CHABAD Magazine ~ Tuesday, Cheshvan 25, 5774 · October 29, 2013
Editor's Note:
Dear Friend,
"He is so special . . ."
"She is extraordinary!"
Allow me to tell you about a group of extraordinary-yet-very-ordinary folks who are getting together in Brooklyn, New York, this weekend. Those are the Shluchim, the Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries serving Jewish communities in more than 81 countries around the globe. Each year, they gather for their annual convention where they regroup, share ideas, and recharge--returning to their respective communities with renewed vigor and dedication.
True, some of them are worthy of admiration due to their special talents, impressive Torah knowledge or radiant personality. Yet, what makes them remarkable is not the traits they were born with, but the mission to which they choose to dedicate their lives.
Why do I say that? Because if they are exceptional, then this may have nothing to do with you and me. But if they are ordinary people choosing to dedicate themselves to the Jewish people, then we all can be like them.
We have all been entrusted with a mission: to make the world a holier, better place.
So, what to do? Set up a Torah class in your workplace, invite a family over for a Shabbat meal, encourage your friends to light Shabbat candles. The list goes on.
Your G‑dly mission is knocking. Will you answer the call?
Mendy Kaminker,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
P.S. The climax of the convention is the annual banquet where more than 5,200 emissaries and guests come together for a night of inspiration. Please join our live broadcast on Jewish.tv at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time this Sunday.
~~~
Daily Thought:
Family Ties
In many ways, a family is a single organism, for in truth the child has never left the parent.
When a parent’s inner convictions strengthen, the child grows as well.
When a child changes paths for the good, the parents feel their lives also transformed.
~~~
This Week's Features:
Meditation on a Smartphone
Achieve self-mastery in 30 days by Tzvi Freeman
Here is a simple but vital morning ten-step meditation for achieving total self-knowledge and mastery within 30 days. It involves nothing more than a smartphone, your pocket or purse, and an active brain.
Upon rising in the morning, place your smartphone in your pocket, purse, or whatever other way it stays attached to you. Make sure it is on, online and fully capable of disturbing you (vibrate is okay).
Go about your morning pre-occupational routine. This must include at least twenty minutes of some mindful activity, such as sitting quietly, horseback riding, praying, standing on your head, calmly eating breakfast, and/or talking with your spouse and/or kids with your mind engaged. Activities that don’t count include: watching the morning news, driving to work, gulping down a smoothie and protein bar and/or screaming mindlessly at spouse and/or kids.
While involved in your morning activities, you will sense an urge to check your e‑mail/messages/stocks/weather/Facebook/Tweets/photostream/nothing-in-particular etc. Feel how that urge radiates through your nervous system, generating palpitations of the heart and twitching of the muscles of the arm and hand. Feel how your hand has already moved towards the smartphone without even asking permission. Be aware of all this as a detached, nonresponsive party. Return to your activity.
Your smartphone will begin to buzz, tweet, sing, chime and otherwise actively make itself audibly present. Be aware of these sounds and vibrations. Be aware of the reactions throughout your biosystem, auto-responding to those stimuli. Feel how this smartphone resides not only in your pocket, but has embedded elements of itself within your nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine, motor and metabolic systems.
Now focus your mental powers and visualize the smartphone’s official embassy residing in a portion of your brain. Most likely, this is somewhere in the vicinity of your Bluetooth earpiece. Invisibly enter the offices of that embassy. Observe its staff busy at their consoles, dispatching communications to various centers of your brain, glands, heart, kishkes (including stomach, liver and adrenal glands) and hand. Be aware of those messages radiating throughout your body. Enter the boardroom of that embassy and listen in on the discussion of strategies to bypass your newfound meditation. Observe the sense of frustration and desperation of the staff executives.
Visualize yourself quietly leaving that office. Gently close the door behind you. Continue your morning activity.
Continue to ignore smartphone sensations as necessary, until your work time arrives.
Once you are at your place of work, close your eyes, focus your mind again, and visualize that smartphone embassy once more. As you walk in, the staff rises to their feet in recognition and awe of you, their master.
You may now commence use of your smartphone.
The above meditation should be repeated on a regular basis over a period of 30 days. At that point, you may print and post this diploma at your place of work:
This is to certify that ________ has completed thirty days of intense, self-mastery meditation, achieving true self-knowledge, and is now a liberated human being. by TZVI FREEMAN
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, also heads our Ask The Rabbi team. He is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing, visit Freeman Files subscription.
~~~
PARSHAH
Abraham and Isaac: two paradigms in influence and outreach. by Mendel Kalmenson
There are two ways to influence, inspire, parent or teach: through words and persuasive arguments, or by example and silent behavior.
The latter often speaks louder.
Although no actual words may have passed between the influencer and the influenced, much more than that has been communicated.
The truth has been communicated—not a possible truth, or even a probable truth, but an actual truth. Hence, one worth living.
In the first manner of affecting another, it is the teacher who approaches the student; in the second manner, it is the student who is drawn to the teacher.
The truth has been communicated—not a possible truth, or even a probable truth, but an actual truth
In the first approach, it’s the parent who wants something for the child; in the second, it’s the child who wants something for him- or herself.
In the first mode, the quantity and quality of the effect depends on the one who inspires; in the second, it depends on the one who is inspired.
Different Paths
Although identical to his father in physical appearance,1 in spiritual makeup, personality and approach, Isaac was as different from his father, Abraham, as night is from day.
They both served G‑d with all their hearts and souls, but they possessed different hearts and different souls. According to the mystics, Abraham embodied unbridled love and kindness, while Isaac personified awe and restraint.
Their roles and destinies, as well, couldn’t have been more different. This we know from G‑d’s dissimilar responses to them in the face of identical circumstances:
There was a famine in the land, aside from the first famine that was in the days of Abraham . . .2
Isaac, like his father, encountered famine. Unlike his father, though, who left Israel for Egypt to escape the hunger, Isaac was checked when he thought3 to retrace his father’s footsteps:
G‑d appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not descend to Egypt; dwell here in this land . . .”4
. . . For you are a blemish-free offering, and territory outside of the Holy Land is not worthy of you.5
What about Abraham? Was he not, as well, “blemish-free”?
Isaac, due to a unique spiritual sensitivity, was the only one of our forefathers never to leave the borders of the Holy Land. Endowed with a delicate spirit, he didn’t take well to unholiness—then a prevailing force outside of the land of Canaan.
Abraham, on the other hand, was immune to impurity; therefore, Egypt—a land steeped in paganism and lewdness—didn’t rattle him.
His dainty spiritual composition was repulsed by even the smallest hint of heretical hogwash
Abraham was thus cut out for outreach. He learned to relate to a sacrilegious world through learning its mindset, heartbeat and lingo. He took the heathen pulse in order to determine how best to respond to its lack of spiritual consciousness and how to most effectively administer new life. He shared company with those “who bowed to the dust of their feet”6 and transformed them into monotheists.
Conversely, Isaac was too spiritual to relate to profanity. He did not have it within himself to descend. His dainty spiritual composition was repulsed by even the smallest hint of heretical hogwash. He neither understood nor tolerated a culture that saw value in—let alone worshipped—anything other than G‑d.7
It would seem obvious, then, that Isaac would have had no effect on his surroundings. Could a man unable or unwilling to interact with his pagan neighbors effect change in them? If he didn’t speak their language, nor they his, how could they ever communicate?
But perhaps their means of communication was not made up of words.
A Model Lesson
“Like father like son” did not apply to Abraham and Isaac.
Abraham was a man of dialogue and debate. His eloquent discourses and compelling arguments convinced many to join the folds of his faith. Hence, the verse8 dubs Abraham a “maker” of souls: “For he would take them under the wings of the Divine Presence and convert them.”9
Isaac, for the most part, kept to himself. One might say that he focused on ascent more than on—his father’s forte—descent. Immersed in study and prayer, his was a journey heavenward; he sought to broaden his awareness and deepen his connection with G‑d. He constantly aspired to greater heights.
So, while Abraham didn’t stop teaching, Isaac rarely ceased studying.
But what he didn’t express in words he articulated in deed. Actions are also universally understood; they constitute a currency accepted by all.
Isaac was a walking display of truth. He was a living example of a servant of G‑d. All who saw him couldn’t help but be moved and impressed, their lives forever changed.
