"Shabbat Shalom from Bangkok"

Dear Friends,

You may have heard the sad, horrifying news about Rabbi Zvi Kogan - Zvi ben Alexander HaKohen, a fellow Chabad Rabbi, 28 years-old, who was murdered by Islamic terrorists after being kidnapped on Thursday in Dubai, while serving the Jewish community in the UAE.

Ever since the signing of the Abraham Accords peace deal with Israel, the Emirates has seen its Jewish population grow exponentially. There have been shuls opened, the first Jewish education center in the Gulf, and a wide selection of kosher food.

Rabbi Zvi and his wife Rebbtzin Rivky Kogan soon moved on Shlichus and lived in Abu Dhabi. She taught in the school while he operated the Rimon Kosher supermarket in Dubai, the city that drew most of the tourists and visitors.

“He was a cheerful person who never said ‘no’ to anyone, always helping and assisting everyone,” a friend of his said. “Every person would leave him feeling better; he always knew how to guide and assist. He was a modest individual who honored his parents in a remarkable way, a truly G-d-fearing person who always remained humble and grateful.”

Our hearts go out to Tzvi’s family and wish them strength and comfort. As we keep sending strength and comfort to our brother and sisters in Israel, to all the families of the murdered, the wounded, the hostages, the heroic soldiers of IDF.

Thank you to all who have reached out to us, as fellow Chabad Shluchim in a more ‘remote – exotic’ location, with empathy, compassion and concern. You love and care mean so much to us and give us strength at this trying time.

For me personally, this reawakens the searing memories of the treacherous attacks on the Chabad House of Mumbai, (sixteen years ago on November 26). It was then, after the horrific murder of our colleagues, that we started to implement security protocols at all our Jewish Thailand locations. This current development and general climate of anti-Semitic hatred, calls for further review and strengthening of security arrangements.

That attack in Mumbai was around the time of the international conference of Chabad Shluchim. This current tragic loss is just a few days before this year’s annual conference. 

The Rebbe repeatedly reminded us that darkness is banished by light, fear is dispelled by acts of connection to G-d and that above all, Jewish life must be celebrated and fulfilled joyously. 

My colleagues and I will recommit ourselves to returning to our countries, cities and communities and adding light and positive energy of Torah and Yiddishkeit even more than before. (Parts of the conference will be streamed live, more details in my weekly email).

Friends, there is a worldwide effort to delegitimize, instill fear, and destroy the Jewish people in Israel and everywhere and this is not a time to stand by. 

We must all take the necessary precautions, ensure that our security protocols are up to date and be proactive about our rights to live openly as Jews without fear and without danger. 

And we must keep our unwavering trust and faith in Hashem ironclad and vibrant.

This has been a very difficult period for the Jewish people.

The horrific attack on October 7th, and the subsequent multi-front war in which we have lost hundreds of IDF soldiers, the holiest of our people, who stand between the Jewish People and those who seek our annihilation. We have also lost innocent civilians who have been killed in rocket attacks and other terror attacks in Israel. 88,000 or so are still displaced from their homes, too many thousands wounded - physically, and so many more emotionally, mentally, psychologically, etc. We continue to pray for the welfare of the captives and their immediate return, in safety and enduring security, as well the as the overwhelming success of those who are putting their life on the line to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people and all who live in Israel. 

As a peaceful nation, with a Torah of peace, we seek peace for all, and we look forward to a time very soon when there will be goodness and kindness for all of mankind. We are all created in G-d's image, and we all deserve dignity and peace.

Please take the time to connect to your Judaism today in some way. Put on tefillin, give tzedakah and random acts of kindness, to study some of the Torah portion or to read a Psalm, and to strengthen your connection to other people or do any other mitzvah of your choice. Now is the time to commit yourself to Jewish UNITY and think of one way in which you can personally stand up to say: I am my brother's keeper, and I will do something about it.

Our hearts go out to Tzvi’s family and wish them strength and comfort. 

As we keep sending strength and comfort to our brother and sisters in Israel, to all the families of the murdered, the wounded, the hostages, the heroic soldiers of IDF.

We will mourn, we will cry, but more importantly, we will re-energize and shine brighter than ever before.

Zvi - as so many of our brothers and sisters - lived heroically fighting against evil and hate. We must continue your legacy of serving the Jewish people with love and dedication, bringing G-dliness, morality, and kindness to the world, leading to the day when we will see the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Torah, the day when peace will come to our world and all evil will cease--may it be soon.

With best wishes for only the best and happiest of news in the future, and we say to Hashem - Ad Mosai, until when? Enough is enough, its time for all the promises to our ancestors to be fulfilled in reality!

Shavua Tov - may you have a bright, blessed, and good week going forward,

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

‘Did you do anything special today?’ she asked her husband.

The husband blushed. 

‘Because I had a miracle just now,’ she continued.

One of my overseas friends told me this story about what happened to him this week.

‘A needy member of my community approached me for a loan to take care of something medical. He was asking for several thousand dollars as a loan, but he still owed me several thousand dollars from a previous unpaid loan.

I sent out a note to our Shul group and I was able to collect several thousand dollars to assist him. Within a few hours after he had asked for my help, I sent him the money. Not as a loan but as a tzedakah from our collective shul group.

That evening my wife went out to give a lecture. The intercity road had an oil spill on it. My wife lost control of the car and crashed into another car from the side, while another car rearended her. 

We had a miracle that night.’

My friend asked me ‘do you think there is a correlation between what I did during the day, helping that person, and my wife’s miracle in the evening?’.

He didn’t really mean it as a question. For he knows as I do that the Talmud says.

צדקה תציל ממות

‘Tzedaka saves from death’.

Clearly his benevolent act of tzedakah saved his nearest and dearest from injury or worse G-d forbid.

I love this story because of its clarity. Help others, Hashem will help you.

There is also a very important lesson here that will help us reframe the way we look at the sometimes-burdensome task of helping others.

In this story one sees clearly how Hashem implanted this tzedakah opportunity into my friend’s life. Baruch Hashem my friend acted on it and thus activated the opportunity Hashem had given him.

How many times do we whine and complain when we are called upon to help someone. Sometimes we genuinely can’t help and that is justifiable. We all have limitations.

But sometimes we don’t even listen. We ignore and don’t pay attention to the needs of others. 

That is where we have to be more aware and more attentive.

My friend could have brushed this request off. He had lent the fellow money. He was not yet paid back on that loan. The same individual came to borrow money again. 

My friend rose to the occasion and did what a truly G-dly person should do. He emulated Hashem who always listens to the needs. Especially to the needs of the downtrodden. Those are vulnerable and not able to fend for themselves. 

My friend was not cynical, callous or dismissive. Rather he listened empathetically to his plight and expended effort and time to raise funds to help him.

He acted selflessly.

Little did he know…

Really, he was helping himself more than he could ever imagine.

His wife was miraculously saved from what could have been a major tragedy.

Even financially he should be covered. The police wrote a report about the oil spill which means please G-d the insurance will cover all associated costs.

I am inspired by the obvious timing of these two events. Before my friend even knew that he should be praying for the safety of his loved ones, Hashem had organized the response to his yet unspoken prayers.

