"Shabbat Shalom from Bangkok"

If I were to ask you—what is your favorite mitzvah? Which one speaks to you, uplifts you, comes naturally?

And then, on the other hand, which mitzvah do you find most challenging?

Take a quiet moment with that question. 

Over the years I have had the privilege of learning with young men and preparing them for their barmitzvah. I posed this very question to them. Most of my students responded that their favorite mitzvah is helping others. One of them chose wearing tzitzit.

And what about the most difficult? 

Their answers were very relatable. The struggle is mostly with refraining from eating non-kosher food items that are readily available. 

They know what Hashem asks of them, and mostly they do refrain from eating blatantly unkosher food, but they admitted that it requires effort.

There is something deeply moving about this natural tendency to want to help others.

Even at such a young age, the instinct to help another comes naturally and brings genuine joy. 

One does not need to be a wealthy person or have vast fortunes in order to feel the beauty of giving. Even children, with limited abilities and resources, experience the profound satisfaction of helping someone else according to their level.

That desire to help others, I believe, never diminishes. But as life becomes more complex, so too does the implementation.

Part of my life’s calling is to help people strengthen their relationship with Hashem, including guiding them in the mitzvah of tzedakah. 

The Torah speaks clearly: to give ten percent of one’s earnings, and even more beautifully, to aspire to twenty percent.

And yet, even those who feel deeply positive about giving can find it challenging when it comes to actual practice.

There is a debate about what is easier when it comes to tithing for tzedakah. Is it easier to give ten dollars out of a hundred, or one hundred thousand out of a million? 

I cannot say with certainty—but my strong sense is that those who train early, when the amounts are small, carry that strength with them as the numbers grow.

Let us return to the question we began with—your favorite mitzvah, and your most difficult one.

This was not merely an exercise. Each of these categories holds a unique and powerful quality.

When you perform a mitzvah that you love, you do so with joy, enthusiasm, and often with impressive attention to detail. There is something deeply precious about serving Hashem in that way. Joyful mitzvot are radiant—they elevate both the person and the moment.

But what about the mitzvah that feels difficult?

In a way they are even more special.

For the only reason you do it is because it is the will of Hashem. 

It may be that you do it (initially) without the same joy. You may even undergo some twinge of inner resistance, and yet, it precisely in that experience that something even deeper is revealed.

When a person fulfills a mitzvah that does not come naturally, solely because Hashem asked, that is a moment of profound connection. 

A connection not based on inspiration or excitement, but on faithful commitment. 

It is based not on passion and emotion, but on commitment and truth.

How do you know what is right?

To truly know what is objectively right, one must turn to the Torah, our eternal guide. And, when needed, seek the counsel of a teacher grounded in its wisdom.

When a person sets aside their own inclination and follows Hashem’s will not because it feels right, but because it is right, this creates a relationship with Hashem that is real, deep, and enduring.

As we approach Shavuot—the time when we recommit ourselves to the entire Torah—I would suggest something practical and personal.

Return to those two mitzvot you identified: the one you love, and the one you find challenging.

Strengthen your observance in them both.

Enhance the one you love—bring even more joy, more care, more beauty into its observance.

And with conviction and faith strengthen your commitment to the one that challenges you - because it is there that your deepest connection lies.

In doing so, you will hold both gifts: the joy of inspired mitzvot, and the depth of committed ones.

Wishing you a Chag Sameach and a Shabbat Shalom 

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

I think that this is a record-breaking week for Jewish life in Thailand.

On Sunday a Pidyon Haben – redeeming ceremony for first born son at thirty days old.

On Monday a Bar Mitzvah.

A Brit Milah on Tuesday.

The grand finale for the week was on Thursday night. A wedding (held in Israel) of two young Jews who were raised from infancy in Bangkok. Dvir and Danielle were students of ours since they were little children, and today they represent the future of our community. It was a wonderful nachas to officiate at their wedding.

In one week, the gamut of Jewish lifecycle events.

Mazel Tov!

It feels like the Thailand Jewish community has come of age.

The USA embassy met with me last week to ask about antisemitism in Thailand. 

I shared with them the way it used to be.

My beard caught people’s attention.

People giggled and called out ‘Bin Laden’ when they saw me in the street after the 9/11 attacks on the twin tower. 

Kids laughingly pointed at me at shopping malls in December calling me ‘Santa’. 

Most of the local population was clueless about the Jewish religion. 

You cannot have antisemitism if no one knows what Jews are.

Today that is not the case.

I would not be telling the truth if I didn’t say that the growth and deepening of Jewish life in Thailand is taking place against a backdrop of increasing anti-semitism (for PC purposes presented as anti-Israelism).

Thank G-d the Royal Thai Government is doing an admirable job in upholding the safety and security of the Jewish community in Thailand. We are grateful and thankful to live in this truly amazing kingdom. 

The fomenting of bigotry and scapegoating seems to be sponsored by agitators from the headquarters of antisemitism, Iran and its proxies. 

In today’s uber-connected world, there are no borders. One can be sitting on one side of the world and creating hatred on the other side of the world. And with google translate and ChatGPT it's not hard to import and adapt hatred from one language and culture to another.

If it is that way with negativity, how much more so when it comes to positivity.

You can push a few buttons and do kindness and charity in all four corners of the earth. You can study and teach Torah across all borders.

We don’t like antisemitism. That is an understatement. We detest it and decry it and do anything in our power to rid the world of any form of racism and intolerance. 

On the other hand, we don’t back down, get disillusioned or G-d forbid run away from our Judaism. 

On the contrary. G-d blessed the Jews in Egypt, ‘as much as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and exceeded all expectations’.

In contemporary times we too are witnessing a strengthening and deepening of Jewish resurgence far outpacing the hateful voices, vibes and violent actions.

We are not strangers to being singled out for hate.

The Haggadah says that in every generation there are those who wish to annihilate us. Hashem saves us from their hands.

We are still here. G-d has promised that we will be here forever. For we are G-d’s people who He loves like a young child – unconditionally. 

As I stood under the Chupa in the holy land of Israel wedding two Jewish souls, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and shed tears of joy. Dvir and Danielle are children of families with combined histories that survived the Holocaust, the perils of living in Islamic regions and more recently the strong pull of assimilation so pervasive in our open societies.

