Noach
Dear Friend,
Our family had a wonderful Sukkot, and I hope that you did as well. Sunday morning we took down our sukkah, which had facilitated more than a week’s worth of magical moments, memories and mitzvahs.
As I stacked the last bundle of wooden poles in the garage, our toddler came down to survey the scene. “Goodbye, sukkah,” she chirped and waved her hands. It was a bittersweet moment.
But the truth is that we are not saying goodbye to the sukkah. Rather, instead of us sitting inside of it, the sukkah’s now inside of us. Now is the time to take the heady experiences of the month of Tishrei and see to it that they make a lasting impression on the year ahead.
Were you inspired during Rosh Hashanah services? Come again on an ordinary Shabbat. Did you find the sermon engaging? There’s more where that came from. Join a Torah a class at your local Chabad center, or even online at Jewish.tv. Did you enjoy sitting with your family in the sukkah? Do the same every Shabbat (sans mosquitoes).
Let’s not say goodbye to the High Holidays. Rather, say hello to the rest of the year.
Menachem Posner,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
It’s a safe bet you’ve not traveled to Hadhramaut, never mind heard of the location. It is an ancient region located somewhere in the hardscrabble deserts of eastern Yemen.
Noah lived for 950 years. That’s enough time to do everything wrong and everything right.
Noah entered an ark to escape the mighty waters. Where is our ark?
Noah is instructed to build the Ark; the rain begins to fall and the entire world is flooded. A year later Noah and his family leave the ark, build an altar and offer sacrifices to G‑d. Noah’s descendants build a tower to “fight G‑d,” and are dispersed across the face of the earth.
Why is G‑d throwing all this at me when He knows I can’t possibly handle it?
As founder and president of an animal-rescue organization, I can say most of the animals we have rescued have the deepest connection to the spiritual world in the most profound, authentic way imaginable.
Professor Greene was involved in the NASA program to find life on Mars. No, the hot dog was not from Mars. But it was a mighty hot dog, nonetheless. Just not as mighty as Professor Greene.
This is the time to take the inspiration and all that we gained in the month of Tishrei and integrate it into our lives.
I had carried children to the underground shelters and sang cheerful songs to them while guns fired across the hills. I had cleaned public washrooms, scrubbed thousands of floors, scoured gigantic greasy pots . . . A little thing like losing a baby shouldn’t upset me. But my shameless tears refused to obey.
My entire life, I have always been a “grass is greener on the other side” type of person. I keep telling myself that I have nothing to complain about. And there are times that it works. But then there are these moments when I start to think, “What if my life was different?”
A century after what was to be the last major blood-libel case of the 20th century, historian Eli Rubin has unearthed new information that remained unknown to modern-day researchers of the trial.
It was a celebration unlike any that the city of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada had ever seen—when a bearded gentleman sat with a quill in hand and completed the city's first Torah scroll.
Night had fallen last week in New York City's Union Square. The usual crowds of protesters, street hawkers and tourists were starting to thin out. In one corner of the large plaza, however, the action was just starting.
“Every day, the Torah must be new to you.” (Sifrei)
Torah is our life, and life is here and now, forever new.
Which means that for you to be truly alive, the Torah you learn today must touch the core of your soul.
And the same tomorrow. And the next day as well.
To live with Torah is to be forever newly born.