A similar theme to the Parsha’s story of Eliezer’s mission on behalf of Avraham to find a wife for Yitschak.

Eliezer was sent to the familial territory of Avraham to find a suitable wife for Yitschak. It was an overwhelming task. Finding ‘a needle in a haystack’ may have seemed easier. Eliezer turned to G-d and prayed that he find the right girl.

Before he even finished his prayer Rivka appeared before him. She fulfilled all the criteria and went on to become Yischak’s wife – our second Matriarch.

Hashem always hears and answers our prayers. Sometimes even faster than we can imagine.

Before we even know that we have an issue that we out to pray about.

Yes, I am saying that it is valid and kosher to motivate yourself to be more empathetic, giving and benevolent to others by recognizing that you are earning Hashem’s commensurate kindness to you and yours.

Helping others, even because you realize you are really helping yourself is fully acceptable according to the Torah.

You know why?

Because for the poor person, the loaf of bread will satisfy his hunger even if you are not one million percent altruistic.

The needy person will be able to pay their rent even if you gave them money with the intention that G-d bless you with success in your endeavors.

If you wait till you refine yourself to be a saintly altruistic Tzadik, you may delay your giving and it may arrive too late. Coming too late can sometimes be fatal G-d forbid.

Tzedaka needs immediacy. And shouldn’t be overthought.

When you have an opportunity.

Just DO IT. 

I mean acts of kindness and tzedakah.

Look out for those who Hashem cares for, the needy, downtrodden, ill and challenged. The consequence? You will not have less or suffer. 

The code of Jewish Law says clearly:

‘A person never becomes poor from giving charity and nothing bad or destructive happens from giving Tzedakah as the prophet says (Isaiah 32, 17) And the deed of righteousness shall be peace’

On the contrary, Hashem will bless you, your loved ones and your wherewithal. 

May Hashem bless Am Yisrael with peace, the safe return of our hostages, the secure homecoming of our soldiers and those who have been displaced and the healing of the wounded. 

May the entire world finally be blessed with the coming of Mashiach and the utopian peaceful state when ‘the wolf will lie with the lamb’, AMEN.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

PS. Just under a month away from Chanuka and from end of year, it is a great time to give Tzedakah to help others. Hashem will help you!

By the Grace of G-d

Thank you all for your concern in response to the news stories and alerts regarding the Jewish/Israeli travelers and institutions in Thailand.

As always, we prioritize the safety of our community. We work closely with Thai police authorities to implement robust security measures, especially during heightened security concerns like this week. Security guards are stationed at all Jewish institutions, and we have significantly increased security protocols across all our branches in Thailand. 

May God watch over and protect all of Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael and anywhere they may be in the word.


Rabbi Dovi Deutsch of Chabad Koh Phangan and Thai police issued a statement this week regarding security measures at Chabad Koh Phangan.

Dear Friend,

I was a witness to Jewish history at the beginning of this week.

In Oslo Norway a new Chabad House was opened in a stately, iconic and beautifully renovated building in the center of town.
 

Chabad of Norway's new home

I was privileged to participate in the opening ceremony and give a speech at the Shabbat services.

There is a saying in the Torah that ‘one should not deviate from local custom’. (Of course not if it clashes with Jewish Halacha law).

We see it in this week’s Parsha when the angels disguised as men come to visit Avraham and they partake of a sumptuous meal. Why do they eat if they are angels? The Talmud answers that this teaches us the rule of not deviating from common local practice. They adopted the local practice. Human beings eat. When the angels came in the guise of humans they too (feigned as if they) ate. 

What did I do in Norway that was the custom of the place? 

Let me tell you about my sauna/fjord dip. 

There is a Scandinavian tradition to dip into the chilly waters of the fjord (a deep narrow ocean inlet) after warming up in the adjacent sauna. The temperature now is around 7 degrees Celsius. 

I figured that the traditional custom engendering heightened spirituality of periodic mikva immersion for men blended well with the local Nordic culture of taking a cold plunge.

I had heard many a tale of heroic women keeping the foundational mitzvah of family purity even when conventional mikvahs were not available. My wife’s grandmother shared tales of life in Soviet Russia where immersion took place in frigid and freezing underground mikvahs, oceans or lakes.

Many Chassidic men took icy plunges in rivers in Russia to keep the tradition of tevilah immersion.

The weather in Oslo mid-November, was not nearly as cold as the Russian winter so the cold plunge in Oslo was not daunting. 

A couple of us banded together to rent a private little floating sauna on the fjord. We warmed up the sauna, it got very hot, and then we took a quick plunge into the freezing waters. 

Outside the fjord in Norway

We came out refreshed physically and spiritually. 

Of course, we recognized that we were not at all brave or tough. 

It was quite a simple thing, once feeling boiling hot in the sauna, to jump briefly into the cold waters.

Let me repeat that. 

It is not difficult to jump into the frigid waters after warming up in a sauna and returning to a warm indoors. It is entirely different than the valiant dedication of the Jews who broke the ice to immerse and had to brave the freezing outdoors before and after their immersion.

This is a paradigm for life.

Before you go out into the cold make sure you warm up your insides so that the you can withstand the cold until you get back to a warm environment.

This is why in Jewish tradition one sends one’s children to Torah day and high schools, to be immersed in Torah study for the formative years of their life. After getting ‘hot’ and ‘inspired’ in the cocoon-like holy environment of the hall of Jewish study, prayer and practice one is buttressed with the faith and conviction needed to be able to go out into the ‘freezing’ ‘faith-challenging’ mundane world.

In our annual calendars we have Shabbat and Chagim that provide us with holy infusions and ‘protected space’ so that we can then emerge into material existence and impact them with holiness without being compromised.

Daily we also ‘warm ourselves up’ before going out into the ‘cold’. We pray, put on Tefilin, study Torah at the beginning of the day to inculcate our minds and hearts with connection to Hashem. Once fortified by this introduction to the day, we can then go out and ‘take on the day’ in the bustling marketplace of life.

This juxtaposition – warming up in a sauna before entering the cold fjord waters – was the heart of my experience over the weekend I spent in Oslo celebrating the opening of the new Chabad House in Oslo. 

The building itself is a protected building as it was built in 1850 by a well-known architect. 

Providentially, the year 1851 is the year that it became permissible for Jews to live in Norway since the ban prohibiting Jewish residence in Norway was instituted in 1687.

We attended the local Oslo Synagogue on Shabbat. Ate our Shabbat meals at Chabad House. A ribbon cutting ceremony by the donors at the Chabad House on Sunday early noon.
 

And as a grand finale, a festive dinner and Jewish Unity concert with Jewish superstar Benny Friedman at the Thon Hotel later in the evening.

Clip of energy of the Jewish Unity Concert

With all of this action, Norway is still not one of the major international hubs of Jewish life.

Yet, though the local Jewish community is quite sparse, their spirit is alive and vibrant. The Jewish pride and enthusiastic energy that I witnessed among the Jews of Norway at these inaugural events was uplifting and inspiring. 

The singer said that the concert he put on in Oslo was more spirited than the ones he does in NY. In NY he has to work much harder to ‘wake up the crowd’, while in Oslo they were literally raring to go with gusto and amazing energy.