Standing under the open sky, enveloped under the traditional canopy of the Chupa, dedicating themselves to build a Jewish home together, the eternity of the Jewish People was highlighted and celebrated.

I am epically optimistic about our future. 

In Israel of course. And anywhere that we create pockets of Jewish life – spiritual Israels.

The hate? 

Yes, it is still here. We thought it was stamped out. But like a bushfire that was almost extinguished only to start raging again from some lingering smoldering trees, so it is with the fires of antisemitism. They were receding and dying down when whoosh, in the most irrational way they flare up. 

Our unique role in the world started when G-d gave us the Torah 3338 years ago at Mount Sinai.

Ironically, this was also the same time that the hatred toward the Jewish people intensified. 

Who even noticed though. 

Imagine you were just named the administrator of all the diamond mines in the world, do you think you would not have opposers? 

It wouldn’t matter what you did. Even if you intended to let everyone have their fair share of the business there would be those who could not bear to see you receive this special appointment. 

Would you turn away or repeal this epic gift because there are some jealous disgruntled haters?

The gift we received by Almighty G-d conferring His great and holy name on to us makes anything and everything else immaterial and of no real consequence. 

This is why as painfully and agonizingly torturous our history has been, Jews have continued to be Jewish and follow Hashem’s path of Torah and Mitzvot, defiantly and more importantly joyfully 

As we come to the anniversary of our becoming a people by receiving the Torah at Sinai it is a great time to reflect on what a gift it is to be a Jew.

There is something else we should take to heart when facing so many voices who seek to delegitimize us.

Our strength is in our unity. We have differences to be sure, but we are ONE people at our core.

At that time, when G-d gave us the Torah just after liberating us from Egypt, there was one main preparation that the Jewish people made which made them ready and worthy to receive the Torah.

The Jewish people camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai ‘like one man with one heart’.

That pristine unity was the final act of preparation that sealed the deal and positioned the Jewish people to receive the Torah a few days later.

In our times too. 

As we prepare to receive the Torah on Shavuot this coming Friday, let us prepare by being united.

Feeling united and acting united. 

Get together with fellow Jews who you may not usually associate with.

Reach out to say hi to fellow Jews you may have had a falling out with.

And meditate on this simple metaphor: one twig can be easily broken. Multiple twigs bundled tightly together cannot be broken.

AM YISRAEL CHAI. 

One people connected to the One G-d who gave us His One (and only) Torah.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

Computers are so prevalent that it’s hard to remember life before them. And for many younger people it’s impossible to imagine life without them.

Recently, when I asked a bar mitzvah student who looked tired, ‘how did you sleep last night’ he looked down at his watch and pressed a button. He proceeded to give me a rundown. He was in bed for nine hours. Of those hours there was some better sleep, some less quality sleep, his heart rate was steady, all of these myriad details measured by the small watch he wears. Incredible.

I took a stroll down memory lane to my bar mitzvah. When I celebrated my bar mitzvah (besides for the Sifrei Kodesh – holy books that I received and still use to this day), the most memorable tech gift I got was a calculator watch. Tiny buttons, a small screen, hard to use, but a full-on calculator. It was the coolest thing you could imagine.

Once down memory lane I reminisced about our arrival to Thailand in 1993. When we first got to Thailand Mrs Myra Borisute bought us three very memorable and expensive items. A top quality, full-size American oven and stovetop for Nechama. A mobile phone ‘so we can reach you when needed, a rabbi needs to be reachable’ and a computer for making flyers and writing newsletters. 

With these ‘tools’ Nechama and I were able to start our work with full power.

Nechama’s oven and stove produced challas, cakes, chicken soups and all of the other goodies that builds family and communal life.

I started to get my ‘feet wet’ in (pre-internet) computer usage and started to use it for community programing. 

For example, one of the ways I used my computer was as follows. When Pesach came, it was up to me to figure out how many kg’s of matzah, how many bottles of wine, how many chickens and how many dishes we needed to order.

For those of you who remember the olden days, there was pen, paper, calculator and using your mind to figure things out.

Now that I was becoming computer literate, I was introduced to the Windows program called Excel. 

The beauty and power of the spreadsheet was that once I put in the formula, I just needed to update the amount of people, and all those calculations were computed automatically.

A rabbi can use spreadsheets for community events planning. 

A chef can use it for menu planning.

A business can use it for earning forecasts. 

And an army general could use it for soldier deployment planning.

If a general were planning how many soldiers would be needed to drive the invading enemy away from your borders the formula may look something like this.

If the enemy has one hundred soldiers positioned to attack; what is the number of soldiers needed to drive away the enemy.

Once that number is established, the greater the number of enemy forces, the larger the army one needs to assemble to vanquish the enemy.

In this week’s parsha the Torah says that if the people of Israel study Torah and listens and fulfils G-d’s commandments they will be blessed with peace. 

If someone tries to upset that peace, if an enemy rises against them, five Israelite soldiers will be sufficient to repel one hundred enemy troops.

That sounds like a miraculous and blessed formula.

Five ‘good guys’ are stronger than twenty ‘bad guys’.

If you take that blessed supernatural Torah formula and put that into excel as the basis of computing security need you wouldn’t be wrong if you called for five hundred troops when faced with an enemy buildup of ten thousand troops. 

If five are needed to repel one hundred, five hundred are needed to drive off ten thousand.

One hundred divided by twenty is five.

Then thousand divided by twenty is five hundred.

It’s uneven but G-d will make it work.

This is an incredibly miraculous promise in terms of the power of Jewish soldiers when armed with G-d’s blessing.

It gets much better than that.

The continuation of the verse throws this computation totally off the predicable mathematic charts.

The full verse in the Torah (Vayikra-Leviticus 26:8) reads: ‘five of your soldiers will drive away one hundred of the enemies. One hundred of your soldiers will drive away ten thousand of the enemy forces’. 

This does not compute using a mathematical formula.

The mathematical based spreadsheet would compute: five can be victorious over one hundred, one hundred can be victorious over two thousand. 

Our Sages introduce a concept that is powerful and empowering.

‘The combined power when there are ‘many’ who follow in G-d’s path yields incomparably more blessing than the power when there are but a ‘few’ who do G-d’s bidding’.

