why !!!

You know, sometimes I’m sitting about to tap the first letter on the keyboard and lightning strikes, what does one write about? What has validity in a day when everyone’s a writer everyone’s a bar das. Should I question today’s establishments, or the amateurish politics that dominate so many of life’s goings on. The courageous thing would be to speak ones mind, the way of the writer - Elie Wiesel defines the holocaust, Herman Wouk defines the modern Jew, so on.

Instead of narrowing one's vision to the petty politics of the particular community he's a part of, it maybe better to paint with broader strokes. Our history is laden with heavy lesson’s - no need to elaborate. If there is a single unifying factor in most of our experiences it is “courageous Jewish leadership” there was always a call in the wild from men of influence that sought to safeguard our future.

Of course in our day the rebbe’s message still rings true as it did 20 years ago, but today we live in a world were the threats to our very existence are shrugged off as if it Is almost non sensible to pay any regard to them. President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran said the words "myth of the Holocaust" did anyone’s heart skip a beat, did an Israeli politician make an equally bombastic statement along the lines of “the myth of the Iran – Iraq war”. Did a single representative of the Jewish world today vigorously defend the memories of my great aunts and uncles no, the answer is no. We find recourse in believing that the quieter we are, the less we’ll be noticed.

continued…. This is a microcosm of the ills of most of the major problem’s facing jews today. In my world in particular nobody seems to see the need to lead, to face the challenges of an obscured time [I’m not in anyway encouraging alternative leadership]. There is a situation in crown heights - whether you believe or don’t believe that the rebbe is moshiach there are certain constraints of normality that the rebbe applied to all his campaigns, and to all his applied philosophy as it pertained to shluchim and shlichus. No one has the right to pervert 770 from the seder that it was left in - gimmel tammuz 1994. And no one has the right to change mivtzoim into a grandiose pajama sale by handing out flyers that belittle chabad the rebbe and all that is holy, these are just symptoms of no one taking a stand.

to be continued...

prediction

The territories will burn. Fatah is going to bow to the exceedingly strong pressure that will be placed upon it by well-armed Hamas members. Khaled mashal will return to the Gaza strip after Hamas declares an understanding amongst its ranks that Israel has the right to exist, but will still insist on fulfilling eventually its charter that all Muslim lands must be liberated.

Kadima will win by a narrow margin Ehud Olmeret will be premiere, his insistence will be on do everything the American way, no suicide bombing or terrorist attack will stray his faith in keeping with his predecessors plan to cede the territories unilaterally, his only vision is Sharon's vision. He has no firmly held beliefs; with American encouragement he will internationalize certain parts of Jerusalem.

Iran nuclear reactors will be attacked within the next three months, missiles will be fired at western and Israeli targets, most will be destroyed one or two may reach their targets. Israel will accept the damages as a collateral for destroying Iran nuclear ambitions. The insurgency in Iraq will strengthen thereon after, bringing the country to a near civil war. The Iraqi army will be up to decent fighting strength within 2 years. Allowing American force minimization. air force backing will be used strategically by the Iraqi army alongside American spec ops.

The GOP will lose the senate, a punishment for a scandal wracked four years, Joe biden and Condoleezza rice will run head to head in 2008, Condi will win by a small margin. President bush will be a lame duck before this year is out.

A Fatal Misconception Rather than Intelligence Failure

HAMAS WINS

It makes no sense, what a shocking result, all common responses to a shocking occurrence. But today wasn’t shocking nor surprising, it was to be expected. the world with bated breath watched two enemies shake hands, in Madrid - in Oslo - in camp David - in the rose garden - in taba - in sharm el sheikh. over and over two enemies shook hands, but only one was naïve enough to trust his enemy.

What is shocking about a people overthrowing a corrupt government all the editorials will read tomorrow, the answer to that is - nothing. but for a people that have weaned monies amounting to billions from nations that believed they were supporting peace and democracy, you’d think you'd have a better alternative.

(http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm)

Faulting the Faultless

I have a question for you my study partner asked. You just finished explaining to me how it’s possible to receive love and faith from our patriarchs as an inheritance. By human beings there is one and only one possibility in birthing, a human can only birth a human. Ten generations a millennium, there is still only one possibility; the essential existence is always passed on. By our patriarchs there belief and love for g-d was who they where it was were their essential existence, not an additive or addition. And therefore their faith and love where passed on to their children and to all generations - hence, as an inheritance.

Then do you mind if I ask what happened with Esau and Ishmael they weren’t any less of a child to Abraham and Isaac, yet they strayed far from their father’s way’s. rejecting an irejectable inheritance. I tried answering Abraham was chesed Isaac was gevura no no he said, I need a different answer.