The Philistines would say, “The manure of the mules of Isaac, and not the silver and gold of [their king] Abimelech.”10
Poetry aside, these words express the profound impact Isaac had on the Philistines. They recognized the greatness of Isaac and his path, without a syllable coming out of his mouth. Of their own accord they streamed to him, as metal is drawn to a magnet.11
Compare and Contrast
They shared an identical objective, but since their methods were divergent, presumably so were their results
How would Isaac’s influence compare with that of his father?
They shared an identical objective—to bring people closer to G‑d—but since their methods were divergent, presumably so were their results.
Abraham descended to the level of his students, while Isaac did not. Consequently, Abraham reached people whom Isaac could not.
Abraham interacted not only with Philistines, considered in some respects more moral than other nations,12 but managed to touch the lowly Egyptians as well. His guests included those who were so opposed to monotheism that they were willing to pay a heavy price to maintain their pagan beliefs!13
Isaac reached no such people. The people he reached were somewhat refined to begin with, which is why they were drawn to him in the first place.
On the flip side, while Abraham descended to the level of his students, Isaac brought his students up to his. In other words, Isaac reached people in a way that Abraham could not.
Precisely because Isaac was only seen and not heard, letting his students do the thinking on their own, the conclusions they drew were their own. In sum, Abraham’s reach extended further, while Isaac’s penetrated deeper.14
Abraham’s effect was shortlived, because it was he who affected his students. After his passing, his followers slowly faded away. Since it had been his electrifying presence and convincing arguments that had overwhelmed and obligated them, they no longer felt obliged to follow his ways in his absence.15
Isaac’s influence lived on.16 Because he caused people to change on their own.
Have you ever been to Beersheba? If you have, you’ve been influenced by Isaac.
The city was named twice. First by Abraham:
Therefore [Abraham] named that place Beersheba, for there they both swore.17
Then by Isaac:
[Isaac] named the well Shibah; therefore [i.e., because it was Isaac who named the well] the name of the city is Beersheba until this very day!18
What’s in It for Me?
At home or in the office, and anywhere in between, we often find ourselves in a position of influence.
Have you ever been to Beersheba? If you have, you've been influenced by Isaac
We wonder how best to educate and inspire. We consider how most efficiently to effect change.
Words are good, but actions consistent with your message are better.
Arguments can engage, but deeds embrace.
The effect of a well-expressed speech about the graveness of sin falls shorter than the instinctive look of horror that crosses one’s face upon its encounter.19 The best homily about ethics and following G‑d’s words pales in comparison to obvious excitement at the opportunity to practice those values.20
Rabbi Mendel Kalmenson has traveled Europe, Asia and South America, reaching out to Jews in the remotest areas. He now resides in London with his wife Chanale, daughter Geulah, and son Dov.
Mendel is an editor at the Judaism Website—Chabad.org.
Artwork by David Brook. David lives in Sydney, Australia, and has been selling his art since he was in high school. He is currently painting and doing web illustrations. To view or purchase David’s art, please visit davidasherbrook.com.
FOOTNOTES
1.Rashi to Genesis 25:19.
2.Genesis 26:1.
3.See Rashi to Genesis 26:2.
4.Ibid., 2.
5.See Rashi ibid., based on Bereishit Rabbah 64:3.
6.See Rashi to Genesis 18:4.
7.This can provide insight into the Talmud’s statement (Shabbat 89b) that “in messianic times, only Isaac will be called ‘our father.’” For in that era the Jewish people will never leave the Holy Land, just like Isaac never did—forming a unique bond we will share exclusively with Isaac.
A deeper interpretation: Just like Isaac led a purely spiritual life, “blemish-free,” we too, come messianic times, will devote our lives completely to matters of the spirit.
A deeper interpretation: Just like Isaac led a purely spiritual life, “blemish-free,” we too, come messianic times, will devote our lives completely to matters of the spirit.
8.Genesis 12:5.
9.See Rashi ad loc, based on Bereishit Rabbah 39:14 and 84:4, and Talmud, Sanhedrin 99b.
10.See Bereishit Rabbah 64:7.
11.Here is an even deeper reading of the Talmudic statement cited above (footnote 7). Isaac’s unique manner of influencing—where the ones influenced change of their own accord—will be mirrored in our effect upon the nations of the world in the messianic era. We are told by the prophets (Isaiah 2:2, et al) that the nations will stream to the Holy Temple to serve G‑d—completely of their own volition. They will be drawn to the great holiness that will emanate from the Temple.
12.See Rashi to Genesis 12:19 for a distinction between the lewdness of the Egyptians and that of the Philistines.
13.See Bereishit Rabbah 49:4.
14.This sheds light on a perplexity regarding the name of our Parshah, Toldot. It can be said that our Parshah is deeply related to its name, whose meaning is “offspring.” For, as opposed to Abraham’s manner of influence—wherein only some of what he said penetrated the listener, only that which resonated with him—Isaac’s method created a desire in the student to be exactly and entirely like him. Thus, Isaac’s spiritual progeny were more similar to him than Abraham’s were to him. This Parshah is therefore named Toldot, because it tells of Isaac’s extended family who “looked and acted” like him.
15.Thus, though Abraham was a “maker of souls,” we find no mention of his converts after his passing. Where are all of those souls that Abraham made?
16.Moreover, through a particular renewal campaign that Isaac undertook, Abraham’s short-term impact was made long-lasting. As the verse recounts, “Isaac returned and he dug the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death . . .” Furthermore, not only did he revive his father’s deeds, he gave new life to his father’s legacy, as the narrative continues: “. . . and he called them [the wells] by the same names that his father had called them” (Genesis 26:18).
17.Genesis 21:31.
18.Genesis 26:33.
19.This point loosely relates to the following story:
The Rebbe was once visited by a distraught Jew who complained that his children were fast assimilating. “What have I done wrong?” the man said despondently. “Why have they strayed from the path I taught them?”
At one point in the painful conversation, he expressed his frustration by uttering a popular Yiddish idiom, “Ay, vi shver es iz tzu zein a Yid”—“How difficult it is to be a Jew!” A deep sigh accompanied the phrase. The Rebbe asked him, “Do you often express yourself this way?” He replied, “In stressful times—and of those there are many—I do.” The Rebbe gently responded, “Then that is what your children often hear, and that is the impression they are left with.” With a twinkle in his eye, the Rebbe continued, “There is a different Yiddish saying [from the chorus of a popular Yiddish folk song], ‘S’iz gut tzu zein a Yid’—‘It's great to be a Jew!’ Switch the refrain, and you will note a difference in your children’s appreciation for their heritage . . .”
The Rebbe was once visited by a distraught Jew who complained that his children were fast assimilating. “What have I done wrong?” the man said despondently. “Why have they strayed from the path I taught them?”
At one point in the painful conversation, he expressed his frustration by uttering a popular Yiddish idiom, “Ay, vi shver es iz tzu zein a Yid”—“How difficult it is to be a Jew!” A deep sigh accompanied the phrase. The Rebbe asked him, “Do you often express yourself this way?” He replied, “In stressful times—and of those there are many—I do.” The Rebbe gently responded, “Then that is what your children often hear, and that is the impression they are left with.” With a twinkle in his eye, the Rebbe continued, “There is a different Yiddish saying [from the chorus of a popular Yiddish folk song], ‘S’iz gut tzu zein a Yid’—‘It's great to be a Jew!’ Switch the refrain, and you will note a difference in your children’s appreciation for their heritage . . .”
20.Based on talks by the Lubavitcher Rebbe: Likkutei Sichot, vol. 25, pp. 123ff, and vol. 15, pp. 194ff.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
~~~
More in Parshah:
• Jews Vs. Pigs (By Elisha Greenbaum)
Of all non-kosher animals, the pig is far and away the most reviled. Even among Jews who unfortunately do not yet adhere to all the kosher laws, many avoid pork. In fact, of all the pungent insults and curses with which the Yiddish language is so blessed, one that stands out for malignancy of expression is to be called a chazer fissel (pig’s foot).
There are two identifiers of a kosher animal: cud-chewing and split hooves. The pig, alone of all animals in G‑d’s barnyard, has split hooves while not being a ruminant. Have you ever seen a pig sleep? Splayed out in the mud with an idiotic grin plastered on its snout, it stretches out its trotters as if calling on all to witness its inherent kashrus. And you know what? Pious pretensions to the contrary, it still remains a pig.