When five are jointly committed to G-d’s path, they can miraculously be victorious over one hundred enemies.

One hundred who are jointly serving G-d, are assured victory of ten thousand opponents.

This is Divine ‘compounded’ Mathematics.

This is awesomely uplifting.

Think about it.

You may say to yourself, what is the big deal if I don’t join the ranks of my fellow Jews in doing the mitzvah available to me. 

Of course, I don’t want to harm anyone, certainly not my Jewish brethren. I want to be community minded and do what is best for my people, you think to yourself. 

But sometimes one can get dispirited and think ‘how much difference will my one lone action make’?

One more or one less, how important can that be to the collective?

First of all, the power of one deed cannot be underestimated. As the Rambam summed it up as if the world is totally balanced and your one good deed can tip the scale. 

And then there is this weeks Torah portion that injects yet more power to the deeds of each and every one of us. 

The Torah teaches us that our one good deed is not just one more deed. When added to the mitzvahs that others are doing, it equals compounded and collective power that is much greater than the ‘one’ that was added. 

This reinforces in the most powerful way possible the critical importance and the immense power inherent in Jewish unity.

The divine miraculous power that Jewish unity injects into our collective journey is our ‘secret weapon’.

During these turbulent and unpredictable times, when our people are under attack in countries that one never would have imagined, we need to access and ‘power up’ our invincible weapon.

Jewish unity.

It is easy to call on ‘them’, the government, the ‘leaders’ to foster peace and unity. One can choose to point fingers and blame this one or that one for debilitating disunity among our people.

The real truth is that it needs to be a grassroots effort. You and I have the power to ‘keep our eyes on the prize’ and highlight, generate and promote our unity.

Not just that we are all equally hated by our sworn enemies.  It is true that in the eyes of an antisemite we are all one group. But that is a depressing way to think of Jewish unity.

Rather we ought to think about the things that bring us together and unite us in a positive way.

Our joint past. 

We all stood together at Mount Sinai and received the Torah united ‘as one person with one heart’.

In the present, although at the surface it may not always be obvious, at our core, we all love each other and each and every Jew, we all love the Torah and we all love G-d!

And G-d loves us all equally and unconditionally. 

And we ought to project the way it will look in the glorious Messianic future that we await.

The Prophet says in the name of Hashem, that in the future Redemption, NO JEW WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.

We, each and every one of us will be redeemed by Mashiach as a united people. 

Let us strengthen our resolve to act in a unified way, and add – even if they are small steps that we start with - in mitzvahs of loving kindness between each other and strengthening our connection to G-d.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

One of my favorite days is today.

Pesach Sheni – literally ‘Second Pesach’.

The quick story about this day is:

A year after the Exodus, G-d instructed the people of Israel to bring the Passover offering on the afternoon of the fourteenth of Nissan, and to eat it that evening, roasted over the fire, together with matzah and bitter herbs, as they had done the previous year just before they left Egypt.

“There were, however, certain persons who had become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, and could not, therefore, prepare the Passover offering on that day. They approached Moses and Aaron . . . and they said: ‘. . . Why should we be deprived, and not be able to present G-d’s offering in its time, amongst the children of Israel?’” (Numbers 9:6–7).

In response to their plea, G-d established the 14th of Iyar as a day for the “Second Passover” (Pesach Sheni) for anyone who was unable to bring the offering on its appointed time in the previous month.

Read the Original Narrative

This day is very special to me. 

Because this day represents the “second chance” achieved by teshuvah, the power of repentance and “return.” In the words of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch, “The Second Passover means that it’s never a ‘lost case.’

Our conduct can always be rectified. Even someone who is impure, who was far away and even desired to be so, can still correct himself.”  There is no justification for despair. Every individual, no matter what his situation, always has the potential to make a “leap forward” (the literal translation of the Hebrew word pesach) in his service of G-d.

As I write these words on Friday afternoon, I am running a bit off schedule as I am coming from a morning funeral.

Not a happy event. 

Yet, the mood was not a depressing one.

To me, it seemed like the bereaved sons had a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of relief that they were able to provide their 73-year-old deceased father a true Jewish burial.

The vigor and dedication with which the Chevra Kadish, (comprised of the local rabbis and lay community members) carried out their labor of love was outstanding.

Hashem provided a clear and very sunny day. In the pastoral and quiet fields of rural Chachoengsao you could hear the birds chirping in the background. 

The deceased Tzi’s family name is Shinzinger which literally translates to ‘beautiful singer’. That is what the chirping of the birds sounded like to me. 

Overall, it felt somewhat surreal. 

As if I could hear the melody and song of a life properly balanced and aligned as things were unfolding in the way they should, in the lifecycle of a Jew.

It wasn’t always like that.

I cannot forget the first time I was called up to officiate at the funeral of a Jewish woman in 1993 or shortly thereafter. 

The burial grounds that had been used by Jews living and passing in Thailand was the Protestant cemetery. In perusing the Halachic sources, it was very evident that presiding over a Jewish funeral in a non-dedicated Jewish cemetery was problematic. 

However, it was clear to me that unlike the communities of yore, in Eastern Europe or even modern-day diaspora, where Jewish burial options exist, here there were not acceptable options. 

Cremation, which was the only other option, is totally anathema to Judaism and is 100% forbidden according to Jewish law. 

I gave a speech in English eulogizing the deceased woman. 

Then I followed up with a short statement in Hebrew. 

‘Truthfully, I am not allowed to preside over this funeral as we are interring a Jew into a non-dedicated Jewish cemetery plot. However, the other choice – cremation - is infinitely worse. I pledge beli-neder on behalf of us all, that we will see to get a Jewish cemetery and we will move this deceased to the new Jewish cemetery’.

Miraculously, not long after that the adjoining plot of land, separated by a high wall, was discovered to be a possible location for a Jewish cemetery.

Through the joint efforts of the pioneering members of our community, Mr. Mike Gerson of blessed memory, Mr. Abi Kashani, Mr. Ron Cristal and Mrs. Myra Borisute and several others (apologies for not naming everyone involved) may they all be health and well, the funds were raised and the cemetery was established.