This celebration of Jewish life provides the internal warmth needed to be able to go out into the world as a minority in number but steadfastly Jewish in identity, spirit and most importantly in Jewish practice.

Think of it like a spiritual sauna. It is analogous to getting fired up and toasty hot in a spiritual sauna of Jewish communal celebration and pride. 

This is a unique time we are living in. Never did we expect to face such rabid anti-semitism on college campuses, in major European and American cities and in social media.

Our enemies recognize us wherever we are. If we are going to get called out for being Jews, let us embrace the specialty of it.

It behooves us to embrace our identity as Jewish people, G-d’s ambassadors to the world.

Study Torah. Do more Mitzvahs.

Feel empathy and kinship with all of our brothers and sisters throughout the world, and especially in Israel.

And remember to get toasty hot and inspired by participating in as many happy, joyous, pride-filled Jewish events as you are able. In person, on zoom, via any medium that you live life.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

The Chagim, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana are now several weeks behind us.

The ‘regular’ year has begun. 

The exciting events, sumptuous festive holiday meals and hours immersed in praying, study and holy camaraderie of last month are a warm memory.

Back to 9-5 work.

That is no reason to feel like you are living a life of drudgery.

The best way to live every day of our lives is joyously.

What motivates this joy?

A brief meditation on the following should put a bounce in your step, a smile on your lips and a cheery tune humming in your mind.

Life is one long series of interactions with Hashem in the world that He created. 

He has appointed us as His agents to transform the world into an abode for Him.

If landing your ‘dream job’ in the workplace and getting a humungous pay package makes you feel good, when you work for Almighty G-d how much more should you be happy and joyous above and beyond.

What an epic honor, pleasure and privilege to be given a mission by G-d to transform our material world into the Garden of Hashem that it is destined to become.

It is a good reason to dance. Literally.

Yet, we all know the realities of life and especially the unprecedented times we live in. Admittedly, this can make being happy quite challenging. 

Let me share some of the lessons I learned from contemporary heroes this week.

Earlier this week Avi Borenstein shared the story of the life of his eldest son Ori Moshe hyd. 

The talk was titled ‘From Ostrowiec to Har Hertzl – a bereaved parent’s hsperspective on Israel at war and Am Yisrael’.

Ostrowiec is the village in Poland from which Avi’s family comes. The Jews were all taken to Treblinka to the extermination camp. Avi’s father survived and recently celebrated his one hundredth birthday in Toronto. 

Har Hertzl is the site of Israel's main military cemetery.

Tragically, two days before Yom Kippur, Ori Moshe was killed in Gaza at the young age of 32 as his convoy came under enemy fire. 

After his death a letter that he wrote to his younger brother surfaced. There are many life lessons to be gleaned from that letter. 

Avi, who travels the world for business, has made it his mission to share with others the inspiration that his son shared during his lifetime. From a busy day at a trade show in Bangkok he hurried over to the Chabad House to give his talk.

I was mesmerized by Ori’s father Avi. Here is a father, who lost his son three weeks ago, that is actively and energetically spreading encouragement and hope. He is a man with a mission to share life lessons to be gleaned from his sons honesty, caring and searching for deeper relationship with G-d and Torah. Avi has revealed his indomitable faith and spirit and is using his grief in a positive way by creating an impact and inspiring others to bring more light and goodness to the world. 

From where does he take the strength to keep going with energy and positivity? 

Clearly his neshama (soul) that is referred to as a ‘candle of G-d’ is fueling his unshakeable belief and devotion to Hashem and Am Yisrael.

Let me share another story I heard this week.

Oriyah lost so many friends on October 7th that he felt compelled to run away from the memories that haunted him in Israel. He spent the last year traveling in Thailand.

He spent many a Shabbat at Chabad House in Bangkok with Rabbi Nechemya. 

On the first night of Simchat Torah during the dancing, R’ Nechemya noticed that Oriyah was not there.

The next day at the meal he asked him where he was.

Oriyah told him ‘I just couldn’t dance. My memory took me back to the horrendous losses that I suffered, and I ran out of the Synagogue to my room’.

Rabbi Nechemya told him ‘Tonight there is a second night of Simchat Torah dancing. Please join in the dancing even for a very short while. When you feel you have had enough and can’t dance any more, please come to give me a hug before you go’.

Bolstered by this hug even before it was given, Oriyah danced and danced and danced that second night of Simchat Torah till the dancing finished.

He came to R’ Nechemya the next day and thanked him for the gift of healing. He had thought he could never dance again but on that night of Simchat Torah he found the inner strength to proclaim his love to Hashem and His Torah together with Am Yisrael.

Oriyah said he felt uplifted, inspired and ready to resume the trajectory of resuming his life in Israel. The next day he flew back home to rebuild his life and please G-d start a family.

These stories among so many others touch me deeply.

They are stories of deep tragedy.

Generational suffering.

As well as a story of resilience.

The unbelievable inner strength of the heroic People of Israel to continue to dance with the Torah against all odds. 

A story that depicts the journey that Am Yisrael has been making for the thousands of years of our history. 

In this week's Parsha named ‘go’ ‘lech’ we find the beginning of our journey. Avraham is told by Hashem to leave his land and go to the land ‘which I will show you’. 

Avraham and his wife Sara arrive in Israel (Canaan at the time) and immediately a famine hits the land. They need to go to Egypt to find food. 

Rather than start questioning G-d they simply continue to journey. 

Avraham's life is filled with challenge but it is also filled with deep faith, benevolence and proactive outreach that transmits a joyous positive message as we relive the events in the parsha.

His namesake in 2024 Avi ( = Avraham) Borenstein continues in that special path forged by our forefather.

I feel humbled and inspired by Avi’s greatness.

And the greatness of the other bereaved parents, spouses, children and friends in the ‘club’ that he represents.

Israel is filled with contemporary heroes who have lost loved ones. 

Heroes who are putting their lives on the line to protect our people.

Families whose husbands and fathers have spend the better part of last year in ‘milu’im’ army service. 

I am inspired by my brethren in Israel who live in a constant state of alert for incoming missiles and projectiles.

Under the greatest of challenges, the spirit in the country of Israel and in Am Yisrael as a whole, is one of positivity, unity and mutual responsibility. 

The ‘hit song’ that is wildly popular in Israel today has the following lyrics:

‘Hashem always loves me and always makes sure that I will have only good. And even better, and yet better….’

השם יתברך תמיד אוהב אותי, ותמיד יהיה לי רק טוב. ועוד יותר טוב ועוד יותר טוב...

This is the Jewish story. 

A story of indomitable trust in Hashem.

A story of care, compassion and love.

A story of joy and positivity no matter the circumstances.

It may be scary out there, but if we stick together, we are unbreakable, and we have G-d’s promise that He will bring Mashiach and Peace will reign in the world.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

Dear Friend,

Are you SAD?

I know you may be thinking that I seem to be fluctuating wildly.

Last week I was promoting joy. 

This week I am asking about being sad.

Earlier this week I noticed a news headline about Seasonal Affective Disorder = SAD.

Apparently, when the winter months come, some people suffer bouts of moodiness or even depression.

It has been discovered that having mood changes as the seasons change it is not an isolated phenomenon. It is widespread enough to be given a name and a treatment solution.

Reading about this disorder this week, seemed so well suited to my own mood.