We read this week of the impious actions of Isaac’s eldest son, Esau. Some people are just plain wicked; they make no affectation of virtue, reveling in evil for its own sake. Esau, however, was a crafty conniver. He went to great pains to present himself to his father as truly righteous, revealing his true character only in his dealings with his younger brother, Jacob.
In many ways, dealing with and defeating evil incarnate is easier than challenging those who assume a patina of purity. A flagrant terrorist may cause more death and destruction in the short term than one who exchanges battle fatigues for a veneer of respectability, but the moral clarity of being able to expose and denounce malevolence is obstructed. When the Esaus and Arafats (may his name and memory be blotted out) make a great play of declaring themselves on the side of the angels while simultaneously sowing the same wanton wickedness and moral turpitude but in a surreptitious manner, then even well-meaning people can be fooled, and the price paid to eventually defeat them is far higher.
The present exile which Jews have been suffering for the last two millennia is referred to in rabbinic lore as the Exile of Edom (Edom being a synonym for Esau). When presented with outright, undisguised evil, one knows what one must do: take a stand, commit to the battle and enter into the fray with the certain knowledge that decency will ultimately triumph. The reason why this current battle has been so prolonged is because our enemies have so deeply embedded themselves in their charade that identifying evil as such is its own challenge.
Terrorist organisations run their own “benevolent funds” and “charity” outlets. They have their tame spruikers in the BBC, and profess to repudiate violence. It is only when men of conscience will be willing to look beyond this fake front and reveal the inherent corruption, vacuousness and viciousness that those who hate us really represent that the chazer fissels will be revealed as the pigs they really are, “the peace of the brave” will have been earned, and a true era of redemption will be allowed to dawn.
Rabbi Elisha Greenbaum is spiritual leader of Moorabbin Hebrew Congregation and co-director of L’Chaim Chabad in Moorabbin, Victoria, Australia.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
~~~
• The Torah’s Esau (By Yanki Tauber)
How should a person be judged—by what he or she is, or by what he or she can be? That, say the chassidic masters, depends on who that person is.
If the person is yourself, you must judge yourself by your actions, not your potential. You cannot say to yourself: “Okay, I’ve been sort of lazy lately, and I’ve messed up a bit, but I know that I can be better. That’s the real me—not the person that the rest of the world sees.” On the contrary, if you know that you can do better, you ought to do better. Why else were your talents and resources granted to you—so that they should rot from misuse inside their wrappings?
If, however, the person being judged is someone other than yourself, you must take the opposite approach. After all, you have no way of knowing, and certainly no way of truly understanding, the circumstances that are preventing that person from actualizing his or her potential. So if you see someone who’s a real mess, don’t look at what he or she is; focus instead on what that person can be. In fact, says Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in his Tanya, the more messed-up that person is, the greater the admiration you should have for him or her.
Why is that? Rabbi Schneur Zalman bases his amazing statement on a saying by the sages of the Talmud: “The greater a person is, the greater his evil inclination.” Indeed, it stands to reason: otherwise, how could we say that G‑d has granted every individual absolute freedom of choice? Don’t we see people who are challenged by addictions and temptations far greater than anything we ourselves are ever subjected to? If such a person, too, has been granted the power to control his or her life, that means that they have also been fortified with spiritual strengths far beyond what the “average” person possesses.
The implications of this are twofold: If you see a truly great person, know that he or she has wrestled with demons more ominous and powerful than anything you’ve ever had to deal with. And if you see someone who has sunk to depths which you cannot even fathom, know that this person is blessed with equally unfathomable potentials.
This, says the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is the deeper meaning behind a curious comment by Rashi on the opening verses of the Parshah (Torah section) of Toldot (Genesis 25:19–28:9). Toldot begins, “These are the toldot (generations) of Isaac, the son of Abraham.” Rashi explains: who are these “generations”? “Jacob and Esau who are spoken of in the Parshah.” But isn’t that obvious? Why does Rashi need to explain?
The standard explanation is that, in the Torah, the word toldot can have several meanings. It can mean “children” and “descendants,” and it can also mean “products” and “deeds” (all of which are “generated” by a person). Since the account of Jacob’s and Esau’s birth does not immediately follow the Parshah’s opening verse, and since the Parshah of Toldot also describes events and deeds of Isaac’s life, there can be some doubt as to how to translate the word toldot in this context. So Rashi feels the need to tell us that, in this case, it refers to “Jacob and Esau who are spoken of in the Parshah.”
But, says the Rebbe, there is also another meaning implicit in Rashi’s commentary. On a deeper level, Rashi is addressing the question: How do such righteous and holy parents as Isaac and Rebecca, and a righteous and holy environment such as their home, produce a wicked and violent man such as Esau? After all, Esau was Jacob’s twin, sharing the same gene pool and upbringing. Jacob makes sense. But where does Esau come from?
Indeed, says Rashi, the wicked Esau is not a “product” of Isaac and Rebecca, but a monster of his own making. Who are the toldot of Isaac? The Jacob and Esau who are spoken of in the Parshah. The Torah’s Esau is a man of great potential for good—as great as the evil he allowed himself to succumb to.
To Esau, this says: See what you could be. To us, this says: The next time you see an Esau, look again.By Yanki Tauber; based on the teachings of the Rebbe.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
~~~
Isaac and Rebecca endure twenty childless years, until their prayers are answered and Rebecca conceives. She experiences a difficult pregnancy as the “children struggle inside her”; G‑d tells her that “there are two nations in your womb,” and that the younger will prevail over the elder.
Esau emerges first; Jacob is born clutching Esau’s heel. Esau grows up to be “a cunning hunter, a man of the field”; Jacob is “a wholesome man,” a dweller in the tents of learning. Isaac favors Esau; Rebecca loves Jacob. Returning exhausted and hungry from the hunt one day, Esau sells his birthright (his rights as the firstborn) to Jacob for a pot of red lentil stew.
In Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Isaac presents Rebecca as his sister, out of fear that he will be killed by someone coveting her beauty. He farms the land, reopens the wells dug by his father Abraham, and digs a series of his own wells: over the first two there is strife with the Philistines, but the waters of the third well are enjoyed in tranquility.
Esau marries two Hittite women. Isaac grows old and blind, and expresses his desire to bless Esau before he dies. While Esau goes off to hunt for his father’s favorite food, Rebecca dresses Jacob in Esau’s clothes, covers his arms and neck with goatskins to simulate the feel of his hairier brother, prepares a similar dish, and sends Jacob to his father. Jacob receives his father’s blessings for “the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land” and mastery over his brother. When Esau returns and the deception is revealed, all Isaac can do for his weeping son is to predict that he will live by his sword, and that when Jacob falters, the younger brother will forfeit his supremacy over the elder.
Jacob leaves home for Charan to flee Esau’s wrath and to find a wife in the family of his mother’s brother, Laban. Esau marries a third wife—Machalath, the daughter of Ishmael.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
~~~
VIDEO
Radio host Michael Medved talks about his personal journey in Judaism, the inexplicable phenomenon of Jewish continuity, and the thriving success of Chabad. (Filmed at Chabad of the Valley’s 2013 gala banquet)
By Michael Medved Watch (32:22)
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://embed.chabad.org/multimedia/mediaplayer/embedded/embed.js.asp?aid=2307827&width=auto&height=auto"></script><div style="clear:both;">Visit <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish.TV</a> for more <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish videos</a>.</div>
~~~
More in Video:
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://embed.chabad.org/multimedia/mediaplayer/embedded/embed.js.asp?aid=2288650&width=auto&height=auto"></script><div style="clear:both;">Visit <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish.TV</a> for more <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish videos</a>.</div>
~~~
• Mastering Emotional Intelligence (By Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb)
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://embed.chabad.org/multimedia/mediaplayer/embedded/embed.js.asp?aid=2362110&width=auto&height=auto"></script><div style="clear:both;">Visit <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish.TV</a> for more <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish videos</a>.</div>
~~~
WOMEN
Anyone else out there have a “to-do” list longer than the circumference of their home? by Rivka Caroline
Anyone else out there have a “to-do” list longer than the circumference of their home? I used to have one just like that, too.