It’s been more than thirty years, and the initial piece of land is almost full. Several years ago, we began a campaign to buy new cemetery land. This was purchased in Chachoengsao, registered as a burial place, and inaugurated and sanctified by the Chevra Kadisha as we did ‘circuits’ around the perimeters of the land. 

Today’s burial is the third person to be buried in this new cemetery.

As I mentioned at each of these three burials, the deceased who are buried in this opening stage are ‘pioneers’ of sorts as they ‘pave the way’ for enabling proper Jewish burial for as long as Jews live in Thailand. 

Of course, we pray to arrive at the Mashiach stage very soon and not need to bury any more.

Once we have arrived at this stage, we can move forward please G-d in the plans to landscape the premises and create an ascetically pleasing, pastoral, serene and quiet final resting place for our loved ones.

Why do I sound passionate about a topic so sad and disheartening?  

Because of its primary importance in Jewish life.

This week’s Parsha provides a very clear instruction about our obligation to bury a Jewish person who passes away.

Usually, the family would be the ones to lovingly bear that responsibility.

In the instance that a Jew passes away without any relatives, and no one to look after interring him.

This is referred to as a ‘met mitzvah’ i.e. ‘a deceased whom it is a mitzvah to care for’.

Torah law obligates a Kohen Gadol, on Yom Kippur, to leave the "holy of holies" to take care of a met mitzvah(!) 

This is how important taking care of our dead and burying them properly is.

There is a cultural epidemic in the Jewish world today that I want to address.

It used to be a given, a default for anyone who was even mildly Jewishly inclined to choose burial as their wishes after death.

I was born a Jew, I wish to be buried as a Jew. 

Whatever journey one may have had in the interim, the final wishes of Jews throughout the thousands of years has always been burial. Whether we were living in Israel, in the Diaspora, whether during times of suffering or times of plenty, the choice has always been Jewish burial.

This long held assumption is under assault and challenged in today's climate and that is why I want to talk about it and address it.

For some inexplicable reason it has become fashionable to think that cremation has benefits over burial.

There are multiple reasons why throughout our history, a traditional Jewish burial was always considered a highest priority. There are many reasons that cremation should be off the table for a Jew.

 Click here for a full essay on the topic.

Let me just add that if one fully grasps and visualizes the process of cremation they would recoil from that choice.

In my humble opinion, the real and foremost reason that Jewish burial is under assault, is the economics. Simply the price of carrying out a Jewish burial in many countries is expensive. 

In Thailand, where cremation is the default and so many options exist, where burial is almost nonexistent it is particularly challenging.

Add to this the economic factor. Many of the Jews who move here as elderly people are living on small pensions, often with no family safety net, and when they pass away it seems that the only option within financial reach is cremation G-d forbid.

Through the donations of philanthropic Jewish visionaries, our community has been blessed to be able to provide a solution to this option. 

In our new cemetery, the cost of burial is very affordable as the large tract of land  sits in Chachoengsao, a rural area 60-90 minutes’ drive from Bangkok. 

Most importantly, our community is blessed with some generous friends who see to it that if a Jews passes away and does not have funds, they will donate to the ‘Met Mitzvah fund’ will cover the burial from A-Z. (If you wish to be one of those who participate in this mitzvah please let me know).

If burying a fellow Jew is important enough to take the High Priest from his holiest role (in a met mitzvah situation), we must take this mitzvah very seriously and take responsibility to provide proper Jewish burial in the most feasible way possible.

Enough said about passing away.

We choose LIFE.

If this is the way we ought to treat our dead, HOW MUCH MORE SO must we treat our fellow living Jews with love, care and compassion.

The mitzvah of helping the dead is called ‘chessed shel emmet’ , a kindness of truth. 

Do you know why?

Because when you help a living person there may be an angle in how you think you will be reimbursed with a favor by the person you are helping. When you help someone who passed away it is a ‘true’ favor as they can no longer repay you.

This is the way we ought to do acts of compassion and kindness to others.

Without expecting anything in return.

Pure kindness and benevolence with no agenda or motive.

Look around you and see who you can help.

When you rejoice, see who else you can invite to rejoice with you.

Even though you are doing it with purity, you will by default be a recipient of the greatest feeling possible.

The feeling of partnering with Hashem in spreading chessed kindness to His creations. 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

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

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’.

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

The Haggada that is recited at the Seder on the eve of Pesach should be recited with a JOYOUS tone and in an UPLIFTED voice.

It is the celebration of our liberation. 

No one can ever take us back into the abject slavery in which we found ourselves as slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt over three thousand years ago.

This is not a nostalgic historical celebration. The Passover Seder is a reenactment. A reliving of what it means to go from the lowest point in human experience, that of degrading slavery, to the heady and uplifting space of freedom and liberty.

Jews have celebrated Passover in the best of times.

Today there are many Passover ‘resorts’ where Jewish families combine the religious celebration with beautiful views and destinations and fine kosher cuisine.

Jews have celebrated Passover during the inquisition. 

During the holocaust. 

In the Siberian gulags.

And today Jews living in Israel are preparing for Pesach even as they dash in and out of shelters.

Tragically, some families are mourning fallen sons.

When I saw the name of the fallen Israeli soldier a few days ago, I knew it was a relative.

You see Moshe Yitschak Katz was named after his great-grandfather Rabbi Moshe Yitschak Hecht, who was an older brother of my grandfather. 

The dynamic Hecht brothers (there were six), American born and bred, became emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s to build the foundations of Jewish learning and living in the USA starting in the early 1940’s. 

Rabbi Moshe Yitschak Hecht spent more than fifty years from his early adult years till his passing, tirelessly heading a Yeshiva day-school in New Haven CT in which thousands of Jewish boys and girls received a Jewish education. It was a labor of love, one that took every ounce of his energy, between covering the perennial deficits and steering the curriculum blending Torah studies and general studies.

Many decades later, his great grandson who felt a passion in his soul to defend our people in Israel enlisted in the Israeli army and in his first deployment in Lebanon, Moshe Yitschak Katz lost his life tragically and heroically.

It is impossible for me to imagine how my second cousin and his family are going to transition from the shiva mourning to the Pesach Seder. 

I know that they will. 

They are Jewish. 

And the Jewish people at their very formation are referred to as G-d’s ‘army’.