Coming from the extremely busy, holy and fast-paced month of Chagim of Tishrei, having a ‘regular’ work week was a bit of a shock to the system.

Let me do the calculations.

During the first 23 days of the Jewish month of Tishrei (from October 4 – 26th) we had three holidays at the beginning (two days of Rosh Hashana going straight into Shabbat). Followed by Yom Kippur (on the following Shabbat). Three days at the beginning of Sukkot (two days of Sukkot going directly into Shabbat). Three days at the end of Sukkot (two days of Simchat Torah and Shabbat). Plus, four ‘intermediate’ chol hamoed days. That makes fourteen out of twenty-three days being chagim. Out of the other nine ‘regular’ days, four of them were not really full working days as the Jewish holidays and Shabbat starts at sunset which means from early afternoon onwards you have to be making final preparations for Shabbat and Chag. 

Not much ‘regular’ ‘working weekday’ routine going on. Lots of praying, studying, feasting, dancing and camaraderie. 

I find it challenging to adjust back to ‘mundane’ life after such an abundance of holidays and Chagim.

When I read the headline about SAD I realized that this was providentially brought to my attention so I could embrace the reality of the transition I was going through.

Upon further thought, I was wondering why that topic suddenly made it to my news feed. When I googled the topic, I found that just last week (in the middle of the holiday of joy of Sukkot) a book was printed about this very topic. ‘How to Winter’ is the title of the book and it talks about ‘harnessing your mindset to thrive in cold, dark or difficult times’. 

Norway is used as the testing ground for making the best of long dark winter nights.

To me this is such special Divine Providence. 

The timing is so perfect.

Because this is exactly the feeling that Jews have as they exit the special month of Tishrei with all of its Chagim. Its like a radical season change from a sunny balmy month, to a cold winterly reality.

It also perfectly fits the theme of the Parsha this week which is about Noach and the flood.

One of the fascinating things about the flood was how Noach needed to be instructed to leave the ark.

Think about it. If you were cooped up in an ark with only your wife, sons and daughters-in-law and every species of animals on the face of earth, and then they announced that the flood was over, would you need to be instructed to emerge from the ark? I would think that after such an ordeal, the moment the earth was dry enough, you would be itching to leave and get outa there.

Noach, having gotten used to the environment of the cocoon of the ark didn’t want to leave. Inside the ark it was idyllic and peaceful. Even Messianic in the sense that all types of animals that usually devour each other were coexistent and cooperative with each other. Just like it says in the prophecy of Mashiach that ‘the wolf will live with the lamb’, this is what took place in the ark of Noach.

Who wants to leave that kind of warm, holy, camaraderie filled environment?

Its like going out from the warm summer months to the cold harsh winter.

Or like leaving the exalted, inspirational days of the Chagim to enter the stark mundanity of the challenges and tensions of life. 

(This is something we Covid generation can relate to. Some people had trouble reengaging with society after being quarantined in their hotel room for two weeks upon entry to Thailand. There was something relaxing and redeeming about that isolation. Nothing was expected of you. None of the tensions of responsibilities, deadlines, schedules and putting up with the friction of society).

Yet, as spiritually uplifting as the atmosphere in the ark was, Noach was instructed to leave.

Because the intention of Hashem is not to keep the saintly Noach in the enclave environment of cloistered holiness of the ark. Hashem wanted Noach to create a refined world by engaging in it. To be married. To have children and grandchildren. To engage in planting and harvesting. To develop commerce and civic occupations. And against that backdrop, to cultivate the holy environment that Hashem will then call His home.

This is a message to us as well.

Just as Hashem instructed Noach to leave the ark, Hashem moves our seasons and calendar onwards and yes, the winter comes. And we need to learn how to weather the winter.

In the spiritual realm, the celebration-laden month of Tishrei gives way to the not-even-one-holiday-month of Marcheshvan. 

SAD?

NO WAY.

I don’t know what the author of the winter book wrote. I know what the Torah tells us. 

How do you enter the ‘regular’ year and stay JOYOUS? By never truly ending the holidays. By taking the holiday inspiration and spirit and bringing it with you as you ender the mundane days of the year.

The joy of Sukkot and Simchat Torah is meant to give us the tools to inject the rest of the year with joy.

On Sukkot we remember Hashem’s protective embrace. This embrace is always there. We enter the new year in Hashem’s protective hug. It requires thinking back once in a while to the eternal message of Hashems protection.

How can you be scared when embraced by the Almighty?

From whence to get Joy?

Simchat Torah instills within us the joy of being Hashems nation to whom He gave the Torah.

This joy doesn’t stop after Simchas Torah. If we have observed and inculcated the message of Simchas Torah properly, we have started studying Torah more consistently. 

Our joy only grows as we engage in enhanced Torah study.

My friends, there is no reason and no excuse to be sad. 

And more importantly there is no time to be SAD with moodiness from the season change.

During these turbulent times we need ‘all hands on deck’. 

Our holy and heroic soldiers are literally putting their lives on the line as they valiantly protect us at the borders of Israel. The holy residents of Israel who continue to live life with resilience and optimism are awesome. 

All of us wherever we may be spread throughout the world must do our bit as soldiers in ‘tzivot Hashem’ the ‘army of Hashem’. Each of us must do their best for the collective benefit, safety, and redemption of Am Yisrael.

Forward march to making this world the holy and G-dly place that it needs to become.

It starts with making ourselves more G-dly.

The way to do that is first of all by studying Torah.

This is a call to action. 

Incorporate daily study of Torah into your schedule.

Click here for TORAH STUDY

There is no excuse these days not to study. Online Torah lessons, subscriptions to daily emails of Torah, videos teaching Torah, the opportunities to learn Torah have never been greater.

Take a deep dive into Torah. 

Try it. Daily. Please G-d it will provide you with joy, stability, meaning and purpose.

And most of all, you will be connecting intimately with G-d by having His intellect meshed with your brain in a consummate bond that is beyond description.

Shabbat Shalom

Chodesh Tov

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

The way my eight-year-old grandson told it to me made such simplistic sense.

‘On Sukkot Hashem hugs us, on Simchas Torah we hug Hashem’.

This exuberant comment from told to me by a young child touched me.

This is a very deep concept distilled into a one liner that even kids can understand. 

So poignant for this year – one year from last Simchas Torah (October 7 2023) - in particular.

The Sukkah represents the Divine Clouds of Glory that enveloped and protected us during our journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel. This is likened to the embrace of G-d. By sitting in the Sukkah, we are being ‘hugged and embraced’ by the Al-mighty so to speak.

On Simchas Torah we lift the Torahs and hug them while we dance with them. 

Hugging the Torah is in a sense like hugging Hashem.

The Zohar teaches: The Jewish people, Torah and Hashem are all one.

Hashem is to be found in His Torah. Torah is Hashems wisdom. Hashem and His wisdom are one.

Thus, in a sense, hugging the Torah that contains the wisdom of Hashem is like symbolically hugging Hashem.

Sukkot and Simchas Torah represent the reciprocal cosmic hugging between Hashem and Am Yisrael. 

As my grandson simply put it (kudos to his teachers and parents) 

‘On Sukkot Hashem hugs us, on Simchas Torah we hug Hashem’.

