Rabbi Fishel's Blog

Dear Friends,

In today's world, so many people are looking for answers. But did you know that Judaism teaches us we should ask more questions? See? I'm doing it already. But it's true!

The People of the Book are famous for asking questions by the dozen. Questions of their leaders, questions of God, questions of their rabbis. If you've been around Chabad of Naples for a while now, you may have heard about our legendary impromptu "Stump the Rabbi" sessions that spring up at the end of our Wednesday class or at the Kiddush on Shabbat. We're just keeping the tradition going!

Questions about Jewish law, questions about conducting business, questions about the best way to use our time and effort.

Moshe emphasized that in order for the Jewish way of life to be successfully transmitted from dor l'dor, generation to generation, the children needed to ask questions of their parents. They needed to engage with the Torah's teachings and our traditions in an inquisitive fashion. This week's Torah Portion contains several passages that are central to the Passover seder, when we retell the "Four Questions" the children should ask of their parents during the meal. 

Isidor Rabi, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, said that when he came home from school his mother never asked him what he learned or if he had a good day; she asked him "Izzy, did you ask a good question today?"

The art of asking good questions should not be undervalued.  

Not because Judaism celebrates questions for their own sake, but because the right questions lead us somewhere. They help us uncover meaning, arrive at clarity, and move toward real solutions.

Through questioning, we come to better understand who we are, where we come from, and what kind of people we are meant to become.

Sometimes, a single question tells an entire heartbreaking story. A Jew imprisoned in Auschwitz once asked whether he was permitted to save his only son if it meant another would be killed in his place. The question alone opens a window into unimaginable pain, faith, and moral courage.

It is from asking these questions and receiving thoughtful answers from our sages that we gain an understanding of how to be. How to be a person of strong character, how to find inspiration in times of great obstacles, how to maintain a Jewish identity in an ever-shifting world.

And that rich history of leading with curiosity, dear friends, is why I'm excited to tell you about our newest adult education course that's starting on Monday. Come join us for an in-depth exploration of some very famous Jewish questions, whose answers may surprise you. These are questions Jews have been asking for centuries, and answers that continue to shape how we live today. We’ll step into these real-life dilemmas and gain a deeper appreciation for how Jewish law works and for the beauty, depth and humanity of Judaism itself.

Let’s sit together at the table where generations of Jews brought their hardest questions.

Reserve your spot today and start compiling your good questions now

(You’re welcome to join us for the first session, no strings attached, and see if it speaks to you, just let me know you’re coming.)

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and a great week ahead,

Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos  

Dear Friends,

Whether we like to admit it or not, life these days can feel very heavy. With the seemingly endless barrage of bad news, it can be incredibly tempting to return our head to the pillow and stay in bed. Nothing we do makes a difference anyway, right? 

In this week's Torah portion, the Jewish people receive the unbelievable news that they will be leaving Egypt. It was so unbelievable, in fact, that it says "they did not listen to Moshe out of shortness of breath." The Hebrew word used for breath here is ruach, which also means spirit. So it could also be saying "they did not listen to Moshe out of lack of spirit."

After generations of brutal slavery, the Jewish nation was understandably beaten down. They were so used to their bitter reality that they couldn't even process the news that it was going to end. They couldn't fathom a new way of life, no matter how much they longed for it. Their spirits were low, which is a dangerous place to be. 

I remember hearing a famous teaching from Reb Mendel Futerfas when I was a young teen that always stuck with me. He said there are three things in life: money, health, and spirit. If you lose your money, it hurts but money comes and goes. If you lose your health, it is unfortunate but life continues on and better health may return. If you lose your spirit, however, all is lost. Our spirit is what gives us our will to live. It's the fire inside of us that tells us to keep going no matter what battles we have to fight and obstacles we must overcome.

We can see this all around us. When the world is in crisis, there are those who feel so bogged down by the negative that they can barely put one foot in front of the other, and there are those who rise up, burning from within with the spirit to carry on and create positive change. Like the Iranian people, who are fighting for their freedom with a fiery passion.

In Egypt, it was the women who nourished and maintained the spirit of the Jewish people. Despite the dire conditions, they encouraged their husbands to continue having children. They had complete faith in God that their redemption would come, and they were not afraid to stand up for what was right in the face of a powerful enemy.