They will march on. With determination, hope and positivity.

May G-d comfort them and give them the strength to carry on the legacy of their heroic son.

I quote from the Rebbe’s entry in the Hayom Yom Diary about the Jewish fortitude and absolute commitment:

From the time of the exodus from Egypt the Jewish people are called the "Army of G-d."1 They are also called "servants." The difference is this: A servant performs his master's service which may be on many different levels; he may work at the delicate craft of threading pearls, he may do other kinds of expert work or he may perform simple tasks. His service involves great toil and labor, but this does not constitute mesirat nefesh - a willingness to sacrifice self, to lay down one's life. Soldiers are servants who serve with great toil and labor and with self sacrifice, in wars of defense or attack. The soldiers stand at their posts with the highest degree of stalwart determination, undeterred by the opposing enemy; their service is not one of comprehension, for they act according to the orders of their commander.

The Jews in Egypt were utterly degraded under their severe and bitter affliction. Yet, despite it all, they did not change their names, their language, or their distinctive clothing. With absolute determination they stood at their posts, for they knew that G-d had promised to redeem them.

Whoever behaves as they did under such circumstances is a soldier in the Army of G-d, and the Al-mighty will come to his assistance in a manner that manifests itself in nature - yet transcends nature.

I got an emotional and uplifting note from someone in our community in Bangkok. He came especially to put on Tefilin in honor of Moshe Yitschak, although he rarely does so.

As he put it, ‘that's the least I can do to honor a fallen brother.’

Especially during these tense days and trying times, we need to redouble our efforts to strengthen our mitzvah observance. Especially putting on Tefillin as often as we can (daily besides for Shabbat and Chagim). 

Lighting Shabbat and Holiday candles are especially significant as they add more light of holiness to the world.

Our Mitzvah’s are critical and contribute strength and security to our nation.

Let us do our bit as links in the golden chain of the ‘legions of Hahem’ who emerged from the House of Bondage to become the moral lighthouses of the world, chosen by G-d at Mount Sinai to be his special nation, with positivity and joy.

In a joyous upraised voice!

Hopefully things are going well for you, and it is natural and easy for you to rejoice. 

If G-d forbid you are going through a challenge of your own, make the effort, even if it requires a herculean effort, to celebrate Pesach, Zman Cherutenu the holiday of our freedom.   

The main agendas of the day:

Making sure you have no Chametz in your possession by selling it or disposing of it totally.

Joining a Seder click here.

Getting Matzah for eating on Wednesday (and Thursday) night. (JCafe is open tomorrow (Wednesday) and then again on Sunday-Tuesday of next week selling matzah and other kosher for Passover food items).

Relating and reliving our Exodus from Egypt by saying the Hagada tomorrow night. Click here for Hagada instructions. 

May we merit to have the fulfillment of what we proclaim at the end of the Pesach Seder

LESHANA HABAAH BEYERUSHALAYIM

Chag Kasher Vesameach,

A happy and kosher Pesach

Rabbi Yosef & Nechama Kantor

Yesterday a young man came to the Synagogue to make the blessing of thanksgiving – Hagomel.

(Perfect timing for this discussion as this week’s Parsha Tzav is where the thanksgiving sacrifice of Todah - the forerunner to the Hagomel blessing is taught). 

After the first few words he choked up with tearful emotion and struggled to get the remaining words of the blessing out of his mouth. It was a raw and powerful moment. I was standing right next to him as the Torah reader, and I found my eyes filling up with tears of emotion. The other members of the minyan all stood reflectively. It was an intense moment.

The Hagomel blessing is made reminiscent of the sacrifice that was brought as a thanksgiving for being saved from a life and death situation. These days, we most commonly say it after overseas travel, which means that in a place like Thailand, which hosts so many travelers, people are constantly saying this blessing. Sometimes at one Torah reading we can have multiple Hagomel blessings being recited. 

Usually, this blessing is said without extraordinary emotion. 

I can only speculate as to why the young man who made the blessings yesterday was so full of emotion. What near-death experience had he been rescued from? I do not know, he didn’t share any background. 

I was envious of this young man’s emotionally laden prayer. 

(Envy of someone else’s good behavior is encouraged by the Torah unlike envy of someone’s material possessions which is the tenth of the Ten Commandments)

This is what true prayer should look like. 

The words of the Baal Shem Tov came to my mind.

It is a "great miracle" and a profound act of Divine mercy that a person remains alive after intense prayer.

When one prays with proper Kavana and intensity, the emotional feeling of desire to be one with G-d could lead to enrapturement. Literally the soul could fly back to its source of oneness with G-d leaving the person lifeless. 

Hashem wants us to live life in this physical world, so he miraculously keeps us alive even if our feelings of desire to cleave inseparably from G-d are overwhelming. 

Giving thanks to Hashem ought to be deeply meaningful.

One of the challenges we face in life is the fact that we are never totally problem free even as we are blessed in an exceptional and overwhelming way. 

For example, one may have been blessed with a new baby, the greatest gift possible. At the same time there may be some serious difficulties like not having enough money to support the family. If you just hear the person complaining about not having enough income, you may think that their life is full of difficulty. On the other hand, if you hear that they just had another healthy child, you recognize that their life is also so blessed. Yet at the same time the money issue is a real issue. 

Competing emotions. 

The Torah teaches us to thank Hashem for the blessings.

Even as we cry out and pray for salvation from the problems.

Israel is under attack right now.

Our hearts, minds, prayers and mitzvahs are dedicated to our brothers and sisters in Israel.

Millions of citizens are running back and forth to shelters as the enemy fires ballistic missiles and cluster bombs. 

At the same time the Jewish people are being showered with G-d’s openly miraculous protection.

Thank G-d most of the incoming missiles are intercepted by the Israeli army defense system. Alas, some missiles have made their way through taking innocent lives and wreaking havoc.

Even within the devastation there are miracles bearing the unmistakable markings of being direct protection from G-d to His people in His holy land of Israel, the land on which the eyes of G-d are focused at all times.

An example from Monday of this week:

An Iranian ballistic missile carrying hundreds of kilos of explosives hit a Tel Aviv apartment building directly on Monday night. Despite scenes of “widespread destruction after the missile impact left a large crater alongside mangled buildings and vehicles at the scene of the attack,” only four people were lightly injured, none of them requiring hospitalization. (Times of Israel, March 24, 2026).