I answered the following, we can question a lot more then Esau Ishmael. Brothers selling one of their kin - Cain murdering his brother. The generation of the desert was called a “dor dea”, yet they managed to build a golden calf. Saul David Solomon, all faulty. Yet, torah calls the twelve brothers – righteous, and validates all these seemingly faulty role model’s.

The story goes like this; a Chassid boarded a train traveling across the Russian steppes. Along with him boarded a few young men - not any young men, these where former yeshiva boys, that had “matured into socialists - bund members the intelligentsia”. Of course seeing the rabbi made their egalitarian emotions boil so they decided to taunt the unassuming Chassid. Do you remember the Talmudic tractate that talks about reb chananya, or the one that talks about so and so’s manhood, or that story with reish lakish. On and on, trying to instigate a response or at least to ire the old man. Calm as a dove the man sat a whole train ride, figuring him for a fool they left him alone. Before disembarking he looked at them and said, I have a parable i'd like to share.

There was a king - his brother was his chief of staff, it was a time of war. Tenuous and troubled the king instructed his brother that all communication had to be done in code, the best cryptologist of the day devised a code, as well - the king instructed his brother that only illiterate fools were to be sent to deliver the messages. And So it was - a battle was raging the chief of staff called for a runner, do you know how to read he asked, yes sir I do, the chief staff looked at the man he looked like a fool enough, so he sent him riding to the palace, message in hand.

He approached the king handing him the message, soldier do you read asked the king. Well yes sir I do. The king studied the man wondering why his brother would defy his order, read the letter the king instructed.

“The eagle flew into the mountain collapsing it into a river of blood” the king gasped “but the river turned into a raging inferno” the king relaxed, on and on the soldier read not understanding the kings emotion’s. Arriving at the end the soldier exploded in laughter, what nonsense he thought. The king looked with disdain upon the soldier, that you are a fool I saw from the moment you entered my chamber’s, but such a fool that you do not realize that you carry a message from the chief of staff to the king in a time of war, with the message making little sense, would not even consider that this letter is coded. You are a fool and my brother was right for sending you.

And so the Chassid said - fools I knew you were from the moment you boarded this train. But when you question the validity of the Talmud, not considering that the greatest scholars wrote it, in specific times to specific people, I knew I wasn’t mistaken when taking you for fools.

so i answered, When we question the stories of torah, we must first realize who wrote it, and for whom it was written. and with this Acknowledgement we may just come to understand its deeper meaning.

Welcome to Israel

Netzarim Part: 2


On this island of peace amidst an ocean of violence, you start realizing that usually we are affected by people and their ideas. and it’s not often that a plot of land makes inroads into you into your emotions. Walking to seudas shabbos you could almost feel a longing, for this place called - Netzarim.

We ate we sang it was very special. After the meal we went to listen to an old warhorse talk, Friday we where doing mivtzoim on the local army base when we stumbled upon a huge tower, actually a telephone antenna with a bris, which had an observation post on the top of it. We climbed steadily upwards; halfway to the top the vast expanse of the surrounding area became visible, the Mediterranean shimmering, local greenhouses white and symmetrical. When an earsplitting shot, a sound so powerful that felt as if your bones absorbed it - rang out.

Well that got us moving. At the top a couple of bedraggled soldiers greeted us as if “its all in a days work”. one was potbellied, a forest peaked from between his collar, His temples grey. Tefillin maybe? Lo todah Avel ani yagid licha mashu - and then began the inevitable 20 minute lecture, this your land you “must” live here. I’m not a chiloni I believe as you do - in g-d. Even though I was brought up on a kibbutz vichulei vichulei. At the end he told us come listen tonight, I’m speaking.

Most American boys know the six-day war as a victory unlike any other. Almost bloodless yet it wasn’t so, the old soldier says. We ran through the old city – lost, looking for the kotel. Friends - comrades in war falling by the wayside, shot by Jordanian snipers.

You don’t know the joy of finding the kotel, dancing “oh” the jubilance. Motzei shabbos there was a kumzitz the local mizrachi yeshiva sang their songs, we sang niggunim. Sunday we stayed for a bris, which is a story in its own right.

Till here - I wrote on my way back to yeshiva in Israel. A year later sitting in zal in New York, news was raging about the imminent withdrawal from Gaza, and I penned a few more words.

I started to write this some time ago. It has sat idle, in wait for in ending. The story of what I saw are but fleeting memories now, but the reality for those living in that place called Netzarim has changed.