Miriam famously led the women in song after they escaped the pursuing Egyptians. This was particularly noteworthy because the women brought tambourines with them as they were fleeing. Can you imagine? They were so confident that God was going to lead them safely out that they had the forethought to prepare for a proper celebration. 

These feminine qualities are celebrated every Friday night when we sing "Eishes Chayil," the song King Solomon wrote purportedly about his mother. It always reminds me of the strength and grace of my wife, my mother, and so many other Jewish women in my life. There is a line that says "she looks smilingly toward the future..." They do not operate from a place of fear but from a place of hope. They are focused on the future and making it the best that it can be. We are fortunate to be celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of Julie Ellis, Rachel, Saturday night. When you hear her sing "Eishes Chayil" her spirit shines through. You can tell how committed she is to being a light unto the community, and a carrier of the Jewish torch for the next generation. 

So let us follow the example set by the incredible Jewish women of our time. When life gets tough, we don't simply roll back over and pull the covers over our head. We get moving! The actions we take in order to help other people and spread joy and light really DO make a difference. Reigniting the spirit in others is never futile, and it is within all our power to do so.  

You can start right now! Coming together with the community at shul this Shabbat lifts your spirit. Joining a JLI class and learning something new lifts your spirit. Coming to see Elon Gold and enjoying his comedy lifts your spirits. So I can't wait to see you soon, so that we can lift our spirits together. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos 

Dear Friends,

I've heard it said that "the shoes make the man." You can pay a pretty penny for designer shoes these days, and if you're enduring rough terrain you need the proper footwear for protection. It should strike us as odd then that when G-d first revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush He said to him: “shaal n’olecho me-al raglecho – remove your shoes from your feet!”

Why? Generally speaking, when a Jew finds himself standing at a Makom Kadosh, on sacred ground, he takes off his shoes, so as to remove all barriers between himself and the holy soil. There should be direct contact. The Kohanim (priests) who performed the service in the Holy Temple never stepped foot in the Bais Hamikdosh wearing shoes. This is also why, to this day, when the Kohanim stand before the congregation to administer the priestly blessings, they take off their shoes.

Aside from the general explanation for removing one’s shoes at a holy site, however, there is another reason Moses received this instruction. When you’re wearing shoes, it’s generally a smooth and easy walk. You don’t feel every little stone, every pebble, every bump in the road.

G-d’s message to Moses was: “You are about to become the leader of Am Yisroel, the Jewish people. Take off your shoes!" From this day on, you have to be sensitive to every “pebble,” to every bit of pain and sorrow that your flock will encounter. In other words, a key quality for Jewish leadership is empathy; feeling the pain and distress of others.

Some of us may be old enough to remember the famous western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Well I would suggest that people can be divided into the apathetic, the sympathetic, and the empathetic.

To be apathetic means that you’re disconnected; disengaged from people and the world around you. It means that in the morning you put on your rugged boots with steel-tips and spiked heels, so to speak, and you march through life doing your own thing. Isolated and detached from people, from G-d, from the world around you.

Then there’s sympathy. Sympathy means that we do connect, but not too deeply. We say hello to one another, we shake hands, we wish each other a good Shabbos. We are friendly and cordial, and may care that another is in pain, but we certainly don't feel that pain as our own.

But empathy is on another level. Empathy means truly feeling the pain and hardship of a fellow human being. There is a famous story about a Jerusalem Tzaddik, holy person, named Rabbi Aryeh Levin. He accompanied his wife to the doctor because she had pain in her foot. When the doctor asked what brought them in, he replied "my wife's foot is hurting us." He didn't ignore her pain, he didn't merely acknowledge her pain, he felt her pain right alongside her.

That is what our world needs more of today. Invest in the people around you. In a society with shorter and shorter attention spans, give them your attention. Be fully present. Celebrate the highs and mourn the lows together. Each of us can be that empathetic leader in our own small way. This is what we strive for at Chabad of Naples. To dance at each other's simchas and to comfort one another when life knocks us down.

This Shabbat, and in the week to come, I encourage all of us to tap into that empathy. To metaphorically remove our shoes so that no pebble escapes our attention. To embrace our neighbor as ourself, sharing the journey of life, with all its ups and downs, together.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos