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"Shabbat Shalom from Bangkok"

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Friday, April 24, 2026 - 3:15 AM

There is a wise saying.

What is worse: A clock that is (unbeknownst to you) thirty minutes late, or a clock that has stopped working?

Instinctively one may say that an inaccurate clock is better than no clock.

At least there is some keeping of time.

How about if you were in the airport departure hall, on your way to board your flight and you stopped to shop at duty free because your inaccurate watch told you that you still had thirty minutes till the gate is closed.

I am certain you would then tell me that a broken watch would have been better.

At least you would have known to ask someone for the time.

You would not have been lulled into thinking that you had time to shop when in fact you didn’t.

This is one way to understand the ‘allergy’ that the Torah has to the existence of non-exact weights or measuring tools in your house.

Even if you didn’t steal anything yet by having those inaccurate weights, just owning them is prohibited by the Torah.

Cheating on weights and measurements is even more abhorrent in the Torah’s eyes than classing stealing.

When someone takes something that doesn’t belong to him unlawfully, it is a clear-cut act of immorality.

One who engages in theft chooses to overlook his better moral sense and greedily steal from his fellow.

There is no way to whitewash this in your mind or in the mind of the society around us.

No so when one has slightly inaccurate weights or measuring tools. It presents itself more respectably.

And that is what makes it so shocking.

The whole notion of a measuring tool is to enable and provide a fair and honest transaction.

Taking that very tool and hiding behind it to cheat, is sly, sneaky and duplicitous.

A judge dressed in robes who uses his courtroom to render unfair judgements is more immoral in a more despicable way than an armed bandit.

A broken clock is clearly not a tool that can be relied on to tell time.

An inaccurate clock can misleadingly lead people to believe that they know what the time is.

Click here for more teachings about honesty in weights and measures.

There is a joke that brings out this point well. It is a cruel punchline but most important to hear and absorb.

Yankel, a Yiddish speaking immigrant walked into a restaurant in the days when the Lower-East- Side was the Yiddish speaking part of New York. It was a Chinese restaurant and to his amazement the Asian waiters were speaking fluent Yiddish. Yankel asked the owner incredulously, ‘wow how did you teach the waiters Yiddish?

To which the owner replied ‘Shh… they think they are learning English’.

Thank G-d it’s only a joke. Because if it was real, it would be horribly deceitful on the side of the employer.

Upon further reflection it is not such a joke and tragically many people engage in this deceit. Knowingly or unknowingly.

During the communist times in Russia, one’s child would be indoctrinated by the teachers of communism. To the extent that the parents who sent their kids to school with one set of truths, could find those very children turning against their parents with their new set of immoral values.

How careful we must be when we propose to teach the truth of Judaism that it actually remains genuinely and honestly a representation of the instructions of G-d.

The Torah is Divine.

All twenty-four books of the ‘original’ ‘testament’ are G-d’s word.

The ‘Oral Law’ as laid out in the Talmud and codified in Rambam and Shulchan Aruch are the only and sole interpretation of G-d’s words that define the Jewish religion.

We need to be so vigilant that Jewish doesn’t get altered G-d forbid to be JEW’ish like ‘blueish’ or ‘sweetish’ as in an approximation.

It is critical that we remember and affirm that the Torah, written and oral, is not changeable.

Otherwise, it’s like providing our students and children a set of values that profess to be truth but that are actually a distortion of the truth.

The Torah promises that if we stick to our values, with true measurements and weights, with honesty and integrity, G-d has joy and delight in the people whom He redeemed from Egypt.

Let us embrace authenticity, honesty and integrity in our relationship with G-d and with our fellow.

During these tumultuous times, our prayers are more fervent than ever.

HASHEM, please bring the Redemption, the promised utopian secure, peaceful and love-filled days of collectively ‘knowing’ and serving G-d joyfully and eternally.

WE WANT MASHIACH NOW.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

They had an only son.

Friday, April 17, 2026 - 4:03 AM

He is in his seventies, Mr. T., an only child of Holocaust survivors.

I was enthralled and inspired by his story that I ‘happened’ to hear not long ago.

His mother was about to give up her life during the daily march from the concentration camp to the labor camp. All it took was not to get up from the brief stop along the way. Anyone who remained sitting was promptly shot by the Nazi guards.