This year we have another extremely holy angle to consider.

We are remembering the ‘kedoshim’ – literally ‘the holy ones’ who were murdered on last Simchat Torah in the holy land of Israel, simply because they are Hashem’s holy people of Israel.

In English the word ‘martyr’ is used to describe those who were killed. 

This does not adequately express the name they are given in Hebrew.

In traditional Hebrew they are referred to as Kedoshim. 

Holy ones. 

True, we are all holy as we are one with Hashem. We have a neshama, a soul that is a ‘piece of Hashem’ so to speak within us.

But we also have bodies that can create friction between our holy side and our impulsive ‘human’ mundane side.

The martyred kedoshim are not limited by material bodies. 

The kedoshim whose lives were taken ‘al kidush Hashem’ are bound up with Hashem in an inseparable bond. 

Their unity with Hashem is transparent and complete. We refer to them as the ‘holy ones’.

The Torah rejoices on Simchas Torah, but the Torah doesn’t have feet and cannot dance. 

We are like the feet of the Torah when we dance on Simchas Torah.

This year we will also be like the feet of the martyred kedoshim whose souls are dancing in the presence of G-d, and whose memories we remember, honor and cherish.

A dear friend sent me a picture of what his Synagogue in Israel did. 

They embroidered the Sefer Torah coverings with the names of the martyred kedoshim. Every kibbutz will be represented. Every martyred kadosh will be hugged as the Torah’s whirl around with joy and optimism and the belief that lies deeply in every Jewish soul that ‘I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach!

We will dance as we pray and pray as we dance. For the return of our hostages, the wellbeing of our soldiers and the security and safety of the Jews of Israel and the world over.

Until we merit the end to all of suffering and tribulation for all of mankind, with the coming of Mashiach, NOW.

Chag Sameach

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

(A long) P.S.

Topic:

 ה' צילךHashem is ‘your shadow’.

Our connection to Hashem is both reactive and proactive.

Rabbi Levi Yitschak of Berditchev taught in the name of the Ba’al Shem Tov the following kabalistic truth.

The words of King David (Tehilim 121) likening Hashem to our shade/shadow gives us a deep insight into how Hashem runs his world.

Hashem so much desires to have the created beings engage with Him in a meaningful relationship, that He mirrors the activities and even the demeanor and mood that we project on our faces and through our actions.

If we act melancholy, the reciprocal divine flow from above is anxious and non-joyous energy.

When we act joyous and our faces light up, Hashem projects light, happiness and a radiant ‘face’ so to speak.

This means that when we need Hashems benevolence and extra positive attention, we would best be acting joyously down below. This will elicit the flow of Hashem’s infinite joyous light.

If there was ever a time that we need G-d’s love and joy to shine down upon us, it is now.

Just after the Yom Kippur war, the Rebbe shared this kabbalistic teaching and urged and encouraged us to take our joy on the holiday of Sukkot and Simchas Torah very seriously. 

We have an opportunity to generate that kind of radiance from above by being happy down below.

On Simchas Torah we are instructed to be happy. This means that Hashem not just gives us permission to be joyous, he instructs us and empowers us to be joyous.

By being happy we change the equation.

Don’t stay on the sidelines this year.

The people of Israel needs every song, every joyous handclap, every foot that can dance to bring victory and peace to our people.

By having simcha joy on this Simchas Torah you will be participating in the rejuvenation of our people, in strengthening our nation and in continuing in the glorious chain of our holy ancestors who all rejoiced with the Torah throughout the millennia.

Let us add our link to that illustrious chain.

Even if you cant make it to a shul or join with a community of Jews who are celebrating, do a dance in your home. with your family. Or even alone.

Chag Sameach

By the Grace of G-d

Dear friend,

Ori Borenstein HYD, 32 years old, was killed last Thursday as the convoy he was in, was ambushed in Gaza.

I have an important message from Ori Moshe ben Avraham’s father who visits our region for business.

Avi asked me to relay to my community and my readers a heartfelt Chag Sameach.

And to share that his concluding remarks at his sons memorial at the Mt. Hertzl cemetery. He will finish his speech by instructing himself and his family and friends to meticulously fulfil the instruction of the Torah of ושמחת בחגיך   ‘you shall be happy and rejoice, on your holiday of sukkot’.

Avi concluded ‘Rabbi, as you share these words with your readers, please impress upon them that Ori is not a singular hero. Ori is part of a bigger picture of heroism, during our times, and stretching back all through our history. Giborim and Kedoshim who gave their lives for Hashem and Am Yisrael.

Chag Sameach’.

And with this we concluded our telephone conversation as he was on the bus to the cemetery hours before the onset of Sukkot.

Allow me to share some thoughts about this.

Close your eyes .

Breath in deeply.

Imagine….

Imagine a world that makes sense.

A world where everyone knows that Hashem is the provider and sustainer.

He makes the rains fall in their proper time.

He and only He can ensure that the forces of nature all work in perfect balance without tornadoes, earthquakes or other natural disasters upsetting the ecosystem.

A world where it is clear to all major world leaders that the flow of G-d’s beneficence is dependent on the Jewish prayers in the Temple.

A world in which there is a universal awareness that the blessing come to them through the prayers of the Jewish people even sans Bet Hamikdash.

Through Israel praying and beseeching G-d for the blessings of peace, bounty and beneficence G-d rains down His blessings on all of mankind,.

Ah, what a peaceful and joyous world that would be.

In a world like that, Israel would not need to invest in its defense for no one would be crazed enough to attack it. On the contrary, the entire civilized world would send troops to protect Israel and the Bet Hamikdash Temple in Jerusalem.

In a world like that, anti-semitism would be equivalent to sheer lunacy.

No one would allow the nation of Israel who is the conduit of blessing for the entire world, to suffer.

That would be cutting off the branch that they are sitting on.

This is the way our Sages describe what the world would look like if they but knew the truth.

A peaceful serene happy and relaxed world for all its inhabitants.

Our prophets prophesied that this will be the reality when Mashiach comes.

(see Zecharia 8, B amidbar Rabba 1:3, Talmud Sukkah 55b

May it be NOW! Amen.

Open your eyes .

You may be in for a shock.

The world still is not perfect.

The nations of the world, including our dear friends, think that Israel’s protection is only for the benefit of Jews.

No. They still don’t recognize that by protecting the Jewish people, by protecting Israel they are protecting themselves.

Our friends admirably feel they are protecting a friend, an ally. But there are limits to how much you do for a friend.

Those limits seem like they are stretched to the limits.

The difference between the ‘should be’ and ‘reality’ is stark.

How are we to live?

With the ‘eyes closed’ idyllic version of life, or with ‘open eyes’ harsh reality?

There is a tension in our existence that seems to have always been there.

G-d created us a people who is an impossibility. From the birth of Yitzchak to a 100 year old father and 90 year old mother. In a long and tumultuous history, all the way to modern day Israel, where seven ‘war fronts’ need to be managed simultaneously.

We are an enigma as it doesn’t make sense that we are still here.

Yet we are very much still here thank G-d.

We conduct our lives in two tracks simultaneously.

We, Am Yisrael are a people who lives by being realistic on the one hand and knowing that G-d will do seemingly impossible miracles to save us on the other hand.