Here’s the good news—it’s not about getting it all done. Truly. It is about strategically getting the most effective items done that will yield the best results. As Pirkei Avot (2:16) teaches, Lo alecha ha-melachah ligmor—it’s really not about finishing all the work, but about doing our part.
Many of us want to have magic time-management makeovers that will make us become 100% efficient overnight. You would be totally forgiven if you thought you also needed to revamp and track your every action. Don’t worry: in reality, if you can implement a few key items, you can really increase your productivity.
If you can implement a few key items, you can really increase your productivity
These cherry-picked tips are tried and tested to give you a quick route to über-efficiency. By incorporating the following tips, you can turn your productivity on its head and join the ranks of the relaxed and efficient.
1. Write it Down!
You will thank me profusely for this one, and when I take the time (most days) to do this, I thank myself too. Here’s the trick: Write down the 5–8 tasks you must get done the following day. Use a fresh sheet in your notepad, the notepad on your iPhone, or stick a Post-It note on your forehead. Bottom line, à la Peter Drucker: “What gets measured, gets managed.”
2. Leverage Your Work Time
The creator of Dilbert once commented that he is an early bird and gets the bulk of his work done between 5 AM and 8 AM, and his creativity would be seriously stifled if he had to work around any other schedule.
Figure out when you get your best work done, and leverage the bulk of your work around that time. As the saying goes, “It’s so easy when I want to, and so hard when I have to.” Stop working around someone else’s schedule, and be the master of your own efficiency.
3. “Next Step” Homework
Often, after interacting with people via e‑mail, text, phone, or even (shock, horror!) in person, there is a “next step” that needs to be taken care of. It can be anything from scheduling a coffee meeting on Tuesday, e‑mailing them your latest blog post, ordering a book they had recommended, writing them a thank-you note, or any other type of “homework.” Don’t be tempted to remember it “later.” Write it down right away, or if it can be done in two minutes or less, take care of business right then and there. Yes, I am
Take care of business right then and there
challenging you to order a new book from Amazon, enter a coffee date into your Google calendar, and send a thank-you text in two minutes or less.
By incorporating these three habits into your everyday life, you will notice more efficient living and less “stuff” falling through the cracks. Instantly. Thank me later; first write down the “next step” homework from that phone meeting you just had.
Rivka is a mother of seven and a rabbi’s wife in Key Biscayne, Florida. Rivka realized she had the choice of losing her sanity or developing new tricks for time management. Her new blog, Frazzled No More: Focused Living with a Jewish Twist, walks busy readers through easy-to-follow steps that will give them more time to do what they love. You can read more of Rivka’s tips in her recently published book, From Frazzled to Focused, the book she wished she had on her nightstand when she was a new mom. For more tips, check out Rivka’s website, or e‑mail her for information on her upcoming speaking tours.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved
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More in Women:
• Hear Me Out: A Mother of a Deaf Child (By Yvette Miller)
How far would you go for your children? Everyone who’s a mother—or who has a mother—knows a mom’s love is infinite. But some moms have found themselves doing things for their kids that are extraordinary. Here is a story of a special mom who went above and beyond the usual in helping her kids—and some of the life lessons she learned along the way.
Annette Rhodes was a typical Cleveland mom with four kids. Then her youngest son, Itamar, came down with meningitis. He recuperated, and as he was a happy baby, Annette and her husband, Michael, didn’t think there were any
How far would you go for your children?
lasting effects. Several months later, when Michael banged a pot and ladle together for his young son, Itamar didn’t flinch. They realized something was wrong—the meningitis had left him profoundly deaf and cognitively impaired.
“I believe every mother is challenged to use her skills,” Annette says. “This is the hardest job in the world.” With this attitude, she set to work mothering Itamar, as well as her other hearing children.
“I treated Itamar like a normal person, to the best of his ability,” she recalls. That meant insisting he dressed nicely and that he learned good manners. The entire family learned sign language, and they encouraged Itamar to learn to speak vocally, as well. “I always insisted he behave well,” Annette says. “There was one Shabbat: we were sitting at the table, and Itamar wanted to go outside.” He got upset when his mom insisted he stay at the table like everyone else, and yelled “No!” “Wow, Itamar—that’s a great vocalized ‘No!’” Annette recalls saying. “But you still can’t go outside!”
Later, when Itamar was bar mitzvah age, he told his mom he wanted a “normal” bar mitzvah, like his brother’s. Annette and Michael had high expectations of him: They engaged tutors, and he was able to read a sentence from the Torah at his bar mitzvah.
“I’m a positive person,” Annette says. “I don’t frown much—I
He told his mom he wanted a “normal” bar mitzvah
smile. Smiling is the best medicine. The Jewish sages say what you do externally, you become internally. [When parenting,] you don’t have to be the happiest person, but smile and look kids in the eye. They’re little people; they deserve a smile.”
Annette’s determined good humor got her and her family through some of their darkest periods. When Itamar was eleven, he was rushed to the hospital with a seizure. He was given incorrect medication, and was hospitalized for a month in terrible agony. “I stayed with him,” Annette recalls. “At one point, he asked, ‘Am I going to die?’ I said, ‘No, you’re going to fight—fight real hard.’ Then I went into the doctors’ lounge and cried for five minutes. Then I stopped, put my makeup back on again, and went back to him.”
When Itamar was eighteen and craved independence, his parents faced a new dilemma. An observant Jew, Itamar wanted to live in a Jewish environment, but there were no Jewish group homes for the hearing-impaired in Cleveland. The Rhodeses worked with various local agencies, and eventually Michael brought a lawsuit to their local Board of Mental Health to start a Jewish home for the deaf. “It was all a miracle,” Annette says. The funding came through, and since then, two group homes for Jewish hearing impaired residents have opened.
Today, Itamar is 40 years old. He still lives in the group home his parents helped
When Itamar was eighteen and craved independence, his parents faced a new dilemma
establish, and he has a job he loves packing machinery. He also paints, and has even sold some of his paintings professionally. Annette continues to work with deaf children and adults as a professional sign-language interpreter.
“I think every mother is special,” she says. “We’re given something important—a human being to raise—and this helps us feel a connection to G‑d. I think all mothers sense it. It’s really a miracle.”
When asked what life lessons she’s learned from her experience in parenting a special-needs child, Annette doesn’t hesitate. “You have to have a happy home. Add simchah (joy). This doesn’t mean you’re always happy and laughing. It means you’re a happy person—that you take joy from your family, from your children and your husband. That’s the biggest thing.”
Yvette Alt Miller, Ph.D. is a mother and adjunct professor of Political Science living in Chicago. She is the author of "Angels at the Table: A Practical Guide to Celebrating Shabbat" (Continuum 2011).© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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YOUR QUESTIONS
My friend told me that Chanukah is a minor holiday, unlike Rosh Hashanah and Passover, and so we shouldn’t make such a big deal out of it. He said that the only reason it became so big was because of the season . . . by Tzvi Freeman
Question:
My friend told me that Chanukah is a minor holiday, unlike Rosh Hashanah and Passover, and so we shouldn’t make such a big deal out of it. He said that the only reason it became so big was because of the season.
Answer:
Unlike Rosh Hashanah, Passover and other “major” holidays, which are biblically prescribed days of rest, we go to work on Chanukah. Even on Purim, going to work is not recommended. Also, on Jewish holidays we wear special clothes. But the days of Chanukah are regular workdays in regular clothes.
Yet Chanukah is a hardly a “minor” holiday. Read what Maimonides writes in his Laws of Chanukah:
The mitzvah of kindling Chanukah lamps is a very precious mitzvah. A person should be very careful in its observance, to publicize the miracle and thus increase our praise of G‑d and our expression of thanks for the miracles which He wrought on our behalf. Even if a person has no resources for food except what he receives from charity, he should pawn or sell his garments and purchase oil and lamps to kindle them.
Maimonides continues by instructing that if one has only enough money to afford either a cup of wine for Shabbat kiddush or oil for his Chanukah lamp, the mitzvah of Chanukah takes precedence. Doesn’t sound too minor to me.
Especially when you take into account that this is what Chanukah is all about: to “light up the darkness” (which is why we light it at night, at the door or window). So, even though it’s a regular workday—well, that’s really the whole idea: to light up the regular workday. And that takes a very special light.
