Dear Friends, 
How many times can you read the same book? The first time, you cannot wait to discover what happens. By the fifth or sixth time, you already know every turn. Even a wonderful book eventually returns to the shelf.
A favorite song, on the other hand, is different. You can hear it hundreds of times, yet somehow appreciate it more each time. The melody settles into your heart. Before long, you are singing it yourself.
In this week’s Torah portions, Nitzavim-Vayelech, Moses tells the Jewish people:
“And now, write for yourselves this song and teach it to the Children of Israel. Place it in their mouths.”
These words contain the Torah’s 613th and final mitzvah: to write a Torah scroll. Yet the Torah describes what we must write as a song. Why?
A song is not something we simply finish and put away. It enters us and becomes part of us. That is how Torah and Judaism should feel. They should be lived with love, joy, passion, and excitement. Not the “oy” of Judaism, but the joy of Judaism. That does not mean we will understand every word immediately or feel inspired every moment. It means Torah should be something we want in our lives, something we love, return to, and turn to for guidance. We should want to learn it more, sing it more, and feel its values becoming the melody that guides how we speak, how we treat people, and how we live.
I think back to 2003, when Ettie and I told our friends, supporters, and dear mishpacha Stuart and Sondra Avrick, that we were moving to Naples to establish Chabad Naples. Without hesitation, Stuart said, “I am dedicating a Torah.” At the dedication the following year, Stuart let us in on the joke: when we first said “Naples,” he thought we meant Naples, Italy, a place he loved.
Does anyone remember that celebration in 2004? We carried the Torah along Seagate Drive, blocked the street, sang, danced, and cried tears of joy. It felt as though the song that began with Moses had traveled through thousands of years and countless generations until it reached a street in Naples.
What we could not have known was that four years later, while searching for a place to rent, we would return to that exact location. The very place where we had danced with the Torah became the first dedicated home of Chabad Naples, which we rented for nearly five years. Before it ever became our place, we had already saturated it with Torah, song, and joy. Perhaps that is what made it our place.
In a very real way, Chabad Naples began by dancing with the Torah. That day captured what we wanted it to become: a place where Torah is alive, Judaism is celebrated, and every person can become part of the song. That is the song we continue singing at Chabad Naples. We pray together. We learn together. We celebrate life together. I often tell people that you only need to schlep someone to Chabad Naples once. Once they experience the warmth and joy for themselves, they will want to return.
Just this past Sunday, that song became a chorus and turned to action with our Kitchen of Kindness. People came together to prepare fresh meals for members of our community who could use some extra care and support. Each meal carried more than nourishment. It carried a song into another person’s life.
There is so much happening in the world that it is easy to slip into survival mode, moving from one day to the next and simply trying to get through it all. But Judaism asks more of us than survival. It asks us to live. To bring song into our homes, enthusiasm into our mitzvahs, warmth into our relationships, and joy into the ordinary moments of life.
Living with joy does not mean pretending that life is always easy. I cannot control the headlines, politics, the economy, the weather, or what tomorrow will bring. But I can choose what I bring into today. I can choose gratitude. I can choose kindness. I can choose joy.
As Rosh Hashanah approaches, perhaps each of us can ask one simple question: Where can I bring a little more song into my life? Perhaps there is a mitzvah I can perform with more enthusiasm, a relationship I can fill with more warmth, or an ordinary day I can greet with more gratitude. We do not have to wait until everything feels perfect. Sometimes the song begins before the feeling does.
Find the joy. Find the song. Carry it with you into the new year. Come add your voice to the song at Chabad Naples this High Holiday season. Join us this Wednesday at our Shofar Factory, where you can make your own shofar. Come experience our meaningful services on the beach, and celebrate with us at our Rosh Hashanah dinner, where only a few seats remain. Let’s bring more song, joy, and Jewish life into the new year together.
May the Torah’s song guide us into a year of gratitude, kindness, faith, and joy. Wishing you and your family a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat,
Rabbi Fishel and Ettie Zaklos