The Rebbe spoke very firmly and outspokenly during the Gulf War that Israel is the safest place in the world for a Jew. The Torah says so. Click here for more.

We need to do our best to physically protect ourselves and we need to employ the greatest levels of faith and trust in Hashem to bolster our spiritual defense system.

Yes, so long as Mashiach has not yet come we need the strongest army possible in Israel.

And Jewish communities around the world need to employ the strongest means of self-defense.

Together with that we need to pray to Hashem, trust in Hashem, study His Torah and engage in his mitzvahs as these are our spiritual and miraculous shields.

The mitzvah on sukkot is to rejoice.

On sukkot Hashem instructs us to remember His protective clouds of glory in which he enveloped us in safety. For seven days we are to sit in ‘sukkot’ booths and remember Hashem’s kindness to us.

During those seven days we are instructed to be joyous.

Sing, dance and rejoice.

It may be scary outside. Dark and foreboding ominous clouds may lurk in the background. Yet, Hashem instructs us to remember His protective shade when we left Egypt. Hashem instructs us to overcome our fears, nightmares and traumas and garner up the energy and courage to rejoice.

The Torah instructs joy especially on Sukkot. Our sages explain that this is because it is at the end of the harvest season, after the crops are safely away in storage. Equivalent to having ‘money in the bank’ after successfully buying and then selling all your merchandise and the buyer having paid up in full. That yields a contentedly happy kind of feeling.

Sometimes, like in our current times, the happiness is not assisted by what is going on in our outside lives. So much uncertainty about the hostages. So many bereaved families. So many wounded. So many displaced. And so many threats from our enemies.

YET, Ori’s father, from the memorial service for his son who was cut down in the prime of his life, reminds us that we need to wish each other Chag Sameach.

ה' עוז לעמו יתן ה' יברך את עמו בשלום

The verse says ‘Hashem gives strength to His people, Hashem will bless His people with Shalom PEACE’.

The strength, and obstinacy of the Jewish people is such, that when Hashem says ‘Vesamachat Bechagecha’ be joyous during the holiday, we resiliently, spiritedly and heroically fulfill it. Even when it is challenged by outside realities that are dispiriting.

The best thing you and I can do to bring peace and blessing to our people and to the world, is to fulfil the mitzvahs of Hashem.

On Sukkot this means to activate our resilience, strength and resoluteness and REJOICE and BE HAPPY.

Join us at our Sukkah in Bangkok, or visit a Sukkah wherever you are around the world.

Chag Sameach

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

PS part 2 to be continued next week in honor of Simchat Torah.

Topic:

 ה' צילך Hashem is ‘your shadow’.

Our connection to Hashem is both reactive and proactive.

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

Let us put on the special glasses of the sages of the Talmud.

The way they looked at Hashem’s benevolence in rewarding people for honoring Him, becomes a powerful case for blessing and reward from G-d for each and every one of us.

Perfect for sharing just before Yom Kippur. The holiest day of the year when we stand before Hashem to have the blessings of the coming year signed and sealed.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 96a ) tells the story of the powerful Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar.

He started off as a secretary and scribe for a previous Babylonian monarch. 

How did he become the most powerful king of his time (around 2600 years ago)?

Once, when Nebuchadnezzar was absent from work, another one of the royal scribes drafted a letter to be sent to the king of Yehudah, Chizkiyahu. The letter began: “Greetings to King Hizkiyahu! Greetings to the city of Jerusalem! Greetings to the great God!”

When Nebuchadnezzar returned to work and discovered how the letter was written, he objected, saying “you call Him ‘the great G-d,’ and then you mention Him last?!”

Nebuchadnezzar insisted that the letter be redone, writing: 

“Greetings to the great God! Greetings to the city of Jerusalem! Greetings to King Hizkiyahu!”

The problem was that the messenger had already been dispatched to Jerusalem with the first version of the letter in his hand.

Nebuchadnezzar ran out to call the messenger back and redo the letter, running three steps to catch the messenger. 

The Talmud credits this behavior, the running of three steps for G-d’s honor, for his subsequent ascension to power.

Let us wrap our minds around this for a minute. 

The kingdom of Babylon was the prevailing ‘super-power’ of the time.

Nebuchadnezzar ascended to power, his son followed him in the monarchy as did his grandson.

Three generations of kingship of the most powerful monarchy of the civilized world. 

He received that as a reward for a mere three steps that he walked in honor of G-d. 

Literally a triple dose of absolute royalty for three steps.

The Alter Rebbe R’ Shneur Zalman made the following observation.

‘There is no Jew who has not honored Hashem to this (almost effortless) level. This means that every Jew is deserving of all the good in the world’.

(This is one of the reasons that we take three respectful steps backwards after concluding the Amidah prayer. Click here for more).

I find this perspective a very important one to have in our toolkit.

Too easily we can fall into the trap of ‘justifying’ bad things that happen to other people. ‘They are sinful’ we may say. Thus ‘they deserve it’ some may even add.

We ought to keep that kind of judgmentalism to be used solely on ourselves (and even that must be kept to a minimum). 

When something doesn’t go for us the way I wanted it to go, we ought to recognize that hardship as being a ‘wake-up call’ from Above.

It is probably intended to give us a push in the right direction. To get better and ascend in the ladder of connection to Hashem by studying Torah and doing Mitzvahs.

However when it comes to the way we view others, we must use the yardstick outlined above.

That they are deserving of Hashem's benevolence. 

Recognize that all the people around you have certainly gone three steps for Hashem. According to the above Talmudic logic they are all deserving of wonderful things.

On a personal note: every single Jew I know and have ever known, have all shown respect for Hashem at least as much as the three steps that Nebuchadnezzar took. 

This moves me and inspires me to beseech Hashem for blessings, kindness, light and joy to everyone I know, to you and all of Am Yisrael.

May the world be blessed with the coming of Mashiach NOW.

Chatima Ugmar Chatima Tova

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef & Nechama Kantor

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

How much does it cost to travel to the ‘heavens’?

Well, they are selling reservations to travel by rocket to space for about $450,000.

What is the expense to travel to the depth of the sea?

The ill-fated trip to the Titanic reportedly cost $250,000 per passenger.

These kinds of figures make the experience inaccessible for most.

How much does it cost to get access to G-d’s infinite wisdom?

Well since G-d’s wisdom is not to be found in outer space, nor is it at the other end of the ocean, it’s not at all difficult to get access.

To use the language of this week’s Parsha (using the Kehot interpolated translation)

You may think—recalling that the true setting for studying the Torah and performing God’s commandments is the Land of Israel —that it is impossible to truly learn and understand the Torah while in exile. This, however, is not the case, for this commandment, i.e., to study the entire Torah, about which I am commanding you today, is not only not unreachably remote from you—no matter where you are—it is not even so far away that you have to go elsewhere to learn it.

In other words: if the vagrancy of exile leads you exceedingly far from the Land of Israel—to countries located ‘at the end of heaven’26—you should not think that the Torah is accessible only in your homeland, which is located at the other end of heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to “heaven” for us and fetch it for us, to expound it to us so that we can fulfill it?’