At any rate, since when do we look for excuses not to celebrate? On the contrary, in the words of wise King Solomon, “A good heart always celebrates.”
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, also heads our Ask The Rabbi team. He is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing, visit Freeman Files subscription.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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More in Your Questions:
• Negative Thoughts (By Rosally Saltsman)
Dear Rachel,
Please help me! I'm obsessed with negative thoughts. It seems like I’m never happy! I’m always finding fault with myself, others, and everything in my life. This makes me feel tense, defensive and unhappy. But I find it hard to stop. What can I do?
Upset
Dear Upset,
First of all, I commend you for being aware of this bad habit and wanting to change it. Remember, our biggest test can be our biggest success.
I’m sure you’ve heard that at any given moment, we can choose our thoughts—critical, negative and unhappy; or grateful, positive and happy. As this is a choice given to us every moment, it is a challenge we face about 64,800 times a day! I’m sure you can appreciate how formidable this challenge is. Now, even the most determined person can’t think 64,800 negative thoughts a day. (At least, I hope not!) I’m sure you have some, even many, positive feelings and insights. Unfortunately, you dwell on the negative ones, reinforcing the additional negative thought that you are a negative person.
Test whether your assumption is true or not
So, the first thing I suggest is to test whether your assumption is true or not. Try to catch yourself in the act of having positive thoughts and feelings about yourself, others, and the world around you. Everything from “What a nice day!” to “What a pretty scarf she’s wearing.” It’s important to acknowledge yourself, too: “I gave her an encouraging smile.” You’ll be surprised at how many positive musings you find yourself engaged in.
The credo of any 12-step program designed to rid you of a bad habit is to progress one day at a time. In this case, I suggest working on one moment at a time. “It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, yet you are not free to desist from it” (Ethics of Our Fathers 2:16). You don’t have to reach perfection; you just have to take consistent action.
When you focus on looking for the good thoughts, you’ll find that there are more than you expected. Then, all you have to do is look for occasions to think more positive thoughts. The more good things you notice, the easier it will be. Don’t try to eradicate all your negative thinking, but do try to increase the times you can acknowledge positive thoughts and feelings. In Ethics of our Fathers (4:2) it’s written that one mitzvah leads to another. Similarly, one positive thought leads to another.
It is also important that you make sure to schedule something every day that you know will give you a lift, whether it’s sipping a latte, listening to a favorite song, or literally smelling the roses as you walk by.
Schedule something every day that you know will give you a lift
One more thought (and it’s a positive one): Our sages instituted blessings for many of the things we do every day—eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, buying new clothes, and even stopping to smell the roses. These blessings help us appreciate the good in our lives. If you don’t already do so, take it upon yourself to say one blessing a day. If you already make blessings, take on a special one that you don’t usually say, or say it with greater feeling. There’s no greater positive thought than thanking G‑d for all the blessings in your life. And the more you notice those blessings, the more you’ll have.
I wish you the best of luck!
Rachel
Rosally Saltsman is a freelance writer originally from Montreal living in Israel.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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STORY
It was the first book, and at that time the only one, that contained the teachings of the holy Baal Shem Tov, and now the opponents of Chassidism were plotting to destroy it . . . by Yitzchak Buxbaum
Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov was one of the greatest disciples of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidism. Many years after the Baal Shem Tov’s passing, Rabbi Yechiel Michel’s young son Yosef became critically ill, and his condition steadily deteriorated until he was on the verge of death. Just then, news reached Rabbi Michel that opponents of the Baal Shem Tov were planning to burn the chassidic book Toldot Yaakov Yosef (“The Generations of Yaakov Yosef”) in a certain city. This book, written by another great disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, was the first book, and at that time the only one, that contained the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov.
Rabbi Yechiel Michel realized that this was an attempt to suppress the new chassidic movement, and that the situation was urgent. He decided to travel to that city and try to prevent this terrible desecration. He instructed his family that if (G‑d forbid) his son died when he was gone, they should delay the burial until he returned home. Shortly after he left, Yosef entered a deep coma. He seemed to have stopped breathing, and they thought he was dead, but they delayed his burial as they were told. After three days, however, Yosef began to perspire. He opened his eyes and told this story:
“When I went into the coma, I felt my soul leave my body. Immediately, an angel came to take me to a certain heavenly palace. Since the angel was not permitted to enter that palace, I entered alone and stood by the door. Inside, the heavenly court was in session, and I saw two angels arrive with a book that contained a record of all my sins. It was so large and heavy that it was difficult for them to carry. As I looked on, another angel came with a thin book of my good deeds, but they were not equal to the sins, which outweighed them. Then a third book was brought in, of my sufferings, and they caused many of my sins to be erased. Nevertheless, because of the sins that remained, the court decided to condemn me to die from my illness, and they were about to pronounce the sentence and write the decree.
“At that moment, my father—who had made a soul-ascent to protest before the heavenly court—came to that palace, entering with a commotion and loudly complaining about those who wanted to burn the book with the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. He vigorously protested, saying, ‘It will be a terrible chillul ha-Shem (desecration of the divine name) if it’s burned. It can’t be allowed!’”
Just then, Rabbi Yechiel Michel noticed his son standing near the door, and said, “Yosef, why are you here?” “Father, I don’t know,” he said. “But please speak to the court on my behalf.” “I certainly will,” his father answered. Then Rabbi Yechiel Michel continued to protest about the book burning as before, and pleaded passionately that it not be permitted. But the court answered, “This matter belongs to a higher jurisdiction”—because in heaven there are higher and higher courts, one above the other—an appellate court, a supreme court, and so on. Rabbi Yechiel Michel then left to make an appeal to a higher court, and completely forgot about his son Yosef.
Yosef stood near the door, worried and troubled. Not long after this, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye also made a soul-ascent and came to that heavenly palace where the court was sitting. He entered, and also shouted and pleaded while weeping, complaining about those who wanted to burn his book. Then he noticed his friend’s son standing by the door, and said, “Yosef, why are you here?” “Rabbi, I don’t know,” said the boy. “But please speak to the court on my behalf.” “I’ll certainly say something on your behalf,” said Rabbi Yaakov Yosef. The court then told him too that the issue of the book was a matter for a higher court. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef immediately left to appeal to the higher court, and totally forgot about Yosef. Yosef, meanwhile, continued to stand there worried and troubled, because he had no one to help him or to be his advocate.
Suddenly, there was such a great commotion that all the worlds trembled, and a proclamation echoed throughout the heavens: “Make way, make way; the holy Baal Shem Tov is entering the palace!” (The Baal Shem Tov, as we said, had already passed away and was in the other world.) As soon as the Baal Shem Tov came in, he saw his disciple’s son standing alone by the door, and said, “Yosef, why are you here?” “Holy Rabbi, I don’t know,” said Yosef. “Could you please speak to the court on my behalf?” “I certainly will,” said the Baal Shem Tov, and he immediately went and spoke to the court about the boy, asking them to dismiss his case and let him go in peace. He then returned to Yosef and said, “You can leave now and go home.”
By this time, Yosef was curious about what would happen in heaven, and wanted to stay a little longer to see what the Baal Shem Tov would do there. But two burly angels immediately came, took him under the arms and escorted him out. They then took him down, down, down, to the lower world, “until,” he said, “I saw a repulsive corpse lying on the floor,” for his family, thinking he was dead, had taken him off the bed and put him on the floor with his feet pointed toward the door, according to custom. And the angels said, “Enter that corpse!”—they wanted him to return to his body. But he was disgusted by the body and the suffering in this world, and absolutely refused. He cried and pleaded with them, but they forced him to enter against his will. “Then,” he said, “I began to perspire, opened my eyes, and am telling you this story.”
Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, the boy’s father, forgot about his own son in his zeal to defend the book that contained the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, the author of the book, forgot about his friend’s son in defending his book that contained the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. But the holy Baal Shem Tov, whose teachings were in the book, did not forget a Jewish child. A child was more important to him than a book.
Some of the holiest people do not write books. The Baal Shem Tov focused on living the teachings, not recording them. The Baal Shem Tov’s legacy was not of books, but of people. What he left behind were disciples and followers in whose hearts burned love of G‑d, love of Israel and love of the Torah, with an eternal fire. He never wrote a book, but he never forgot a child.