Life was not worth living under those conditions is what she felt. The day she planned to give up, she fell asleep and dreamed of her father.

‘Don’t give up. The Americans are going to liberate you within a week’.

This gave her the willpower to stand up and continue.

One week later her camp was liberated by the Americans.

The emaciated state of the inmates caused many tragic deaths. The liberating forces had not yet understood the type of care needed for nursing these walking skeletons back to normalcy. Many died those first few days of overeating.

Mr. T. continued telling me the story about his mother.

The American soldiers handed the survivors a few dollars each so that they could buy something of their choice.

‘My mother looked down at her feet and thought to herself, what could be better to buy than a proper pair of shoes instead of the rags that covered her feet. As she reached up to scratch her head, she realized that as an observant Jewish woman who had been married before the war, she ought to cover her hair which was beginning to grow back’.

‘My mother took the money and bought a piece of fabric to cover her head’ continued Mr. T.

‘My mother desperately wanted to have a child after the war although medically it looked like the ravages of the concentration camp may have caused irreversible damage to the possibly of bearing a child. My parents went to a holy Rebbe and asked for his blessings, that he should beseech G-d on their behalf to have a child. Promising that if they had a child they would move to Israel’.

They had an only son.

‘This was me. Indeed, I was raised in Israel, with the same pre-Holocaust Jewish traditions of my parents and grandparents, concluded Mr. T.

Today Mr. T. is a grandfather and great grandfather many times over, a successful businessman who supports Jewish life in Israel and around the world.

This is the true story of authentic, blessed, Jewish continuity.

Jewish continuity is a real issue.

We need to do more about it.

Israel's bureau of statistics published a report that says we are still almost a million Jews less than we were before the Holocaust.

This is eighty years later. We need to do more for Jewish continuity.

The best way to build Jewish continuity is by marrying Jewish and having many Jewish children.

We need to plan large families contrary to the popular voices in the secular arena which advocate small families.

To retain the Jewish growth and not lose Jews to assimilation and intermarriage it is critical that we raise our Jewish children as Jews with a strong Torah based identity.

As a community we ought to celebrate and put on a pedestal the heroes of our people. In a sense, the most unsung heroes of our time are the parents. They ought to be venerated as they are the ones who do the heavy lifting in terms of raising the next generation.

The responsibility of raising children is daunting. It’s a 24/7 undertaking. This is why it needs to be encouraged and promoted. A philanthropist who is a child of a Holocaust survivor once told me that he offered his kids one million dollars as a gift for every Jewish child they have. He mused to me that as we enter the modern era of the 2020s he is wondering whether a million dollars is enough of an incentive.

Raising children is constant work. It is rewarding, this is true. At the same time, it requires selflessness and dedication.

Kudos and blessings to the valiant parents who are bringing more souls into the world.

Judaism teaches that children are the most cherished Divine blessing known to mankind. Not only are they a blessing, but tradition teaches us that every additional child brings a new flow of blessings to a family. Each additional child does not decrease from the material, financial and spiritual stability of the home; on the contrary, the entire family actually benefits from the Divine blessings that each child brings.

The Rebbe once said that it is unnecessary for us to take over G-d's bookkeeping to figure out how many children He is able to care for. "He who feeds and sustains the whole world" the Rebbe said, "is able to take care of the children, as well as the parents."

Sometimes it is a struggle financially in the short term. To the parents I encounter who have large families and are temporarily struggling financially, I remind them that they are the truly wealthy Jews. For true Jewish wealth is not money and possessions, rather it is authentic Jewish nachas from children and grandchildren.

It is not pleasant to pinch pennies, nor does it feel good to receive financial support from others, but the holiness of fulfilling G-d’s directive ‘be fruitful and multiply’ literally, is a blessing that no money can buy.

In Israel they have a wonderful term to describe large families.

משפחות ברוכות ילדים

‘Families that are blessed with (many) children’.

I acknowledge that many of my readers are already past the age of having physical children.

To the grandparents who are reading this I say, make sure that you support your children as they have children. Emotional support. Financial support. Keep on cheering and applauding your kids for their giant contribution of raising kids.

Yes, kids make a mess and are noisy, but the noise stands in stark opposition to the deathly silence that resounded in Europe after the holocaust with nary a Jewish child in sight. And the children that survived in hiding were terrified to utter a sound. Many of them needed to reclaim their Jewish identity having hidden under the guise of being Christians.