And even if you settle somewhere closer to the Land of Israel, somewhere from which the Land of Israel is accessible by sea, you should not even think that the Torah is beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to expound it to us so that we can fulfill it?’ 

If learning the Torah did indeed entail such a voyage, you would have to undertake it. But it does not,  for this thing is very close to you: The Torah is not a cryptic or obscure document accessible only to an exclusive elite; God has placed its explanation, as it were, in your mouth and in your heart—in the form of the Oral Torah—so you can fulfill it correctly and confidently. 

Sometimes when something is within reach it is not that appreciated.

I am blessed and fortunate to be able to introduce people to Torah study, some of whom have never read the Torah before.

Some Jews have heard the Torah stories as children but never had the chance to interact with Torah as mature adults at an adult level. 

When they start to drink in the Torah wisdom thirstily, they cannot get over the wisdom, depth and spiritual energy that the Torah contains.

When I see the excitement and passion that these people have for the Torah it ignites me and makes me more excited as well. 

If the Torah was in the other end of the world, we would charter planes and trains and buses and camels and traverse the globe to discover it.

In an airport in Calcutta, India some thirty years ago I met an American looking man in saffron robes. He had Indian disciples literally kissing his feet. I struck up a conversation and asked the man if he was Jewish. ‘I used to be Jewish’ was his response. The plane to Bangkok was delayed and we had a few hours to converse.

Our conversation went to the highest and deepest levels of philosophy. I shared some of the Chassidic/kabbalistic teachings I had learned at the Yeshiva and he was amazed at the depth.

He told me in an apologetic tone: ‘when I was looking for deeper meaning after getting disillusioned with my New York upbringing, I went to the library and discovered Eastern religions. I never imagined that there was so much depth in Judaism. Everything I was looking for is in the Torah’.

As far as I know the story doesn’t have a climactic ending. 

I offered him to put on Tefillin. He politely declined. 

At the age of seventy and as a leading orator in that religion, he did not seem inclined to honestly dig deeper into Torah knowledge.

But honestly, I don’t know what it may have sparked in this fellow Jew.

It was pre email and social media days and while we exchanged a letter or two (I sent him a copy of the Tanya and he sent me a letter acknowledging receipt) I lost contact with him.

The story resonates with me very deeply.

How many fellow Jews are thirsting for meaning, depth and guidance, paying huge amounts of money for coaching, experiencing and meditating. How far East and West may they be traveling. 

When the G-dly truth that their soul is yearning for is really right there ‘in their own backyard’.

The Torah is the blueprint of creation.

It is the life giving elixir of the soul.

Try it.

I know coca cola has a slogan ‘coke adds life’.

It is good marketing perhaps but it is not at all true.

Torah adds life! 

This is the absolute truth. 

Says who?

G-d the Creator of all life says so.

As we near Rosh Hashana we think about the past year and the next year.

Let us all commit to learn more Torah, do more Mitzvahs and help more people.

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova

May you and your loved ones be blessed with a good, sweet new year.

May our nation of Am Yisrael be blessed with secure peace and the ultimate blessing of Mashiach NOW, Amen.

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

Imagine this conversation.

Kid says to mum with whining voice.

‘Ma, you hate me, you never buy me anything’!

Mom replies

‘What do you mean dearie, I just got you a brand-new holiday outfit, designer brand’.

Whining child replies.

‘Yes, but that was yesterday’

Then sobs 

‘What have you done for me today. You don’t love me’.

Talk about ungratefulness at its best.

It’s the ‘what have you done for me lately’ way of life. When people overlook a lifetime of things they should be grateful for, and instead focus on the day, hour or even minutes that they are not in the receiving mode.

This weeks Parsha spells it out so clearly.

Every year, the Jewish farmer in Israel had the mitzvah to bring his firstly grown fruits of the season to the Bet Hamkidash. 

The farmer makes a declaration of gratitude to Hashem for the fact that he has brought us to the land of Israel, and that the land has given forth fruit.

This teaches us the fundamental importance of giving thanks to Hashem. Gratitude for the good things that Hashem has given us.

In the language of the declaration of thanks there are several paragraphs that seem a bit out of place.

At the beginning of the declaration of thanks the farmer thanks G-d for saving our ancestor Yaakov from the evil intention of his uncle Lavan who wanted to kill him before he even had children. 

The farmer then continues to recount the path of Jewish history as it goes through the enslavement in Egypt. After several hundred years of the Egyptian exile G-d took us out and brought us to this promised land which is ‘flowing with milk and honey’.

‘I have come here today with my first fruits to thank G-d’ concludes the farmer in his declaration of thanks.

Why isn’t it enough to just say thank you for the fruits of this year, why the whole long historical narrative?

The Rebbe would receive letters from Jews all over the world on a huge variety of topics. A recurring topic was people who would write to complain about their difficult situation and how Hashem doesn’t seem to be ‘shining His countenance’ on them as is indicated by the troubles they face. They would ask the Rebbe to pray for them and bless them.

Sometimes the Rebbe would answer the person whose life seemed so difficult now when they wrote the letter, to think back five or ten years. The Rebbe would suggest to them to try to remember what the things on their minds were years ago. 

What things caused you anxiety because they looked so overwhelming. What did your prayer ‘wish list’ look like back then?

My dear friend. Please take a moment and actually try this. Think back to ten years ago. What were the major things you were hoping for? 

Then think back five years. What were your biggest challenges?

Maybe even write them down so you see them in front of your eyes.

Now think about your situation today.

Have many of those items been resolved?

In many instances the blessings of G-d have resolved the issues of then. 

This is what the Torah seems to be teaching us in the farmers ‘declaration of thanks’.

View life from a broadened perspective of your own life history. Broaden your scope even further and view your life from the perspective of the national history of the Jewish people.

Where were we as a people fifty years ago. One hundred years ago. 

Back in Egypt.

We will discover that we have so much to be thankful for.

Jewish life has never been so accessible. Freedom of religion is a assumption we take for granted. Synagogues, yeshivas, Jewish center, kosher food, all of the staples of Jewish life are proliferating and thriving. Israel is a thriving bustling and successful country.

Yes, we do have major challenges as well. This year in particular we have discovered that Israel faces huge challenges. Diaspora Jews have been rudely awakened to the resurfacing menace of anti-Semitism.

On the one hand let us be mindful of all the challenges. We that we take action on all of these items to do whatever we can for the peaceful thriving of our people in Israel and in the world over. 

And let us do this from a perspective of thankfulness to Hashem for His kindnesses. Not from whining and whinging about the problems we face. 

Nechama and I had a very special ‘long-term-nachas’ opportunity this week.

Ilana from Australia and Yossi from Israel were a couple that came to join us for Yom Kippur 1993 at the Bet Elisheva synagogue. They were backpacking through Thailand and had responded to our Yom Kippur invite that we had placed on the advertisement board in the Kaosarn Rd Israeli hangouts. For Nechama and I, it was our very first High Holidays here in Thailand. Just six months after we took up the position of the rabbi and rebbetzin of Thailand’s Jewish community.

Yossi and Ilana had an inspiring Yom Kippur went on to move to Australia, establish a warm observantly Jewish home and have four children. Our friendship – long distance at it was – blossomed. Ten years ago they joined us at our eldest daughter Mushka’s wedding to Gabi Kaltmann at the Shangri-La hotel on the bank of the Chao Praya River. This week we had the pleasure of joining them at their daughter’s wedding in Melbourne, Australia.

