroel
MARCHING ON IN SUDBURY!
P.S The March carried on this week at Chabad of Sudbury with lots of amazing fun and meaningful events for adults, children and teens and we are looking forward to a very busy Shabbos and next few days.
Dozens of children joined us on Sunday for Hebrew School and a Tu B'Shevat Fun Day and you can see lots of great pictures of this event here.
On Wednesday which was a Prof. Development Day in Sudbury, we hosted a Kids Challah Bake which drew dozens of children for another fun and meaningful event. The kids got to make their own Challah, see a Challah Making Demo, and had some Tu B'Shevat Fun.
You can see pictures of this event here.
On Thursday, besides the Torah & Tea for ladies and the Thursday Minyan, we hosted a fun CTeen Master Chef event for a bunch of amazing teens, that celebrated Tu B'Shevat with fun activities, interactive games, and an awesome challenging Master Chef Competition.
You can see pictures of this event here.