To you Arik Sharon, the Jewish warrior, once admired by Jewish youth as the New Jew, who always proclaimed such valiant idioms of courage ["We Fight! Never again!"], you of course will go down in the annals of Jewish history as your predecessors Peres, Rabin, Netanyahu and Barak have: miserable failures. To kick a Jew from his home so that an Arab terrorist can live there, Sheer Madness. The world torments us with its miserable moral unburdenings. For their failure in Darfur, Rwanda, the Congo, and every other mass genocide committed- unobstructed. "The Arabs," the world screams, "they Need Lebensraum" But like the Nazis a bigger living room is not the objective. they mean and always have meant the destruction of our People.

Peace will only come with a vanquished enemy.

Netzarim Part: 1

The dry dusty road throws up clouds of brown haze. The armored bus hurtling forward - as if chased by an invisible ghost of fear. The road on both sides cleared of life, only tank treads imprinted in the shifting sands. A looming tower - stands gray and dull, alive with the sound of a winded flag. A child with carroty hair turns to his mother “higanu habeita” are we home yet. "Soon, Motek soon" she replies, stroking his face.

The large and ominous gates open slowly, as if to swallow us into an abyss. Barbed wire, layer after layer the old – the new, sit as if to notify us of the current danger.

The bus's two-inch glass reflects a ray from the blazing sun as we step off the bus. We hear the roar of a jeep. Sweet air from the sea blows a dry breeze. An octagon-shaped swing set throws children towards each other in delight. Sand slows my step; a basketball slaps the asphalt repeatedly from afar.

Welcome, say's a young man his beard neatly trimmed; you’re the chabad bachurim, did everyone come on the same bus? Most says a friend. "Half of us are still at the “tzomet Karni”

Twenty Bachurim have come to spend shabbos in Netzarim, where the mortars fall with great frequency, and where your parents specifically tell you not to go. I look around great bush's of flowers abound, palm trees rustle. Colors here are vivid, life so fragile.

A huge gray-green monstrosity on four wheels, circles and stops zeh hasafari a soldier says. No doubt a proper name, it looks like a maddened rhino. Interspersed with the disembarking soldier's, the black and white Bachurim look a “lot” out of place.

Yakkov takes us to our house. We weave through Netzarim; kid's with sun bleached hair and freckled noses eye us with suspicion. One attaches himself to our hip, following us. Concrete protrusions from a bunker in front of the house are painted with biblical hieroglyphics. We visit the communal dining hall.

A short history, Netzarim started under the Labor party, Golda Meir was prime minister. It failed as a kibbutz, yet it remained an army post. Later, under the guidance of Ariel Sharon, it morphed into a settlement. The Five Finger plan reached at five points into Gaza, cutting the line of continuity, which so helped the terrorists.

"To the north is Gaza City. The smoke stacks you see rising from past the city is - Ashkelon. To the south refugee camps, Nusayrat - Dar al Balah - Khan Yunis - Rafah. Don't approach the fence and no sudden movements at night, Yakkov says with a waning smile.

Night gathers. A brilliant sunset shoots colors as we daven mincha. Jerusalem stone arched over the Ahron Kodesh turns a golden hue. A wheelchair bound man rolls his chair into a cut out amongst the regular seating. Wheelchair bound at 30 is never common, but this man was surrounded by his children.

Maariv, A young man powerfully moves from left to right, his eyes shut tight he exclaims "Boi Kallah Boi Kallah.” The round dome of the ceiling reverberates with tefillot. Everyone carries a gun it’s a symptom of our crazy cousin’s illness.

CLICK HERE - CHEVRON

Poem

Feeling destitute
Doing the best you could.
Insidiously black
You feel the smack.

As she rises, so she sets
Anew content
There’s no reason to be bent.

Tomorrow is another day
Curtains rise, raise your eyes
Find the you - that says i do.

id like to use this blog as a means of communication for talmidim hashluchim. if you have an essay a letter or story a picture, id be glad to post it.

footsteps 

Bubby.....

My bubby is from Poland I’m from Brooklyn. Recently I was in Seattle and I heard yossi j. speak, he said the problem today amongst the non religious is that there is no chicken soup, There is no bubby, or kametz aleph uh, or the appreciation of a dimming pre war world. Walking in Boro Park today I sometimes wonder, is this the European transplant. Is this how it was when bubby walked the cobbled streets.

Elie Wiesel always writes of the madman laughing his way to his shabbos table, the loving embrace afforded to the poor. Walking through Boro Park a hand is guaranteed to be thrust in your face. Usually the decent folk drop a penny, or a dollar. And I wonder is this charity, is this how it was when bubby walked the cobbled streets.

