Dear Friend,
Among the most enjoyable parts of working for Chabad.org’s “Ask the Rabbi” team is the opportunity to be in touch with people from all over the world—a businessman from Switzerland, a graduate student in the United Kingdom, a mom in South Dakota, a tech entrepreneur in India.
They come for various reasons, but ultimately, it comes down to the same thing: communication. Whether it’s a question about the intricacies of halachah, the meaning of a Torah verse or even a life decision, they’ve all turned to a channel of communication, and we’re more than happy to respond in kind.
We are approaching the holiday of Shavuot, when the Jewish people heard the Ten Commandments from G‑d. G‑d “spoke” to our ancestors, beginning a relationship that enables Jews for all future generations to interact with Him. Until that point the spiritual and material were separate, but that changed with G‑d descending on Mount Sinai to “speak” to us.
We relive (and recommit ourselves to) this super-deep experience every year, when we attend the reading of the Ten Commandments in the synagogue. Every Jew is encouraged to participate, especially young children, for they are the Jewish future.
Be there, and you may even get some ice cream and a slice of cheesecake. Not a bad deal.
Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