From The Light and Fire of The Baal Shem Tov by Yitzhak Buxbaum, Copyright 2005 by the author. Reprinted by permission of The Continuum International Publishing Group. To purchase this book click here.
Image by chassidic artist Shoshannah Brombacher. To view or purchase Ms. Brombacher’s art, click here.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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THE REBBE
Over the years, many have seen fasting and personal afflictions as a form of teshuvah, or a way toward it. If this is not correct, what does the Rebbe suggest be done instead?
Correspondence by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, The Lubavitcher Rebbe
By the Grace of G‑d
15th of Iyar, 5724
[April 27, 1964]
Brooklyn, N. Y.
15th of Iyar, 5724
[April 27, 1964]
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Greeting and Blessing:
I received your letter of the 7th of Iyar, and thank you very much for the good news about the various activities. May G‑d grant that the activities should be continued in a growing measure, and with joy and gladness of heart in particular, as we spoke a number of times when you were here. I trust that not only do you remember this, but that you are constantly endeavoring to materialize this in the daily life.
With regard to fasting, about which I told you once that it is not advisable to take upon oneself extra fasts in addition to those which are already in the calendar, this is based on the words of the Alter Rebbe. One of the reasons which he mentions in this connection is that the generations have weakened, and are no longer fit to have extra fasts. Obviously, my suggestion to you, therefore, is valid even now. The would-be resolution to undertake a fast should be changed to a resolution to serve G‑d with an extra measure of joy, and to endeavor to spread good influence in the environment in this direction.
Click to enlarge
Letter of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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COOKING
With Pecan Crunch Topping
It’s that time of year again… the blogosphere has erupted with fall-inspired dishes, with a heavy propensity towards pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin brownies, pumpkin milkshake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin everything! by Miriam Szokovski
It’s that time of year again… the blogosphere has erupted with fall-inspired dishes, with a heavy propensity towards pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin brownies, pumpkin milkshake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin everything!
Last year I shared my Pumpkin Pie Black-and-White Chocolate Bark recipe—my first ever post on this blog! If you missed it then, check it out now.
Today, I’m sharing my Maple-Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Pecan Crunch Topping. If you love fall flavors, prepare to fall in love with this dessert. You’ve got pumpkin, maple, brown sugar and pecan, with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg.
It’s quick and easy and presents beautifully—an great way to impress friends and family.
For the ice cream, you’ll need heavy cream, pumpkin puree, sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
You can make your own pumpkin puree or buy it canned. If you’re buying canned, make sure you buy pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling. The cans are very similar so make sure to read the label carefully. To make you own puree, boil the pumpkin until soft, then drain and mash.
This recipe requires an ice cream machine. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, you can still make the pie with some small variations. Buy a tub of good quality vanilla ice cream. Leave it out of the freezer to soften slightly (but do not let it melt completely). Blend it with the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and salt and continue with the rest of the recipe instructions.
To make the ice cream, blend all ice cream ingredients (except the pie crust). Pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream machine.
Churn the ice cream until it reaches soft-serve consistency (as pictured).
Scoop the ice cream into the graham cracker pie crust and stick it in the freezer.
Meanwhile, lightly toss the topping ingredients together and spread over a baking pan in a single layer.
Bake on 375 for approximately 5 minutes. Remove and allow the crunch to cool completely.
Take the ice cream pie out of the freezer and sprinkle the crunch over the top. Return the pie to the freezer to firm up for several hours before serving.
Ice Cream Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 graham cracker pie crust
Topping Ingredients:
2/3 cup rice crispies
2 tbsp. margarine or butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
1/8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp. salt
Directions:
Blend the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
Pour into the bowl of your ice cream machine and churn until ice cream has the texture of soft-serve.
Transfer ice cream into the graham cracker crust and freeze.
Toss all the topping ingredients together lightly. Spread topping out, one layer deep, over a baking pan and bake on 375 for about 5 minutes.
Take topping out of the oven and let cool fully.
Sprinkle topping over the ice cream and return to freezer. Freeze overnight before serving.
Are you a pumpkin fan? What’s your favorite fall dish? Leave a comment and let us know!
Miriam Szokovski is the author of historical novel Exiled Down Under, and a member of the Chabad.org editorial team. She enjoys tinkering with recipes, and teaches cooking classes to young children. Miriam shares her love of cooking, baking and food photography on Chabad.org’s food blog, Cook It Kosher and in the N'shei Chabad Newsletter.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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NEWS
Trapped by last month's Colorado floods, a terminally ill 89-year old WWII veteran and his wife found support and comfort from visits by Chabad volunteers. by Menachem Posner
When Colorado native Mendy Scheiner heard that his hometown of Boulder was flooding, he flew in from New York to help his parents, who co-direct Chabad Lubavitch of Boulder County, coordinate relief efforts.
“I was putting in 13-hour days, delivering home-cooked meals and helping people in any way I was able to,” said the 22-year old. Through the referral of a neighbor, he and fellow volunteer Avrohom Perl stumbled upon the home of Charlotte and Howard Krasnoff.
Howard, 89, was in palliative care at home, where the couple’s basement was completely flooded, and noxious fumes were rising into the main level. There, Charlotte was trying the best she could to care for and comfort her husband of 25 years.
“They were just wonderful,” said Charlotte. “They came in with armloads of homemade food. They saw we needed fans to dry the basement, but none were available in any of the stores. They gave me five fans, which are still being used.” Perl also sealed the basement with special plastic and tape to block unhealthy odors from reaching the sickroom.
“I am so grateful for being Jewish,” she said. “At a vulnerable time like that, there was nothing more comforting than that the community came forward for us with food, love and protection.”
Story Behind a Purple Heart
Over the next few days, the young men would return in the evenings to unwind from the day’s pressures and soak in advice from a man living his last days on earth.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Howard shared memories from his time in the U.S. Army during World War II. “We noticed his Purple Heart and asked him about it,” said Scheiner. “It was just captivating to hear about his bravery.”
Charlotte and Howard Krasnoff (Photo: avrohomperl.com)
Howard explained that while leading a reconnaissance mission in Italy in 1943, he happened to be one of the first of a group of men walking single file in an empty creek bed. He was shot in the arm by German snipers, and his fellow soldiers fled, leaving their comrade bleeding and alone. He hid in the creek so as not to be discovered by the Germans, who would surely notice that his dog tags identified him as Jewish.
He said he eventually used his one good hand to crawl back to camp, wiggling under barbed wire to get there. After an agonizing trip back to base, he was confronted by a guard who would not let him in since the password had changed in the interim. In frustration, recalled Howard, he let forth a colorful string of expletives that left no doubt about his bona fides as a dyed-in-the-wool Yank. He was flown to Rome for medical treatments.
Three surgeries later, he was left with shrapnel in his arm and trauma that Charlotte said was never properly treated or diagnosed.
After returning from the war, he married his first wife, Lois, with whom he had four children. After working as a probation officer, he became a psychiatric social worker and was promoted to chief administrative social worker at Fort Logan Mental Health Center in Denver, a position he held until his retirement.
“At a vulnerable time like that, there was nothing more comforting than that the community came forward for us with food, love and protection.”
Lois passed away in 1987, and Howard married Charlotte, a fellow psychiatric social worker. Although he explained that he was raised in a left-leaning family and had not been religiously involved, through his connection to Charlotte, he began attending classes on Jewish subjects and started to discover his own connections to Judaism.
‘Inspired by a Living Legend’
Howard died on Oct. 3 with Charlotte at his side.
“Thank God he died in his own bed in his own home,” said Charlotte, grateful to the many volunteers and friends who helped her maintain a soothing environment for her husband in spite of the chaos that swirled around—and below—them.
Volunteer Avrohom Perl during a visit with the Krasnoffs (Photo: avrohomperl.com)
They both had professional offices in their basement, which was completely destroyed by floodwaters that had poured in through a sunken patio. An avid stock-trader, Howard placed his last trade just three days before his passing.
“Howard loved to guide people and he loved to give advice—he kept on seeing clients until the very end—so it was so special for him that the boys were there for him on those last days,” said Charlotte. After their first visit, she noticed that Howard perked up, and was even able to go to the couch and sit with them.