A look, a stare can convey warmth-friendship-brotherhood or distance-detachment-animosity. Walking through Williamsburg one would be lucky enough to get looked at, period. And I wonder once again, is this is how it was when bubby walked the cobbled street.

At every memorial of the holocaust, one always hears the same thing. The continuum of the Jewish people is the greatest revenge; another child educated singing shema yisroel, a new building built. Yet, Where magnificent edifices built when families struggled with there daily bread. Is this the edaucation children received when bubby walked the cobbled streets.

Yakkov avinu lo mes “Yakkov our patriarch did not die” yet he was embalmed, placed in sarcophagus It’s Madness to say he didn’t die. ma zaroi bachaim af hu bachaim “he lives on in his children” yet that still doesn’t bring back a dead man. He only "lives" if his descendants are truly the man who has passed. Yakkov lived and died as a model of parenting, all his children followed where he led. His temperament in torah was kind and severe and a perfect mixing of the two. The challenge to today’s decedents is, is it still true that Yakkov has not passed on. Where bubby walked the cobbled street, Yakkov walked as well. Does Yakkov walk on 13th and 49th , does Yakkov walk with us.

When talimidim hashluchim sit with the younger generation daily, your looking in to the eyes of Yakkov and Yakkov is pleading - am I relevant, am I still alive. You can answer in the affirmative and teach with love and care and try to nurture the life of Yakkov. Or you can lazy about, wring your hands and hope for the best. Which arouses the question, do you bring life on your shlichus or ch”v the opposite.

My grandmother today doesn’t remember most of her own family yet if you ask her “vas machtstu” she’ll answer Baruch hashem. Is Brooklyn like Warsaw - no, but there is a little of Warsaw in Brooklyn, and we should learn from it now as much as possible.

The Rebbe

C.Dickens -The Jews knows hardly anything of hell that might await them; there hell is a personal dissatisfaction with themselves if they are mediocre. How does a gentile have such insight, how much of an open book are we. The quest for perfection, the “my son’s a doctor” mentality, from where is it derived.

on Yeshiva night we sit and learn with balei batim. A discussion arose “why is a Jew special, of all the raciest and bigoted nation’s on earth we must be of the worst, we fancy ourselves as intelligently superior. No doubt the UN equated Zionism to racism, in essence they where equating Judaism to racism. The right for Jews to live in a free democratic nation as the only permissible majority is raciest.”

Ahh but isn’t it a fact that Jews do have keen, and finely tuned brains. Look at the numbers, a favorite teacher of mine s.d. geisinsky remarked many a time, “facts are stubborn things”. There was a study that said that because European Jews in medieval times were restricted to jobs in finance, money lending and long-distance trade – occupations that required greater mental gymnastics than fields such as farming, dominated by non-Jews – their genetic codes over the course of some generations selected genes for enhanced intellectual ability. This process allowed these Jews to thrive in the limited scope of professions they were allowed to pursue. But don’t be fooled by this farcical nonsense, Jewish intelligentsia start much earlier then the black plague.

Jews are smart because of the torah. Jews are smart because of the torah. Jews are smart because of the torah. In today’s information highway we suffer from our daily collision with an exhaustible amounts of data, so ill write it one more time “Jews are smart because of the torah”. Brains are a derivative of the torah,Without knowing how to loop a thought, you’ll soon find yourself scampering for a less strenuous mental exercise. and any genius that exists today is because of a wizned bearded sage, of a time long gone.

But does that give us the right to be raciest and bigots, does that give us the right to self-dissatisfaction. No, but there is something that does. A Jews soul, the g-dly breath is more then air, kabala clarifies - a Jews soul is a piece of g-d. A whole chunk of g-d, nothing less. Our drive for perfection has its roots in our attempt to play g-d, to be as we were. g-d is perfection, he neither lacks nor needs anything, for he has and is everything. we want this as well on a subconcious level. Our souls allow us no sleep for they strive for something unattainable, unfortunately “g-d is one”. but, we can satiate this drive with torah.

Why then does Israel insist on a single majority, simple. Non Jews know our destiny they know why we seek perfection, what they don’t understand is why we deny our existence. g-d cry’s you’re a nation apart, We cry “no” we are nation like any other. Stands up kofi annan and says why then do you insist on a single majority you raciest jews. but at our depths every jew (israeli) knows the truth, yet we refuse to come to terms. and instead stake our claim on some useless UN resolution. we are not raciest, the reason we don't want arabs is because they are not part of our destiny. torah dictates a jewish destiny and anything that impedes that goal doesn't belong.

