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Thanksgivukkah -unprecedented overlap of Chanukah amd Thanksgiving

Monday, November 25, 2013 - 9:42 PM

Thanksgiv-ukkah? Being yourself takes a lot of courage!

There's a lot of excitement about the unprecedented overlap of Chanukah and Thanksgiving. Interestingly, the two celebrations have far more in common than meets the eye.

Chanukah was unique from any other war our people have ever needed to defend themselves from. 2200 years ago, the Greeks attacked our ancestors and their Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Amazingly, they were not trying to kill our people. Being the most educated and intellectual enemy we've ever faced, they weren't trying to kill us. They wanted us to simply be like them!

As long as we would assimilate into their culture, abandon our Torah study and observance of the Mitzvos, they'd gladly tolerate us.

Our Founding Fathers too made it this country by the skin of their teeth. They ran for their lives to get here in order to escape the religious persecution and social intolerance that they gladly left behind in Europe.

George Washington declared Thanksgiving as 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God'. Having the succesful harvest in their new homeland with North American crops, the pilgrims were able to see that their future in this land was secure. They had successfully managed to stand up for themselves against those who had tried to persecute them.

When Thanksgiving and Chanukah coincide, it's a double reason for us to think deeply into who we are and who we should be.

What values are others trying to force down our throats and which values are so absolute that they must be maintained against all odds.

This is why the Maccabees were the Founding Fathers of Judaism in foreign cultures.
This is why the Pilgrims were the founders of this Great American People.

Let us draw courage and inspiration from these Founding Fathers, to stand up and be proud of our Jewish identities. Let us realise once and for all that history has proven that those who respect themselves, are respected by those around them as well!

An informed decision is a good decision

Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 7:46 AM

An informed decision is a good decision

'I don't believe in G-d!' declared a fellow Jew to me this week as I passed by him at the Club. 'Religion is just a system through which the smarter people tried to control the less intelligent and I'm never going to fall for that!'

I listened carefully to his venting and let him finish. (He couldn't explain why he feels compelled to go to Shul for yizkor, for him that was a sort of 'tradition'.)

But then I asked him how much he knows about G-d that he feels qualified to reject him? The man began to stumble and stammer about a few books that he read, none of which were remotely Torah related.

You wouldn't invest in a business deal on a hunch. You won't submit to a surgery just because your doctor has a feeling that this is going to work. So why would you choose to reject G-d with little or zero knowledge of Him or how he operates?!

It's a free country and you're welcome to harbor your own beliefs, as long as they don't hurt anyone else. But you owe it to yourself to truly study the Torah before confidently choosing to dismiss its authenticity.

As a naturalized citizen to this country, I'm stunned that our leaders are able to vote on legislation, where they openly admit that they haven't actually read what it is that they are voting on!

At Chabad, we work hard to provide you with some of the guest quality adult education opportunities available today. We're currently running our JLI course, 'Life in the Balance'. It's an eye opening opportunity to discover how the Torah isn't just random 'dos and don'ts' but a deeply sensitive and carefully calculated system of laws and wisdom designed to bring peace and dignity to humanity. You'd never know it, unless you studied it! So come on over! Please scroll down for the course info.

If you're truly open minded, you have nothing to be afraid of. The worst that could happen is that you'd actually learn something you you never knew before!

Chabad Convention in New York - 2013

Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - 7:44 AM

Kinnus 2013 with Rick Jacobs.JPG

Trip to New York

International Convention of Chabad Rabbis – 86 countries represented

An evening of Pure Joy

New York hosted its largest ever sit down dinner this week, with over 5,000 Chabad Rabbis and their key supporters attending the International Convention of Chabad Lubavitch representing over 4,000 Chabad Communities worldwide.

I had the great pleasure to attend this year with our chairman Mitch Zachary. Together, we took great effort to meet some of the most influential Jews alive today as we worked our way around the room. (There was even an in house app created to find the locations of every person in the room!).

One interesting personality was the newly elected head of the Reform Movement, Rabbi Rick Jacobs. He was the guest of Chana's grandfather, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of the Worldwide Chabad Movement. (Interestingly, it was our own Harry Kaufman, executive vice president of Schmooze Radio who serves on the board of the URJ who made the introduction between the two leaders several months ago).

Scanning the magnificent banquet hall at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (one of the few spaces in new York large enough to fit the crowd), I felt a deep sense of pride for the present and hope for the future.

It was a sea of thousands of rabbis young and old, passionate, deep, intelligent and sensitive. The people who are ensuring a Jewish tomorrow in every corner of the globe. Unable to do it alone, the lay leaders by their side committed to do whatever it takes to protect that dream.

Seeing Rabbi Rick Jacobs amongst the many Chabad Rabbis was quite a moment! I thought, this is precisely what Chabad stands for. It's about accepting each and every single Jew for who they are. Every single Jew should feel comfortable in the crowd!

As the keynote of the evening, Rabbi Dov Greenberg, Chabad rabbi at Stanford University, aptly noted that "you are more likely to find an atheist, secular, or humanist Jew at a Chabad house than you were to find an Orthodox Jew."

Whilst we may disagree on many issues, at the core of each of us is a Divine Soul, a G-dly essence. We sat together Sunday night, overcoming differences with brotherly love and the commitment to tikkun olam.