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Rabbi Fishel's Blog

Slow Down for the New Year

Dear Friends,

I often hear from people, how busy they are, how much time they don't have to get more involved, and it reminded me of a story.

The great Chassidic master, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Barditchev, once saw a young man running down the street. The Chassidic master stopped him and asked, " Where are you running?" The fellow answered, "To make a living, rabbi." To which the Berditchever responded, "So how do you know that your living lies in that direction and you're running after it? Perhaps your livelihood is to be found in the opposite direction, and you're running away from it?" 

So often, we get busy with things we are certain are so important, but along the way we are actually running away from the things that really matter.

So as we approach the New Year, let's slow down and take a moment to figure out what is truly important in life, what we want our children and grandchildren to remember in 50 years, and get involved - or more involved - in the community and Jewish life.

With best wishes for a sweet New Year and Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos 


 

 

 

Am Yisrael Chai!

Dear Friends,

The saddest day on the Jewish calendar is the Ninth of Av, “Tisha b'Av," the date on which both our Holy Temples were destroyed, and exile, persecution and spiritual darkness began.

During this time-period we fast, eschew pleasurable activities and amenities, and lament the destruction of the Holy Temple and the the worlds exile.

It is a tradition, however, that Tisha b'Av is also the birthday of our Redeemer. This symbolizes the idea that from the ashes of the destroyed temple will rise an incomparably magnificent edifice; exile will give birth to redemption. Thus Tisha b’Av is also a day of anticipation and hope, for “One who mourns Jerusalem will merit seeing her happiness."

One of the core principles in Judaism is the belief that better days are ahead: a world of universal peace, and peace among humanity. 

This picture expresses this in a powerful way. It is worth sharing, to give you strength in your own journey, in the midst of the hate, anti-semitism and negativity. Stand up and be counted! Let Shoshana be an inspiration!

Be fruitful and multiply!

Words form social media…

“In front of her eyes she watched Mengele taking her mother. Shoshana Obitz herself survived Auschwitz. After the war, she met Dov, who lost his wife and four daughters in the camps. They married and came to Haifa. She worked as a seamstress and helped him run the chicken shop. Shoshana on her birthday and asked for one gift: that all her descendants come together to the Western Wall.

Am Yisrael Chai! ”

As Tisha B’Av approaches, we pray for God to see the unity and resolve of our people. May our hostages be swiftly reunited with their loving families, even before the fast begins. Let us hope for a future where pain, suffering, and tears are no more, and our world is blessed with peace and healing. 

Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos


Holding on to faith: navigating through unprecedented times

 Dear Friends,

Are you also frantically scrolling through the news, waiting to hear what is happening, hoping that things don’t get any worse?

Last week, 12 beautiful children were murdered in Northern Israel. Then Israel successfully eliminated the man responsible for their deaths, and the deaths of 14 other civilians and 18 IDF soldiers: Hezbollah’s military leader, Fuad Shukr. In another surprise move that same day, Israel eliminated Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to Iran. Haniyeh was the political leader of Hamas, and the man who made the October 7th attack possible.

Now we sit on edge as Iran, Hezbollah, and other terror groups threaten to rain retaliatory fire on Israel, with a bombardment of attack drones and ballistic missiles from all sides. All this, 300 days into a traumatic war, with 115 hostages still held captive in Gaza.

We keep hearing the word “unprecedented,” everyone says that we’re living in unprecedented times--but if you take a look at Jewish history, this is not unprecedented for us. It’s difficult, it’s heartbreaking, it’s even scary, but not at all unprecedented.

Even in this week’s Torah reading, Moses leads the brand new Jewish nation in war against the Midianites, who had just attempted to annihilate them. The Torah and all our history books are filled with stories where it looked like we were at the brink, but then G-d stepped in and delivered us.

We’re in the thick of one of those stories now. The drama is at its peak; a hint of light is twinkling behind the dark stormy clouds, but we haven’t yet noticed that through the anguish and pain, G-d was holding our hand all along, walking us towards a happier day.

The peak can be the most difficult part. The coming days might have us tense, holding our breaths, perhaps shedding tears through the roaring thunder. But we were never a people to sit back and do nothing. We’ll increase in acts of kindness, we’ll pray, we’ll learn from the Torah and fill the world with more goodness, more light; enough to outweigh the dark.

And then we’ll rise up, as the eternal people that we are. We’ll talk about how they tried to destroy us, how G-d saved us, and how now it’s time to feast.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll join us in shul this Shabbat—the timing is poignant. Come at 11 o'clock for the Torah reading with some commentary. It's a beautiful experience to be together with the Chabad of Naples family on Shabbat. An action that will bring about our victory of good days for our nation, in Israel and around the world, for peace and blessings the world over.

Rabbi Fishel Zaklos

 

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