When we recognize what sets us apart, then only then, will the world respect our need for our land, for our people.

Shabbat shalom

yosef l.

Marvin Schick's mother was a wonderful woman who baked great hallas, but Marvin didn't learn anything from her about the Jewish prohibition against lashon hara. Everything he says about me in his opinion piece is totally wrong. If I had "written nastily about religious Jews" I don't think Yeshiva University would have given me an honorary doctorate. Nor would Bar-Ilan. Nor would I have been invited to speak to numerous Orthodox synagogues and organizations. They recognize that I have devoted much of my professional life to defending the rights of Orthodox Jews at Harvard and all over the world.

I have argued for the right of Orthodox Jews to put up an eruv. I have opposed holding classes and graduations on Jewish holidays, even those observed exclusively or primarily by Orthodox Jews. Virtually my entire family is Orthodox, as are many of my oldest friends. Moreover, only a self-righteous Jew would imply that only Orthodox Jews are religious.

I attend a conservative synagogue, where my daughter was bat-mitzvahed. It is a religious institution conducting religious events. I'm sure there are some haredim who do not regard Marvin Schick as sufficiently religious.

I will contribute $1,000 to Marvin Schick's favorite charity if he can provide any documentation that I have "exalted marrying out." Schick just made it up, as he has the rest of his attack on me. It is precisely this kind of internecine personal attack that weakens the Jewish community at a time when it is under so much external assault.

Marvin, learn from your mother. She was a tolerant woman who would never accept your kind of intra-Jewish bigotry and sinat hinam.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ
Cambridge, Massachusetts

google 

vancouver 

I read the following article with disgust, in turn i wrote
a rebuttal, paragraph by paragraph.
you'll find it halfway through the post.

JPost.com Op-Eds

Where is Chabad heading?
By MARVIN SCHICK


Chabad, the Lubavitch movement, is the Walmart of Jewish life, a mega-phenomenon that keeps growing at a remarkable rate by entering new and underserved areas, and by exploiting the vulnerability of existing service providers.

Growth provides the impetus and resources for additional growth. Walmart uses loss leaders to attract customers, the aim being to get them to buy profitable items and to further weaken and dishearten the competition. In Chabad there is the perhaps unintended defining of Judaism downward, the aim being to attract participants and to maintain for them at least a tenuous connection with Jewish life. In the process, there is often the further weakening of existing religious institutions as well as the acceptance - it is more than tolerance - of what should not be accepted in Orthodox Jewish life.

This aspect of Chabad was displayed recently at the annual gathering in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn of several thousand shlichim (the movement's field workers), an event for which the description "impressive" is greatly inadequate.

The keynote speaker was Alan Dershowitz, a choice that accords with the familiar societal instinct to idolize celebrityship. This choice was also antithetical to what Chabad should stand for. My point is not about Dershowitz, who can say and believe whatever he wants. It's for history to decide whether his extended 15 minutes of fleeting fame will leave even faint fingerprints on law, society or Jewish life.

IT IS WRONG and hypocritical for Chabad to highlight a person who has written nastily about Orthodox Jews, who has welcomed intermarriage in his family, and who has exalted marrying out. Any attempt to justify what was shameless is no more than sophistry, although it will further the process of self-deception that has already gone too far.

If this were an isolated incident it could be excused, though not defended, as a lapse in judgment. But Chabad is on a roll and, like with others on a roll, there is scant incentive for self-reflection, for a pause to consider where the movement is heading.

Chabad telethons and fundraising, and the acceptance of severe anti-halachic behavior in too many situations, add to the concern. Too much of what now has the Chabad imprimatur bears little resemblance to how the movement once operated.

Chabad is today world Jewry's largest organization, probably by a wide margin. In its ranks are people of intellectual weight, yet it is hard to find an internal discussion of the implications of the direction being taken, or the implications of the changed and highly-assimilated American Jewish landscape. There is no discussion of whether there are limits to permitting Chabad synagogue regulars to drive to shul on Shabbat, or of how to deal with the intermarried and their spouses and family members.

Why are these issues less relevant to Chabad than they are to the rest of American Jewry? Why is the issue of standards alive everywhere else in Jewish religious life, but not within Chabad?

MY HOPE is to encourage Lubavitchers to think about these questions. They must be asked and discussed, especially because so much about Chabad is meritorious. There are countless acts of kindness, as well as vital services provided to Jews across the religious spectrum who have nowhere else to turn. Chabad is rightly praised for its multitude of good deeds.

But if Judaism was merely a good-deeds religion there would be nothing to differentiate us from many secularists and people of other faiths. For all of Chabad's kindnesses, this is not what Judaism is primarily about. Our religion is about Torah and mitzvot, about obedience and limitations, and about maintaining our laws and traditions today so that they will be transmitted to the next generations.

As it grows, Chabad's options are in a sense limited by certain realities, primarily the wholesale Judaic abandonment that we are witness to, and which is accelerating. Increasingly, the movement operates in a framework of postdenominational Judaism. For the Orthodox, who - except when they travel or in special situations - are not the primary Chabad participants, denomination matters.

For Conservative and Reform Jews, affiliation now refers overwhelmingly more to a social rather than religious connection. Huge numbers of Jews identified by demographers as Reform or Conservative rarely show up in synagogue and their affiliation provides few clues to their religious practices and beliefs. In a word, denomination has lost much of its relevance.

CHABAD FLOURISHES in this environment by providing a low-cost brand of Judaism. It is low-cost in financial terms, which is another meritorious aspect. It is also, however, low-cost in Jewish expectations.

Participants in Chabad can observe very little and have no interest in adding to their performance of mitzvot. This may seem unfair, yet the attitude being conveyed by Chabad to a great number of its participants bears a resemblance to Reconstructionism. There are, of course, conventional Chabad synagogues and day schools, and they must not be discounted because they often fill gaps in our community's ability to adequately provide religious services.

Yet there is a vast network of institutions and programs that require little of participants and where deviance from Halacha is evident.

A Conservative leader once remarked to me that his movement made a mistake in the 1950s when it sanctioned driving to the synagogue on Shabbat. He said it should have emulated Chabad and allowed people to drive without giving formal approval.

Population shifts and the continued weakening of Jewish institutional life will give Chabad an abundant supply of new areas to penetrate. There is also an abundant supply of shlichim-in-waiting. I was recently told that there are more than 300 young men waiting for their opportunity to go into the field.

When that opportunity comes they will be faced with the collateral opportunity to define Judaism downward, to embrace the prevalent attitude of "anything goes" Judaism. They will also have the opportunity to reverse a disturbing trend.

_____________________________________

Where is chabad heading PART: 2

by YOSEF LEWIS

Chabad-lubavitch is one and entirely the same thing for starters. Its not the wal-mart of Jewish life, yet it is a mega phenomenon that keeps growing at a remarkable rate, by entering the underserved areas, and by assessing the lack of basic services by certain well-funded organizations, and in turn providing, the all important services.

Growth provides the impetus and resources for additional growth. Wal-Mart provides better pricing by employing cost saving techniques such as outsourced product labor, wholesale, and the like. And Wal-mart provides long overdue relief for all those not in the first income bracket, so-so much for wal-mart.

Chabad on the other hand has intentionally defined Judaism upwards, the aim being to attract participants and to maintain for them at least a tenuous connection to Judaism. In the process, there is often the further strengthening of existing religious institutions as well as the acceptance – it is more then tolerance – which of course should be accepted in orthodox religious life. Like we say every morning in our prayers “viahavta lereacha kamoicha” without differentiating if one is religious or not.

This aspect of chabad was displayed recently at the annual gathering in crown heights, which yes - is a section of Brooklyn, several thousand “shluchim” (the movements field workers), in an event for which the description “impressive” is greatly inadequate.

The keynote speaker was none other then Alan dershowitz, a choice that accords with familiar societal instinct to idolodize respected and widely published authors, and as he is the perfect example of a Jew who has witnessed the startling growth of Jewishness, in this instance at his very own alma mater, Harvard. A bastion of liberal and agnostic thinking. The point is that dershowitz can say and believe whatever he wants. It’s for history to decide whether his extended fame will leave a fingerprint on law, “society” and Jewish life.

IT IS RIGHT and understandable in the world of chabad lubavitch to highlight a person who was made comments such as ''The great paradox of Jewish life is that virtually all of the positive values we identify with Jews -- compassion, creativity, contributions to the world at large, charity, a quest for education -- seem more characteristic of Jews who are closer to the secular end of the Jewish continuum than to the ultra-Orthodox end.'' And yet attend the shluchim convention and acknowledge that yes - there is an ultra orthodoxy he can relate to. Without any self-deception towards any of his other beliefs.

It is not an isolated incident and there is nothing to excuse, and there are no lapses of judgment. Chabad is on a roll and, like others on a roll there is the need for introspection periodically, for the pause of foresight. Which every shliach does do periodically.

