Dear Chabad.org Family,

As we say goodbye to the Jewish year 5784 and welcome 5785, we invite you to share your shanah tovah wishes.

Please share with us at Chabad.org and all of Chabad.org’s readers: What are your hopes for the coming year? What do you wish yourself, your loved ones, your community, the Jewish people, and the entire world?

May 5785 bring abundant blessings, peace, and goodness to each and every one of you. May we experience the coming of Moshiach and the Final Redemption very soon, amen!

With heartfelt wishes for a shanah tovah umetukah (“good and sweet year”),

Your Chabad.org Family

Do you study the daily Rambam? (If not, you should!) We have good news for you!

For the past three years, we’ve been publishing an excellent resource for those who study Rambam’s Mishneh Torah following the one-chapter-a-day cycle: Chabad.org’s Rambam quiz, which enables you to quickly check in and see how well you’ve retained key points from the chapter just studied.

The quizzes were written by Rabbi Mendel Wineberg, now director of Chabad of Dunwoody, Ga., and rolled out on Chabad.org over the course of three years. Embedded under the daily chapter on Chabad.org’s Daily Study portal, it quickly gained a following of appreciative devotees.

Now that the series is complete, with quizzes available for each of the nearly 1000 daily segments, the quizzes now also appear under the daily portion for those who study three chapters a day, expanding access to this popular resource.

Check Out Today’s Rambam & Quiz

Browse All Rambam Quizzes

Dear Friend,

The devastating news of the murder of the six hostages has broken our hearts. For many of us, it has resurfaced the pain of October 7th, and the world feels a bit darker.

When the world gets darker, it’s our mission to bring more light.

Tomorrow is Friday, and on Friday afternoon, Jewish women and girls light the Shabbat candles. Let’s join together to ensure that this Friday—and every Friday from now on—we increase that light.

(Click here to look up the exact time to light for your city.)

Do you know a Jewish woman or girl who doesn’t yet light? Please reach out to her. Explain that the world needs her light now more than ever.

And if you, or someone you know, already light Shabbat candles, let’s add to that light. The Rebbe often encouraged placing a coin in the charity box before candle lighting.

The time of lighting is a moment of prayer. Let’s pray for the Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Danino, Lobanov, Gat and Sarusi families; Let’s pray for the hostages still in Gaza, for our brothers and sisters in Israel and around the world, for peace, and for the coming of Moshiach, which we so urgently need.

Thank you for doing your part to bring more light into the world.

With gratitude,

Chabad.org

P.S. Here are some helpful links:

How to light Shabbat candles: video and text guide

Candle lighting times around the world: enter your location

Free candle lighting times app for Android and iPhone

If you feel like you or your loved ones are more stressed than usual, you are not alone.

According to the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America 2023 survey, 58% of adults aged 35 to 44 reported experiencing chronic illnesses due to long-term stress, up from 48% in 2019. Additionally, 45% of adults in the same age group reported mental health diagnoses in 2023, compared to 31% in 2019.

But the good news is that it does not need to be that way. Torah wisdom offers us plenty of tools and resources, with which we can manage, eliminate or rise above the stress we are feeling.

To help you find the best practices and teachings that can help you destress, Chabad.org will soon air StressRX, a five-day summit during which you’ll explore practical insights and strategies that empower you to navigate life’s challenges with calmness and serenity.

While the presenters are experts, many with academic qualifications and clinical experience, much of their advice comes from Torah, the unending source of divine wisdom that informs every part of the human experience.

The summit is hosted by Chana Weisberg, host of Chabad.org’s Ordinary People Extraordinary Stories podcast, and will be presented in one-hour daily segments, each from another expert, airing from Sunday, Sept. 15, to Thursday, Sept. 19.

• The first presenter, Rabbi Dr. Yosef Shagalow, will guide you through the process of discovering and embracing “good stress,” which can fuel your purpose and transform your daily grind into a life of fulfillment.
• The following day, author and tech leader Michal Oshman will share her personal experience on how to successfully replace the fear of failure with clarity and direction and how to find joy and confidence amidst uncertainty.
• In her presentation, Torah lecturer and writer Rochel Holzkenner will offer strategies for overcoming social anxiety by cultivating joy, openness, and vulnerability.
• Then, Rus Devorah Wallen CSW, ACSW, CIMHP will guide participants through powerful and kosher breathing and meditation techniques that calm your body, settle your mind and nourish your soul.
• In the final installment, Rabbi Mendel Kalmenson, author of Positivity Bias, will share practical techniques to reframe situations positively, shift mindsets towards resilience, and embrace a stress-free lifestyle through the lens of positivity.

“I loved hosting this summit and learned so much from these world-renowned experts,” says Weisberg, who produced the summit. “Each presentation tackles the topic of stress from a different vantage point. Each session contains invaluable tools and gems of wisdom that will help you shift your mindset to live a more stress-free life. And who doesn't need that nowadays?!”

The course is free to all, but registration is required. Visit www.Chabad.org/StressRX to join!

We are all shocked and heartbroken by the recent news. Six hostages — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi — were murdered by terrorists shortly before being found by IDF soldiers.

To the families: please know that the entire Jewish people mourn with you. Your pain is our pain, and we cry together with you over the loss of your loved ones. We send you our heartfelt condolences: Hamakom yenachem etchem betoch shaar aveilay tziyon viyrushalayim — May the Omnipresent comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

To send your own condolences to the families, please use the comment form below.