If you read the in-depth reports coming out of Israel you will see that together with the unbearable devastation, there are openly Divine miracles.

This week’s Torah reading about Todah – thanksgiving reminds us to sing out to Hashem in song and praise for the miracles He does.

Just as we pour out our hearts in emotional prayer that He save us from our enemies.

Let us remember to also give thanks to Hashem for the blessings in our personal lives. And there are myriads of blessings. If one pays attention ones heart is full of song and thanksgiving to Almighty G-d.

On this Sunday we give thanksgiving to Hashem for the blessing our generation with the birth of the Rebbe on Nissan 11 in 1902.

Click here for more about the Rebbe and his absolute Ahavat Yisrael the cornerstone of his mission to reach out with love to every Jew in every corner of the globe with the Mitvzah Campaign.

The Rebbe and his enduring vision continue to guide and shepherd our generation as we inch ever closer to the final Redemption with the coming of Mashiach.

Prepare for inner liberation this Pesach by visiting some of the links below.

The Rebbe’s teaching on Postivity teach us how to view life through the uplifting and energy generating lens of positivity.

The Rebbe’s teachings on Purpose give a practical path to living a meaningful and purposeful life even as modernity surrounds us from all sides.

The Rebbe’s pronouncement that Mashiach and Geula-Redemption are imminent and immediate  fuels our deeds, our aspirations and our yearning for the greatest moment of history – the coming of Mashiach!

Best wishes for continued success in all your preparations for Pesach.

See below to sell chametz, order matzah, reserve your spot at a Pesach Seder.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

This Thursday we will celebrate the Rosh Chodesh beginning of the month of Nissan. The month of the exodus from Egypt – Pesach. The month of miracles!!!!

We are living in a time of miraculous and detailed oversight by G-d. 

The more you read the news, the more you observe and see the statistically impossible miraculous protection of our Holy Land. 

It is incredible to see the hand of G-d working through the sophisticated weaponry that we thank G-d have in our arsenal.

The Jewish people is in a time of war. In Israel, and the world over, we are praying more and connecting more to Hashem by upgrading our mitzvah efforts.

There is a theory out there in the internet that it is possible to predict USA military moves by the ‘pizza index’.

The way this thinking goes is that when there is a spike in pizza orders to the Pentagon in the wee hours of the morning, it’s a sure sign that people are working around the clock planning a military action.

Whether this is true or not I will leave for others to debate.

There is an organization that provides Tefillin for Israeli soldiers who request them. They say that just before the latest Israel air force action in Iran there was a flurry of Tefillin requests from the air force soldiers. 

I do not know this information firsthand. 

What I do know, is that the Rebbe quoted the Talmud’s statement that deterrence against our enemies is generated by Jewish men putting on Tefillin.

And knowing the nature of my fellow Jews, as non-observant as they may seem to be, deep down is a pulsating, living and thriving Jewish soul-neshama that turns to G-d when salvation is needed.

So its not hard to believe that when the action is imminent, soldiers reach out to strengthen their Tefillin observance.

As well, it is clearly stated in the Torah that having a kosher Mezuzah on one’s door is a sure way to ensure a secure and protected home.

This has led to a surge in those requesting mezuzahs.

Around the world more mitzvahs are being done for the protection of our brothers and sisters in Israel, civilians and soldiers alike. And for the protection of Jewish communities around the world.

We are all ONE.

Below are links for providing 

Tefillin for those who commit to wearing them.

Mezuzahs on the homes of IDF soldiers.

If you would like help in Thailand with obtaining a mezuzah for your home please contact me by clicking here.

Giving Tzedakah is always important, 

Here is the link to a ‘tzedaka PUSHKA app’. The default on this app is tzedakah for helping poor people in Israel. Chabad of Thailand has been privileged to be selected to be added to the list of causes that are on this app. 

Click here for an easy way to give tzedakah electronically. 

Make sure to start making your Pesach plans. 

Sell Chametz

Order Matzah in Thailand (order internationally here)

Participate in a Seder

And most of all, combat anti-semitism by doing acts of Judaism.

Joyously and energetically and proudly.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

How much would you pay to get your firstborn son back from the Kohen?

On January 1, 2025, it would cost you $105 USD

Today it would cost you $260 USD.

Yep, the mitzvah is that if a Jewish mother has a firstborn, (born naturally), the son needs to be ‘redeemed’ at thirty days old in a ceremony called Pidyon Haben. 

The Kohen receives 5 shekels of silver, or the value of those shekels.

Silver prices have risen so much that now the price of the mitzvah has risen dramatically. 

The price of silver does not just impact newly formed families. 

This week’s Parsha tells about the obligation for every Jewish male over the age of twenty to give a half shekel – which contains 9.6 grams of silver – to the collection for the Bet Hamkidash Temple building. 

Once the Tabernacle (traveling temple) was built, there was an annual half shekel collection that everyone was obligated to contribute to. This was for the purchase of the communal sacrifice.

As a remembrance to this collection that took place during the Hebrew month of Adar we reenact the giving of the half shekel. We incorporate it as part of the Purim custom. We each give a half shekel to tzedakah just before Purim starts. This practice reflects the above idea that the shekels of the Jewish people counteracted the shekels that Haman gave to have them annihilated. Click here for more. 

While it is not necessary to give the true value of half shekel, as it’s only as a remembrance to the ‘machatzit hashekel’ during temple times, there are many who do choose to give true value that a half shekel of silver (9.6 gram) would cost. 

Last year on Purim that was $10.43. This year it is $26.29 USD.

While it’s startling to see the galloping-runaway price of silver, even at this higher price of silver, it is not a huge amount of money. Granted, it is not a trivial amount, but I sincerely hope that for most people reading this article, this amount of money is not prohibitive.

I asked Google what $26 USD would buy in an average Western country. Here is the response:

Casual Dining: One main course at a mid-range restaurant, likely without alcoholic beverages or appetizers. 

Small Basket: A few days’ worth of essentials: 1 litre of milk, 1kg of sugar/rice, a loaf of bread, eggs, and a small amount of fruit/vegetables.