Chabad telethons and fundraisers raises the bar and statues of an organization, that looks at the whole world as it’s playground, and not only the skin on its nose. All of chabad run’s today as it was fashioned, and bares an uncanny resemblance to the objective that the rebbe fought for his whole life.

Chabad is today one of world Jewry’s largest organization’s, and quickly closing the margin on the competition, in its ranks are people of intellectual weight, and if you know who to ask and where to look, you will find internal discussion that centers on the need to follow rabbi schneerson’s instructions the T, due to the implications of the unfortunately changed and highly assimilated American Jewish landscape. There is no discussion of whether there are limits to permitting chabad synagogue regulars to drive to shul on shabbos, for the answer is an assertive no. The problem of intermarried couple’s and their children are addressed on a case-by-case basis.

These issues are relevant to Chabad as they are to the rest of Jewry!! These aforementioned standards are unshakably decided in chabad. If there is a discussion anywhere else then I smell a rat.

MY HOPE is to encourage lubavitchers, and to comfort them in the thought that you follow a well-lit path, there is nothing to discuss. There are countless acts of kindness, as well as vital services provided to Jews across the religious spectrum that have nowhere else to turn. Chabad is rightly praised for its multitude of good deeds.

Judaism is not a feel good religion but we need not differentiate ourselves from our brethren to be “distinctive”, not so with other religions. From chabad’s kindness you realize what Judaism is all about. Our religion is based on torah and mitzvoth and so it shall remain. The objective of the Jew is to rise above his limitations, and the limits the world sets for him. It’s about maintaining our laws and traditions so they may be transmitted to the next generation.

As it grows chabad’s options are in a sense limitless, never mind reality. Primarily the wholesale reassessment of Jews towards there Judaism. As well as the inexplicable growth and acceleration of Jews reasserting, that they are Jews. And that this is my religion, and I seek to grow in it, as a sapling spreads its roots. The movement is multi-denominational as it is all-inclusive. For the orthodox when they travel chabad is a great resource, as it supply’s a taste of home. Not withstanding the fact that they are of a particular denomination.

For conservative and reform Jews, affiliation now refers overwhelmingly more to social rather then religious connection. Huge numbers of Jews identified by demographers as Reform or Conservative rarely show up in synagogue and their affiliation provides few clues to their religious practices and beliefs. In a word, denomination has lost much of its relevance.

CHABAD FLOURISHES in this environment by providing a low-cost brand of Judaism. It is low-cost in financial terms, which is another meritorious aspect. It seeks however to nudge and push like a high cost product, they provide the impetus for growth.

Participants in chabad observe mitzvot as per where they’re holding. And interest has everything to do with it; this is only fair, as you can’t stuff obligations down people’s throats. Reconstructionists pervert the actual doing of the mitzvah, by not sticking to the letter of the law. There are, of course, Chabad synagogues and day schools, and they must not be discounted because they often fill gaps in our community's ability to adequately provide religious services.
Their vast network institutions and programs require as much as possible from participants, obviously never deviating from Halacha.

Conservative rabbi’s sanctioned driving on shabbos, as well as many more obfuscation’s to basic Jewish tenants, yet i still respect their position as a leader’s. Chabad on the other instead of being dismissive to a Jews first plunge into organized religion slowly encourages personal growth.

Population shifts and the continued weakening of Jewish institutional life will give Chabad an abundant supply of new areas to penetrate. There is also an abundant supply of shluchim-in-waiting. I was recently told that there are more than 300 young men waiting for their opportunity to go into the field.
When that opportunity comes they will be faced with the collateral opportunity, to define Judaism either upwards or downward. If they follow their current prevalent attitude we can be hopeful to reverse the horrible trends of assimilation dogging this nation.

video available of car menorah parade, on bottom of page.

light in downtown. 

DEAR DIARY.

dear diary, ive arrived, ive been here for over 2 months now, what do i have to show for it. what happiness has shlichus brought, which disappointments have replaced the hope for success, what success has replaced forgone failures.

if i get factual, then ill say the following. shlichus as it was understood, is a year of yeshiva, particularly the "conquering" of a city through limud hatorah. take a bachur out of his cove, out of the narrow exsistence of a yeshiva, and tell him to teach young children for a half a day, and learn the second half without a mashgiach, this is a receipe for what. for disaster, for the revelation of some inbred inatimate strength, or reality.

what was shlichus once upon a day, an exclusive program whereby the best brightest and most chasidisher bachurim, went to spread the "light" in places of "darkness", today all are sent. i was reading yesterday on shmais.com an open letter by a mister anonymous regarding talimidei hashluchim, he writes not about lofty responsibilities, only that every shliach should act behave and dress in the way it was intended, i don't think that was the intention when the program began. without obsfucating the issue, im questioning the current understanding that some of the yeshivas have regarding what bachurim are meant to be doing on there shlichus.

but on the other hand so long as hanhala feels that this is the "point", shlichus as it once was has metamorphed into something else, then so be it, and so much for disappointment.

the success the success, if jew learns chassidus and his eyes light up, if a morose day is brightend by car menorah parade, if a child now knows how to read rashi, if all these count for success then success it is. i think talmidim hashluchim should network and support one another, we all to some extent face similiar challanges, "and all for one one for all" would do a great good.