Thank G-d our communities today resound with the humming sound of youthful exuberance. The sound of children in a Jewish community is music. It sings the melodies of a Jewish future please G-d.

To those who didn’t have the gift of having their own children. Help those families who do have children. Offer a helping hand in whatever way you can. Give money to Jewish organizations who educate our next generation. Give money during your lifetime. Consider a bequest in your will to vibrant organizations that foster and develop Jewish continuity.

The Torah teaches that one’s good deeds are their ‘offspring’. The more mitzvah’s we do, the more positivity and G-dly energy we bring into the world. These become our spiritual children.

Everyone must take part in this communal responsibility to proudly and joyously continue the mission that G-d has entrusted His chosen people with here on earth.

The first exodus was out of Egypt. From there we went to Mount Sinai where we got our ‘marching orders’.

We have been hard at work since then perfecting the world and bringing G-d consciousness to the universe through studying and living with Torah and Mitzvahs.

The final exodus, the one we all await with intense and insatiable yearning, will be the coming of Mashiach as we march out of this exile to the holy land - Israel.

An expansive Israel, a land that exudes holiness and is flowing with milk and honey, a land that is peaceful and secure forever.

And most importantly we will witness the Messianic building of the Third Bet Hamkidash, may it be speedily in our days.

Shabbat Shalom

Chodesh Tov

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

I am ‘high’.

Friday, April 10, 2026 - 5:53 AM

I am ‘high’.

I mean to say that I am uplifted from the eight days of Pesach.

So many moments of Yiddishkeit and Jewish camaraderie.

The Passover Seders were uplifting, rejuvenating (read reJEWvenating) and inspiring.

The joint Torah study and praying was meaningfully uplifting. The festive Passover holiday meals were delicious and joyous.

And now it is a post Pesach ‘regular’ Friday.

No 10am holiday prayers today. Back to 7:30 am weekday prayer schedule. After prayer and a Torah class I am back at the office. Phones are ringing. Secretaries are typing. The bank needs to be attended to. Back to the familiar hecticness of coordinating the multiple aspects of Jewish life in Thailand.

I don’t want to come down from my ‘high’.

I am sure you join me in this sentiment.

Here is the good news. We don’t have to – actually we shouldn’t - climb down from the heights.

Pesach doesn’t really end.

The experience of liberation is one that we take with us.

Here are two examples of implementable Pesach moment that you should take with you.

Something doesn’t go your way. You are about to get into a funk.

Anger is welling up.

An inner voice reminds you that anger never gets you anywhere positive, but you shush up that voice and feel you are enslaved to your nature.

Think Pesach.

Liberation.

First of all, pause. Take a deep breath. You are not enslaved to your natural reactions.

Being liberated means that you can choose in what state of mind you wish to be.

This next point I am about to make is of critical importance during these times of upheavals in the world.

Particularly as I am referring to our reactions to the ubiquitous anti-semitism that has reared its ugly poisonous head from all sides of the world.

Our enemies would like us to focus on fear. They would like to see unhappy fearful Jews who curtail their involvement in active Jewish life.

If you read all the reports from around the world that describe incidents of Jew hatred it is easy to fall into despair and panic.

Pesach empowers us to be liberated.

It is our choice about what we focus on.

We ought to focus on the incredible gift of being a Jew.

Hashem extracted us – an entire nation – from slavery – to liberation.

That was just the first part of the Supernal plan.

From Egypt we embarked on our seven-week journey to Mount Sinai.

It was there that Hashem gave us our title as his chosen nation. After we stated our complete acceptance of Hashem’s word, He gave us the most precious otherworldly G-dly gift. A gift beyond human or even angelic imagination.

G-d gave us His Torah.

His most precious ‘thing’ given to His most precious people.

You and I are the recipients of this pedigree of being the nation that G-d placed His holy name upon.

Think along the lines of ‘purveyors’ to royal courts. Having the royal emblem on a company product picks up the prestige and honor of the company.

We are the people whom G-d places his holy name upon.

The only way we have survived for more than three thousand years when so many other nations have faded and disappeared as independent nations, is by G-d’s miracles.