Personal Care: A basic haircut at a budget salon or a few toiletry items (toothpaste, shampoo, soap). 

The amount required is not meant to be out of reach of the lower income people. It is not about amassing large amounts of money. 

In this collection there needed to be equality. The rich could not give more. The poor could not give less.

This created the ‘communal-ness’ of the offerings. By each one paying in equally, it meant that all members of the Jewish community were equal partners and owners in the daily communal offerings. For this purpose, there needed to be a unison amount that everyone contributed without distinction.

It wasn’t a huge amount.

Quite the contrary, it was a modest donation that we are talking about.

Yet the Torah describes it as being impactful in a major way. ‘It atones for your souls’.

Moshe was astonished, how could such a meager donation bring such a major achievement of forgiveness and atonement?

Indeed, our Sages relate that Moshe found it difficult to understand the concept of the half shekel and Hashem showed him a half shekel coin of fire.

One of the explanations is that Moshe had this very question. How can such a modest coin engender such a powerful result. To which Hashem showed him a fiery coin. 

It is not the amount. It is the fire, passion, excitement and devotion with which this coin was given that generated this powerful result. 

Click here for a longer essay based on teachings from the Rebbe about this.

Our connection to G-d is not about quantity. It’s about Kavana, intention and devotion. Warmth and passion. Joy and enthusiasm. 

That makes all the difference in the world.

Take a moment to ask yourself. How do you show up with your gift for G-d?

When you see an appeal from someone needing help.

Do you show your displeasure and annoyance at being ‘solicited’ for yet another cause?

Or are you thankful to the Almighty for having created a way to connect devotedly to him by something so material and base as money.

Do you see giving tzedakah as a way of elevating the mundane to become a holy part of G-d’s plan for the world?

Sure, large amounts can do big things.

Yet it is the - small in quantity but large in intention - monies given with a true and genuine feeling of warmth and fire that become worthy of being a offering to G-d.

G-d wants our passion and our heart. 

My friends, the threshold for being a part of G-d’s holy work here on earth is not a quantitative one. It is a question of spirit and commitment. 

One becomes an active partner with G-d, by contributing resources, time, money and attention to building G-d’s abode here on earth. 

At the very basic level, the smallish amount of half shekel is all that is required.

In addition to the communal collection of half shekel there were and still are other collections where everyone is called upon to do what is in THEIR ability. 

This can be quite extreme. 

For example, if someone can afford two million dollars and only gives one million, they have not lived up to their capacity and their charitableness is not up to G-d’s expectations of them.

Whereas if someone could afford to give ten dollars and forgoes a few things to push themselves and give eighteen dollars, they have given tzedakah in a laudatory way.

None of us are exempt from giving.

Each of us ought to look at their own situation and give at least a bit more than they are comfortable with. 

And remember, this refers to time and attentiveness to others, as well as resources.

In the merit of Tzedaka the Redemption will come.

And boy oh boy are we praying right now. For the victory of our forces immediately. For peace with enduring security. 

And even more so for the overall and comprehensive solution that we await for so long. For Mashiach to come right now. 

Mashiach’s coming will usher in an eternal peace that will obviate the need to fight even righteous and moral wars. 

For the sake of our brothers and sisters, grandchildren and grandparents, who are running in and out of shelters in Israel, for the sake of the multitudes of people whose plans have been thrown into chaos all over the world, and for the sake of humanity at large, may we merit the coming of Mashiach so that the entire creation will serve Him – Almighty G-d - with dedication and devotion.

AMEN.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

This year we celebrate Purim while Israel is at war. The question is obvious: how can we be joyful at a time like this?

Our sages teach, “Simcha Poretz Geder,” joy breaks through barriers. Simcha is not denial. It is not ignoring reality. It is part of how a Jew responds to reality.

Every holiday has its mitzvot, and every holiday also has its focus. Yom Kippur is about repentance. Rosh Hashanah is about introspection. Sukkot is about unity. Hanukkah is about light. Pesach is about freedom. Each time of the year carries its own spiritual energy, and when we live the focus of that day, we activate the blessing and power built into it.

Purim’s focus is joy.

If G-d tells us that today we must rejoice, then that joy is not a contradiction to what is happening, it is the very tool we are meant to use. There is no greater weapon than simcha. Joy breaks walls, walls of fear, walls of worry, even harsh decrees.

Because joy is not only the result of salvation, it helps bring salvation.

This Purim, our simcha, is an act of faith. 

And it is an act of solidarity that it much more meaningful and powerful than limiting our Purim as if we were in the direct line of danger G-d forbid.

On the exact contrary. 

Rejoicing on this Purim is a dispatch of power, energy and G-dly blessing to our brother and sisters, mother and fathers, sons and daughters, fellow Jews who are limited in their ability to celebrate Purim as usual because of the dangers involved.

When someone in the family is ill, the best thing the caregivers around them can do is to be healthy, upbeat, positive, optimistic and joyous. The person in danger is not helped by gloom in the eyes and hearts of those who are caring for them. 

Fascinatingly and inspiringly, there are so many parallels to the original Purim story.

The epicenter of the diabolical plans of exterminating the Jews was in Persia some 2400 years ago. This is modern day Iran, the main center of this war to remove the murderous government of evil. 

India and Ethiopia are mentioned prominently in the Megillah. The prime minister of India just visited Israel. The president of Israel just visited Ethiopia. 

The miracles of Purim were veiled behind a natural twist of world events and palace intrigues, to the extent that the name of G-d is not even mentioned in the Megillah.

Similarly, the current miracles unfolding are also hidden behind geopolitics and incredibly modern and effective weaponry. 

We Jews, understand that behind every incredibly successful missile interception is the benevolent, miraculous and supernatural Hand of G-d.

The masquerade on Purim is all about highlighting this very point.

On Purim we get dressed up in costumes to remind us that behind those ‘cover-ups’ and costumes, it is the undeniable Hand of G-d that is blessing His people with miracles of historic proportion.

And here is something that I never truly paid that much attention to, till now in the year 2026 as we live through the current historic world events. 

The Purim celebration from its very beginning is the only Jewish holiday that is celebrated on different days in different places.