“For us, it was a special time to just sit, listen to music and talk about life,” said Scheiner. “It was amazing to be inspired by a living legend. He was just so full of hope and optimism, and had the wisest outlook on life.”© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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More in News:
- Three Bustling Days in New York at Chabad on Campus Shabbaton(by Carin M. Smilk, Chabad.edu)
New York will swell by nearly a thousand people this week—a thousand young people, all there for the same reason: to learn, to laugh, to meet, to eat, to sing, sight-see and soak in the riches that Judaism has to offer.
Students from colleges around the country and across the Atlantic will converge on the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn for a three-day Shabbaton from Oct. 25-27, run by Chabad on Campus International Foundation. The annual event offers a full-fledged program of educational, spiritual, social and entertainment-oriented activities for young adults.
“The Shabbaton is a fully immersive experience where students are engaged intellectually, stirred emotionally and uplifted spiritually. Even though there are students from hundreds of colleges throughout the world, we are all one community. We are all one family,” says Rabbi Yossy Gordon, executive vice president of Chabad on Campus International Foundation. “And while the Shabbaton only lasts a few days in time, the friendships created and the strengthened connection to one’s Judaism will hopefully last a lifetime.”
Hurricane Sandy, which last October caused parts of the Eastern seaboard to evacuate, still didn't manage to keep students away in 2012. Fortunately, the weather forecast this year looks typically autumn-like, conducive for outdoor activities such as the Friday-morning tour of New York City, the Jewish Discovery walking tour and a Sunday visit to the Ohel in Queens, where the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, is interred, along with his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, of righteous memory.
What began as smaller regional programs about 11 years ago has blossomed into an international constituency of attendees starting in 2008.
One group coming from abroad this year will be led by Rabbi Levi Mimoun of Beth Loubavitch of Sceaux, in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. He will be traveling with 18 students to the Shabbaton.
Drexel University senior Noah Gross (second row, third from left, at last year's opening address) will attend the Shabbaton for the third time and paid the registration fees for six other students to go as well.
“This is the most important part of my shlichus—to bring students” to the Rebbe’s community, to Chabad’s longtime headquarters, he writes from France, and encourage them to meet other students connected to Chabad. “I hope that they leave New York with a new” inclination towards Judaism “and become more connected to their Chabad on Campus.”
Rabbi Moshe C. Dubrowski, director of programming for Chabad on Campus International Foundation, explains that “beyond the New York City hype, the Shabbaton is an unparalleled opportunity for Jews from across North America and Europe to experience their shared bond. For so many, especially students from schools with small Jewish communities, this one weekend can be truly transformational for their Jewish pride and identity.”
‘Food for My Soul’
That sentiment has been confirmed whole-heartedly by students who return again and again.
One of them is Noah Gross, a fifth-year senior at Drexel University in Philadelphia who studied in Israel for a year after high school, then spent a year at Yeshiva University in New York before transferring. He has been active with Chabad on Campus since Rabbi Chaim and Moussia Goldstein first arrived in November 2010 to open Chabad Serving Drexel University-Rohr Jewish Student Center during Gross’s first year at school.
“It was so ripe for them to come and set up when they did—it was like a home run,” says the 23-year-old, who served as treasurer of the founding group of students for Chabad and then two years as president after its establishment, and is now “just a happy student at the university enjoying the Chabad House.”
This year he will participate in his third Shabbaton—and to mark that, he did something special. Gross used some of the funds he earned during internships to pay the registration fees of six other students: five at Drexel and one at the nearby University of the Arts.
“I didn’t want anyone to be held back because of money,” states the mechanical engineering major. “I’ve benefited by going, and by extension, the least I could do is help provide that experience for a few others.
Moshe Hecht will perform at the Saturday-night Havdalah ceremony, which is followed by the Mega Event.
“The Shabbaton has left a good mark on me. The programming is exceptional; it stays with me. It serves as food for my soul to keep Judaism thriving in my own life. It’s encouraging, reinvigorating … sharing something with all these other students from all these other universities, all with a common bond.”
In total, about 30 Drexel students are registered and headed to New York.
Jeff Resnick, a 21-year-old junior there, signed up after hearing for weeks about it from friends at Chabad who couldn’t stop talking about how fun it was.
“I view going to this Shabbaton as a chance to step back and relax from school. I’m in the middle of midterms now, so it's a pretty stressful time,” says the mechanical engineering major, who plans on taking a bus to New York with a group of people from Drexel. “From what I’ve heard, the speakers do a great job at relating Jewish concepts to our everyday college lives, and I’m excited to hear them.
“I am active with Chabad on Campus. Almost every week I’m there for Shabbat services, dinner and lunch,” he continues. “I try to involve Chabad with my activities in Alpha Epsilon Pi (a Jewish fraternity). I try to get to events during the week, like ‘Tanya & Lasagna’ or lunch-and-learns when my schedule permits. I previously traveled with Chabad on Campus on an alternative spring-break program to Warsaw and Odessa to help out with a Jewish orphanage, and I’m currently planning the next spring break to help out a few Jewish communities in Italy.”
Home Hospitality, Classes and More
Tracy Abraham is also attending for the first time.
A sophomore and communications major at the State University of New York at Oneonta, nearly four hours from Brooklyn, she is “looking for new things to see and do at college,” and says she is especially interested in one of the seminars about finding relationships.
The 19-year-old is active with her Chabad on Campus center—attending Shabbat dinners, holiday events and activities like game nights—and going to the Shabbaton with a group of students from school.
She’s even staying at the home of a relative of her Chabad on Campus rabbi, Meir Rubashkin.
In fact, students enjoy home hospitality by residing with families in Crown Heights for the duration of the Shabbaton. It’s part of the warmth and success of the program—being immersed in a neighborhood where Shabbat encompasses everything.
Add to that an array of classes and workshops led by a diverse group of educators—topped off by a Havdalah ceremony with singer Moshe Hecht, and a Saturday-night Mega Event, featuring “The Big Quiz Thing,” a live game show—and the program is complete.
Nearly 1,000 students from the United States and abroad are expected to participate in the annual Chabad on Campus International Shabbaton.
Sara Esther Crispe, a motivational speaker who lectures internationally and director of communications for Chabad on Campus International Foundation, will be one of the main presenters for a Friday-night open discussion with women, and lead another two talks during the day—one titled “Mind Control: The Power of Our Thought, Speech and Action” and the other “Transforming Darkness Into Light.”
She explains that “the goal is to make students recognize the transformative power in how they think, what they say and what they do to affect not only themselves, but those around them, and is the foundation for creating healthy, honest and successful relationships.”
Her words have a familiar ring to them for Marisa Finkelman, 19, who just entered the University of Texas at Austin. (She’s a sophomore by credits; she finished a gap-year program in Israel, the Young Judea Year Course.) After all, a few years ago, her older brother attended the Shabbaton and met a young woman there; the two are now engaged.
That might be a hard act to follow, but Finkelman, majoring in education and Jewish studies, is looking for other possibilities: “meeting new people, having a great experience in New York, learning about Judaism in new ways and just having an amazing weekend with the extended Jewish family.”
It’s her first year joining the program, and others from her school are also going, led by Rabbi Zev Johnson, director of the Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center at the University of Texas.
Working it into her schedule wasn’t difficult because “in the long term, I will appreciate spending my weekend in this way, instead of spending it like any other weekend. It’s worth the three- or four-hour flight because it’s likely to be an experience that I will carry with me for a very long time.”
She’s also looking forward to touring New York with others her age: “I have heard that visiting the Rebbe’s Ohel is an unparalleled experience, and I don’t know if or when I would ever have the opportunity to visit it another time if it weren’t for the Chabad on Campus Shabbaton. This is probably just one of many unique opportunities I will have.”
David Cleaner, 21, doesn’t doubt that at all. Also a student at the University of Texas at Austin, this will be the second time he’s participated; the first was two years ago, when he was a sophomore. He went with some of his AEPi fraternity brothers and met other AEPis there from other schools—making friends and memories was what he remembered most.
“Shabbatons mean great food, great people, singing and dancing, and making new friends while strengthening relationships with old ones,” lists the accounting major, now a senior and an officer at his university’s Chabad on Campus.
And he enjoyed getting to know his host family.
“I think that was my favorite ‘program’—if this could count as such,” he says. “Seeing how a Chabad family spends Shabbos and what they do during the week was very interesting. I love good conversation over good meals in such a homey atmosphere.”