For reasons known only to Him, Hashem chose to take us through the harrowing and challenging roller coaster of exile and persecution and performs miracles of all types, shapes and sizes to save us, time and time again.

When you make that switch in your mind to focus on the fact that we belong to a nation who G-d constantly protects with miracles you breathe more calmly.

You and I are children of the illustrious Avraham, Yitschak and Yaakov. Hashems special ‘forces’ whom He redeemed from Egypt with a 'mighty hand and an outstretched arm’. A people who Hashem continues to shepherd and protect, nurture and love.

That is a reason to rejoice. To sing and to dance.

Even more important than your own rejoicing about your Judaism is educating your children, students and those you have an influence on to also rejoice and relish their heritage.

Over this Pesach I heard from various people about the special and joyous Jewish moments that they experienced as children. It is critical that we transmit the beauty and inspiration of Judaism, community and family in a joyous way.

This means making it fun for the children. Adapting the methods of injecting joy and enjoyment to be age-appropriate. Don’t expect your little kids to get excited about a deep spiritual epiphany that you have had as an adult. On the other hand, as a mature thinking adult, don’t get stuck at having a relationship with G-d only about the Jewish culinary traditions. Latkes are sufganiyot are nice and bring back warm memories but as a sophisticated adult you could be engaging with the beatify and depth of the Torah.

Jump into a deeper Jewish experience. Study something meaningful from the Torah and converse daily with G-d in prayer.

This is liberation.

Whatever may be going on outside in the world, you and I have the choice to create our own liberated space in our minds and hearts. This will spill over into our homes and communities.

So, as you and I emerge from the heights and giddiness of eight days of Pesach, let us reengage with the nitty gritty of everyday life in a challenged world, with a new energy and inspiration.

To refine, elevate and change the world by living in a more elevated space.

As we get closer to the coming of Mashiach the Rebbe encouraged us to learn more about this topic. Moreover, we can try living in a mindset reminiscent of the changes that the world will undergo in its redeemed state, after Mashiach’s coming.

Mashiach will usher in a new world order of peace and harmony. There will be no jealousy, no unfair competition. Good things will be readily available to all, and we won’t live with a scarcity mindset that causes us to hoard,

When Mashiach comes G-d’s presence will be openly manifest so that we will desire to do what is right rather than what is convenient. Our choices will be obvious. Humanity at large will do what is G-d centered not what is ‘me’ centered.

Doing the right thing will come naturally. Just as one doesn’t put their finger into fire as they don’t want to get burned, we will all naturally do what G-d has prescribed as it will be a no-brainer.

Sounds utopic?

It is.

Sounds challenging.

It is.

Enjoy the challenge while we still have it.

Ironically, the one thing we will wistfully and nostalgically remember after Mashiach comes is the great challenge of doing the right thing even when it is difficult.

Pesach, in which we remember our first liberation through Moshe and yearn for our final liberation with Mashiach, empowers us to live a liberated and Mashiach oriented way of life.

It’s a two-pronged personal exercise.

On the one hand we have our personal Egypt to struggle with, overcome, and exit from.

On the other hand, we can uplift, develop and evolve into living life in a transformed mode. We can choose to live in an uplifted and inspirational mindset of wealth and abundance that allows us to be kind, giving and sharing.

In reality we are still in deeply uncertain times.

And openly miraculous times.

Simultaneously.

Our minds and hearts were focused on Israel where the barrage of rockets and missiles was unabating during Pesach. Even while at the same time we recognize the incredible miracles that are happening in Israel all the time.

Impossibly exhausting for those going through the unimaginable reality of missiles being shot incessantly into populated civilian areas.

Impossible as well not to see the miracles that G-d is performing as time and time again near calamities are averted.

We seem to be a nation that is called upon to live with competing emotions.

On the one hand we are acutely aware that we are a nation that faces enemies who wish to annihilate us in every generation. The names and characters change but their agenda of destruction is the same.

On the other hand we have Hashem’s promise to us that keeps us enduring, resilient and thriving.

May Hashem give us the ability to have strong faith and continue to follow G-d with love and joy till He takes us out of this state of exile to bring us Mashiach and the ultimate and consummate redemption.

After which there will be no further exile.

No suffering. No war. No jealously.

Eternal peace, harmony, blissful connection to G-d.

We can’t wait!

We want Mashiach NOW.

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

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