In Jerusalem and other cities that had walls since ancient times, Purim is celebrated on the 15th of Adar (tomorrow night and Wednesday). In all of the rest of the world, it is one day earlier on the 14th day of Adar (tonight and tomorrow)

We find that even in the times of Mordechai and Esther, Purim was celebrated on a different day in Shushan than in the other cities. In all other cities, the battle against the enemies of the Jews took place on the thirteenth of Adar, and the people rested and celebrated on the fourteenth of Adar. In Shushan, however, the battle took place on the thirteenth and fourteenth of Adar, and the people rested and celebrated only on the fifteenth.

In other words, Purim from its inception had some Jews being able to fully rest, rejoice and celebrate, while others needed more time and only once their battle was over could they fully rest, rejoice and celebrate.

This is important to remember this year. Because as we get pictures and videos of our kids and grandkids running incessantly tens of times during day and in middle of the night to the bomb shelters, I understand that their Purim parties are not able to be held as usual. 

Yet, those of us who are outside the arena of the incoming missiles are fully able to celebrate (while paying attention to security concerns and implementing responsible security).

It feels awkward and not fair to celebrate so jubilantly here, while in Israel the epicenter of our nation, they are under attack, yet this is what the very festival of Purim reminds us from its very inception. 

Celebrate when you can. I have no doubt the delayed Purim parties in Israel after this is over will be epic and joyous. (Of course they will perform all the mitzvahs of Purim, reading the megillah, trading food gifts, money to the poor and eating a festive meal (hopefully not needing to be in a shelter), but they wont be able to celebrate (the way it seems now) in the same unbridled and exuberantly public way as usual.

We are all part of AM YISRAEL. 

My dear Jewish brother or sister: Don’t sit by the sidelines this Purim. 

For our people, especially for our fellow Jews in Israel (and Iran) celebrate Purim by doing the Four mitzvot of Purim with even more attention and devotion.

And yes, practice JOY and SIMCHA and CELEBRATE this Purim on your behalf and on behalf of our people.

AM YISRAEL CHAI – the People of Israel is alive – our life is our connection to G-d and His Torah – this makes us an eternal nation. Connecting more deeply with Hashem and observing more fully his Mitzvot is the greatest way to send gifts of life, health and joy to our dear brothers and sisters in Israel and wherever they may be.

And may our joy truly break all barriers and bring revealed miracles and peace for our brothers and sisters in Israel.

HAPPY PURIM!!!

WE WANT MASHIACH NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Rabbi Yosef and Nechama Kantor

A friend who wanted to make sure I am as full of joy as one should be during the joyous month of Adar sent me a comical short video which I am sharing with you.

It’s an elderly woman at a busy market stall in Israel who stands near the large expensive fish that are displayed at the stall and naggingly asks to buy olives by the kilo rather than in the usual sized container. As the store owner is busy responding to the olive details, a cat sticks its paws out of the bag that is being held by the elderly woman and grabs a fish and pulls it into the shopping bag. All carried off in split seconds while the people around are distracted, focused on the olive purchase minutiae.

It’s hilarious.

On a deeper level it reminded me of how we live our lives and what we may be overlooking.

Sometimes we get caught up in immaterial petty things. We get pulled into squabbling about unimportant things. Some people are distracted by the vast array of flavors and variety of material indulgence. They fall into a drunken state of chasing the temporary pleasures. 

All the while there are many more significant issues that they are being distracted from. If they really ‘kept their eye on the ball’ they would remember to keep on aiming towards the ‘goal’.

Do you think your kids care that much about the details of the snacks or games you are spending an inordinate amount of time preparing for them? Don’t you think you should focus more on spending quality time with them? It certainly beats using the ‘screen’ as a full-time babysitter.

Imagine if you are using all your energy in selling some proverbial olives which have a profit margin of a few meager pennies when the expensive fish is being lifted from your possession.

Priorities can so easily be skewed if we don’t anchor ourselves to the moral compass of Hashem’s instructions to man.

The reading in the second Torah this week (we take out two Torah’s this week) is Parshat Zachor the mitzvah to remember what Amalek did to us and thus we are instructed to wipe him out.

While the actual implementation of this mitzvah requires circumstances that will be met only when Mashiach comes, the application in terms of our inner service to Hashem is very pertinent.

There is a spiritual negativity within each of us that battles and challenges our relationship with G-d. 

If you sometimes feel challenged in your religious observance, or even in your very faith in Hashem, it is because there is a spiritual Amalek who sows doubt and tries to cool down our connection to G-d.

The way to fight and win the war with Amalek is as described in the Torah (Shemot 17:8-11)

Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

So Moses said to Joshua, Pick men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand

Joshua did as Moses had told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur ascended to the top of the hill.

It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail.

The Talmud comments on this:

Did then the hands of Moses wage war or break war? Not so; but so long as Israel looked upwards and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed; and when they did not, they fell.

In other words. If you are focused on the truly Divine values of life, if you remember that authentic life is defined by connection to G-d and disconnection from G-d is unplugging from true life, you will uncover the inner strength to win the war.

By taking Moshe’s cue and focusing on what is holy and true, you will be able to extricate yourself from the confusion and distraction of the world around you.

During this upcoming week we will be celebrating Purim.

 On one hand the Jews had a seat at the table. They were invited to Achashverosh’s feast. Ironically, the moment that they felt invincible, protected by the reigning sovereign, the threat of Haman came upon them.

Stripped and bereft of any chance to save their lives through political efforts, they turned to G-d in prayer and supplication. They fasted for three days. They had their kids entrusted to Mordechai the Tzadik for religious Torah instruction.

When they were distracted from their true Jewish identity and relied solely on governmental ‘proteksia’ things looked more dismal than imaginable. 

When they looked heavenward to G-d and recommitted to Him, the tables were turned, the situation was transformed as they vanquished their enemies.

It’s a reminder of how to overcome the inner Amalek, the inner Hamanic voice. 

By connection and commitment to Almighty G-d.

That is the time-tested surest and securest path for a Jew.

Look upwards to G-d – win the battle with Amalek – negativity and insecurity.

This dramatic turnaround happened almost 2400 years ago in Persia. And ever since then we celebrate Purim.

The most festive and joyous day in our calendar.

Looking forward to a victorious Shabbat and a joyous Purim.

Rabbi Yosef Kantor