While Cleaner can’t foresee what new experiences await him, he remains certain there will be enough to make even more memories: “I’m sure the topics we discuss in the programs and breakout sessions this year won’t be the same, and I will learn many new things.”
Noah Gross of Drexel can almost guarantee he will. “You can go to anything you want there; you choose topics that are meaningful to you. You’re doing this for yourself, and you’re doing it on your own. I hope it has a similar impact on others as it has had on me.”© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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• Displaced Australians Offered Shelter as Bushfires Rage On (by Menachem Posner)
As bushfires continue to blaze across Australia’s Blue Mountains in what may become the worst conflagration in the area’s history, Chabad organizations in nearby Sydney are springing into action.
“We have opened our Chabad center to people in need of a temporary home,” says Rabbi Nochum Schapiro of Chabad North Shore, which is based in St. Ives, a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales. “We have 40 bedrooms (each with bathrooms) ready and available to accommodate those in need.”
Relief efforts are being coordinated by Schapiro’s son, Yossi, who became familiar with the Blue Mountain region while visiting the area’s Jewish residents as a representative of Chabad of RARA (Rural and Regional Australia).
The fires, which have consumed more than 3,000 hectares of land, are located less than an hour’s drive to the west of Sydney.
“I started calling people I knew to see if they were OK. I spoke to one man from Springwood. He told me his house had burnt down, and he had nothing left but a few plastic bags of personal items,” reports Yossi Schapiro, coordinator of Chabad North Shore Bushfire Relief. “We are hosting him at the Chabad House campus, which includes a spacious retreat center.”
Schapiro then went on to contact 70 families on the Chabad of RARA database. He also collaborated with the Jewish Board of Deputies, the Israeli Embassy and the smaller Jewish communities in the affected areas to get through to as many people as possible.
Since opening their doors to assist in the wake of the fires, the Chabad center has become a temporary home to others as well, including a woman with two school-age daughters who was evacuated from Katoomba. She tearfully told Shapiro, “You don’t know how much this means to me!”
David Lake holding a kiddush cup, one of the few posessions he salvaged from his Springwood home before it burnt.
Concurrently, Our Big Kitchen, a Chabad charitable operation in the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi—a suburb of Sydney—has been holding “cookathons,” where volunteers prepare vital foodstuffs for people in need. On Tuesday, 500 meals were cooked and sent to the local Springwood Sports Club for distribution. Another cookathon is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Just up the street, a crisis center called The Jewish House is ready to offer psychological help, as well as housing assistance for those having a hard time finding shelter that can accommodate pets.
Schapiro reports that a veterinarian will soon be assessing the North Shore Chabad center to see if is feasible to create some proper housing for pets. Alternatively, volunteer families have lined up to adopt displaced pets for the short term.
Meteorologists predict that rising summer temperatures may cause three of the major fires to become one megablaze. New South Wales has experienced the warmest September and warmest 12 months on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Schapiro says the next 24 hours will be crucial in determining where the disaster is headed and how residents will be affected.
“They are OK for now,” he notes, “but were very thankful to know that we are thinking of them and are there for them if they need anything.”
Organizers ask those who want to help to visit: www.ChabadHouse.org.au/Relief
Evacuated from their Katoomba home, the Moria family is now staying at Chabad North Shore.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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• Saying Goodbye to Denominational Labels (by Yosef Landa)
The recently released Pew Research Center national survey, “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” has given American Jewish leaders a whole lot of sobering statistics to reflect upon and to analyze. True to form, in bagel shops and bridge parlors, mavens all over are wringing their hands over skyrocketing assimilation and plummeting synagogue memberships.
But there is some unmistakably good news in all of this, and that is the marked decline in denominational self-identification. Fewer and fewer Jews are attaching denominational labels to their Jewish identities. They view themselves simply as “Jewish.” And that is very good news.
We should break out the schnapps, wish each other l’chaim and celebrate the beginning of the end of Jewish denominationalism, because this may be a large piece of the solution to the disengagement and disaffection of American Jews, which has plagued us for the longest time.
Our habit of defining ourselves by denominational labels such as “Orthodox,” “Reform,” “Conservative” or anything else, is most unfortunate and lamentable — as heretical as this may sound to some. It builds artificial walls between us and our fellow Jews. It erects barriers between us and the richness that we can discover in Judaism if we would only allow ourselves to freely explore it. We need to stop thinking denominations and start thinking Jewish.
This is not a new idea. And it isn’t my own. I had the privilege of listening to the Rebbe, of righteous memory, for hundreds of hours as he delivered his public talks and discourses. I cannot recall a single instance when the Rebbe— who Menachem Begin called “the great lover of the House of Israel” — appended a modifier to the word “Jew.” To him, the hyphenated terms Reform-Jew, Orthodox-Jew, Conservative-Jew etc. were altogether non-existent and terribly unhelpful. There are only Jews — and we are all children of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, Rachel and Leah. This is a cornerstone of Chabad’s embracing philosophy.
To be clear, I am not downplaying the fact that real differences exist between the various denominations. Those are very serious, even fundamental, disagreements about core Jewish principles about G‑d, Torah, Mitzvot and so forth, and they are largely irreconcilable. I would also agree that denominational labels serve a purpose, not unlike alphabetical abbreviations, in that they allow us to use fewer words when describing our Jewish lives. But at what cost?
Denominational labels stifle meaningful and substantive discourse within the Jewish community. They divide the Jewish people, they taint our conversations with partisanship, and they contribute to the unfortunate dumbing down, Jewishly speaking, of generations of young Jews.
Let’s imagine a world in which our Jewish lexicon is free of denominational labels. We would self-describe simply as Jews and do the same for our fellow Jews. Instead of highlighting our differences, we would be emphasizing our innate kinship, our common heritage, our inextricable oneness.
Of course, we won’t be able to resist arguing with each other about all sorts of stuff, and that is OK. Discourse is healthy and necessary. But we would be arguing as brothers and sisters, not as strangers alienated by artificially foisted partisanship.
Freed of the artificial security and restrictive borders of denominational labels, we’ll be empowered to grow in our knowledge. We’ll be open to more Jewish observance. We might seek out adult education offerings in our communities. Perhaps (gasp!) our rabbis will be challenged to deliver more in their sermons because their congregants will be clamoring for substance rather than partisan pep talks.
Dumping the denominational lingo will also raise the level of our Jewish learning. We will ask more insightful questions and probe for more meaningful answers. Our conversations about Judaism with our families and our co-religionists will be of a deeper, broader, and more open quality.
Wouldn’t that be a blessing for the Jewish people?
So how do we do away with these divisive labels? Simple. We stop using them. Let’s stop referring to our fellow Jews with contrived denominational misnomers. Regardless of how diverse we may be when it comes to “doing Jewish” or “thinking Jewish,” we are one and the same in our “being Jewish.” We are all Jews. And that is what we ought to call ourselves.
With that in mind, I would like to propose that we take the following pledge, and that we encourage others to do the same:
“I PLEDGE to endeavor to identify myself and my co-religionists simply as ‘Jews,’ without appending any denominational modifiers to that noble title, in recognition of our being one people united by a common heritage and mission.”
I realize that old habits will likely die hard. If it accomplishes nothing else, taking this pledge gives expression to the oneness of the Jewish people and to our abiding belief that regardless of all that separates us, the underlying Jewishness of each of us is the same. And that is a very big deal.
If you agree with these sentiments, then I urge you to take the pledge and help spread the word to others. Do it for the sake of Jewish unity and continuity. Do it for a more informed, engaged and inspired Jewish community.
May the day come soon when we will bid “goodbye and good riddance” to divisive denominationalism. For once and for all, and for the good of the Jewish people. Amen.
Rabbi Yosef Landa is the Regional Director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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ART
Prayer Field by Ilunia Felczer
Oil on Stretched Canvas
Artist’s Statement:Even when we are on the way to keep our appointment with G-d, He is greeting us by opening the heavens.
Ilunia Felczer was born in Germany, lived in California, and moved to Israel 25 years ago. She is a self-taught artist, fascinated by nature. She feel’s blessed by the Almighty for the ability to create, and relies on Him to be her teacher and guide. Her hope as an artist is to touch people and to bring peace and joy into their hearts.© Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
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