RABBIS IN VANCOUVER.

Are rabbis celibate the inquisitive border agent inquires, i suppress a giggle behind a widening yawn. wondering what this question in particular has do with Canadian national security. but british Colombia beckons with its rainy days and rainy nights, so no, rabbis thankfully are not celibate.

Well I guess it’s a natural deduction, if he looks like a rabbi, he must be a rabbi. I guess I fall somewhere in between, me and four friends have been sent to Vancouver, in an exchange program.

Our responsibilities are undefined; this is the first year they have sent to this destination, The “They” are oholei torah the school of my latter year edaucation. I had no choice in the decision, all boys in the 20 year age group, are sent according to their capabilities, to tens of destinations all around the globe.

To wonder, to imagine a world without seeing it in the prism in which one was educated is nigh impossible. lubavitch has a sort of flippant style when it comes to edaucation, many students are given short shrift, the system sort of passes them by. on the whole it’s the students prerogative, to either take or reject the lessons taught.

The philosophy in which we are inundated, from pre-school through rabbinical seminary, is flawless, as it encompasses everything that it is either a mystery, or the simple essential, which should in essence remain uncomplicated. but in his ever prying manner, the alter rebbe manages to surface soul gnawing facts, that ultimately bring a person to at least think, or consider, a deeper reality. the alter rebbe being the first lubavitcher rebbe in a line of seven, in his major work the Tanya.

To change a community to enliven the monotonous, to bring the fires of torah to the cold streets, the rebbe with his insistent persuasiveness declared to “love your fellow as you love yourself” has no deep secreted meaning, we (the Jewish nation) are part of a single body, our souls are intertwined in a rising column of convergence.

With the words of rebbe ringing, ill try to explain why we where sent here, Vancouver covers 44 square miles on the southern shore of Burred Inlet. The city lies in a beautiful setting, near the Coast Mountains and the ocean. The protective mountains, and warm winds blowing in from the Pacific, provide a mild climate, within those 44 square miles there are aprox 30,000 Jews, these are just a few of the character’s I’ve come across in my short time here.

I didn’t ask him his name. why, you ask; with some people its hard enough starting a conversation without arousing some sort of uncomfortable feeling. so I skipped the name and asked him where he’s from, he’s slightly anglicized accent giving me the heads up that he’s of a foreign land. Wales he answered, I was in al gaharka during the war, in the british army, not easy times I must say. the irgun had hanged two british sergeants, you can’t imagine the virulent hatred espoused by my fellow soldiers. when I was finally released, we passed through Haifa to pick up the Palestine police it was 1948 you see, and funny fact you should know, the Palestine police where civilians, they all dropped there rifles overboard in international waters. seeing as they couldn’t keep them, once they arrived home.

Sid he came in one morning for shachris, its unfortunate, but we usually size up people with a first glance. and Sid was no different, I figured a beard, a yarmulke, a regular yid. shabbos came, and by the Kiddush he started speaking, you see I’m from Williamsburg I grew up a regular, peyos and the livush. I was removed from that atmosphere (I found out later his mother divorced, and did a complete and total disconnect) and brought up as goy, and that’s what I looked when I came into chabad one simchas torah 20 years ago.

My name is Rothschild, The duchess of bedford she sponsored me, I vaz part of die kindertansport, you see I had a sefer toirah vit me, my bruder studied in di yeshiva of shamshon Rafael Hirsch. but they took the torah away, they took the torah away, and zay shot my parents in front of my eyes, oh my mother.

G-d knows there are different types of people on this world, we all have our history and our customs, our demons and angels, but if there something that unites us as a people, I think chabad the rebbe has found it. its tangible, its there and if you don’t believe me, visit your local chabad house.

our job as students is to bring that feeling of inclusiveness, either through teaching, learning, or if necessary dancing. what I need to do here can’t be summarized in words but in action, to change the world one Jew at a time that’s our motto, and for the moment that’s what I intend to do.