It was so much nachas for us to see this beautiful family celebrating their first wedding. And so fundamentally connected to the theme of this week’s parsha about gratitude.

In addition to the gratitude for the current and constant things that G-d blesses us with. From opening our eyes in the morning, to every single breath that we take.

We must also incorporate long term gratitude for the things that take decades to develop and evolve.

Please take a few moments to read Rabbi Josh Gordon's article An Attitude of Gratitude. He did a superb job in developing this theme.

Your life will be so much more pleasant from the perspective of being appreciative and gratitude filled to G-d who is the source of all.

To those fellow people who are the providers of kindness to us, we ought to be eternally grateful as well.

To our parents who gave birth to us and raised us till were indeptnted.

As well as all the people in our life, past and present who look out for us, care about us, treat us nicely and provide benevolence.

Thank you my dear friend, for your friendship.

Real relationships take time. Even in this technological age.

Our relationship with Hashem must be nurtured and grow every day.

Especially now as we stand 12 days before Rosh Hashana. Chasidic tradition teaches that each of the 12 days of the year should be used to introspect and make amends for the previous twelve months. And to make good plans for the coming twelve months. One day corresponds to one month.

May you and your loved ones be blessed with a good, sweet new year.

May our nation of Am Yisrael be blessed with secure peace.

Mashiach NOW, Amen.

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

Spirited dancing at the wedding in Melbourne

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

Reframing ancient miracles into a contemporarily relatable context can be cute.

Like imagining a modern-day version of the Chanuka miracle in the context of battery life of your cellphone. One bar left and it lasts for eight days. 

I had a reverse kind of battery miracle this week.

On Monday I was having a zoom meeting with an elderly couple who are homebound because of health-related issues.

They told me that they may ‘disappear’ from the screen in middle, but I should not think that they had disconnected. Simply their ‘ancient’ MacBook was having battery problems. 

It didn’t fully register with me. The difficulty of the challenge that this must be creating for them. Replacing the battery would not be a simple task for them in their situation. Truth be told, I heard what they said but I didn’t really give the matter much immediate thought. I didn’t try to help them with the immediacy that would be warranted.

An hour later I powered up my laptop computer to get to some important computer work. The computer console told me ‘57% (plugged in, charging)’. Yet in front of my eyes the percentages went down. Within a half hour it was down to 7% battery and the computer suggested that I save my documents and power down. Mind you, the console still falsely claimed that I was charging. The charger worked fine on my phone. I restarted the computer in case it was an app that was shlepping an irresponsible amount of battery. Nothing helped. The battery was the obvious culprit.

I was incredulous. Hashem had made a miracle for me. 

My computer is an IBM. The other computer is a Mac. 

Yet somehow my computers battery went on the blink in a rapid way right after I learned of the other persons battery issues.

Clearly, I was being given the opportunity for empathy. To feel what this other person was going through. 

I got the point and immediately called David who handles our computer systems. ‘I have two problems’ I told him. ‘Firstly my friend has a MacBook with a failing battery. Secondly, my computer also has a failing battery’. He told me to leave them in the office, sent a messenger, picked up both and sent them to his computer repairs shop.

By the end of the day, we both had our computers back with replaced batteries. I don’t know if the batteries will ‘live happily ever after’ but for now they are delivering the power as they should be.

The next morning, I read the third portion of the Parsha for the third day of the week. (The weekly parsha is divided to seven parts. One portion per day. On Shabbat all seven parts of the Parsha are read in the Synagogue).

Here is the Mitzvah that l learned on Tuesday morning:

When you build a new house, you must make a parapet for your roof, in order that you not cause blood to be shed in your house by not preventing one who falls from falling off the roof. True, if someone falls to his death, it indicates retroactively that he was destined to be punished for some crime he had committed. Nonetheless, you should try to avoid such an occurrence on your property, for the fact that such a tragedy occurs specifically on your property rather than elsewhere indicates that you, too, are in some way culpable for some wrongdoing. (Kehot Chumash with interpolated translation incorporating Rashi’s commentary).

Simply put. Hashem runs his world and orchestrates good things to happen through certain people and negative things to happen through others.

It is a huge blessing when something nice goes ‘through you’. 

Say for example Hashem gave you the opportunity to make a phone call for someone to help them make a sale or get a job. The fact that that favor and ‘nice thing’ is happening via you, is a blessing. You have been designated by Hashem to be his ‘arm’ of benevolence.

Conversely, when negative things happen through an individual it may be an indication that there is something not perfect in the ‘delivery person’.  

This ought to inspire introspection and self-awareness to see if there is something that needs to be changed in our life. 

I read this verse and it became so clear. I don’t know why, and perhaps it is undeserved, but Hashem chose to have these people helped through me.

Computer access for homebound people makes a world of difference. Literally. We all experienced it during Covid. When you cannot go out, the portal of the internet, zoom and other media becomes your vicarious expedition to the outside world.

I was at risk of not registering the importance and urgency of their need.

Hashem gave me the gift of feeling their challenge in my very own life. After being shown the need so clearly, anyone in my shoes would have done exactly what I did. Replace the battery. 

I thank Hashem for giving me this incredible opportunity. For not letting me overlook this important mission.

I am thinking out loud now. 

Perhaps Hashem blessed me with this gift because of you. 

Yes, you my reader.

You deserve to hear messages of clear Divine Providence like this one. 

This is why Hashem provides me with stories like these to share with others. 

This is what I am thinking….

In that case, I owe you a big debt of gratitude.

Thank you for reading my weekly article. For contributing to the collective meritoriousness which (in my humble opinion) is the reason I am blessed to have these stories in the first place.

I am happy to share another story I was blessed to hear this week in first person.

At the Gem show this week we provided kosher food. I met with the local members of our community who exhibit their jewelry as well as with the many visitors from the international community who come to the show. One of the merchants told me a story that inspired me incredibly.

‘Rabbi, I have to share this miracle.

For the last while, business was going very very slow. I kept waiting for a breakthrough. It wasn’t coming. 

A few weeks ago, I realized that I had become a drop less attentive to the mitzvah of tefillin, and while 99% percent of the time I put them on daily, there were some instances where I procrastinated and didn’t get to it in time before sunset.

The very next morning after my realization that I had begun slipping in my observance, I got up and said to myself, I am going to rededicate myself to my commitment to Hashem today. I put on tefillin. And while most of the doors in my home had a mezuzah, I was missing some. Finally got to dealing with the few doors that still needed mezuzahs. 

I got to work a bit later than usual. 

A client came in a few hours later. 

I made a sale that was huge. Literally ‘like from the movies’.

Way beyond what I could have imagined.

It saved my business that was floundering.

My wife came in while I was negotiating the sale, and she saw the huge scope of the business we were transacting. She looked at me and said ‘mezuzahs?’

I just smiled and said, ‘you can decide for yourself’.

When I looked at the merchant telling me the story and saw the inspired look in his eyes.

He told me that in his eyes this was literally and miracle a ‘NESS’. 

I reminded him that the word miracle – ‘ness’ is part of the word ‘parnassah’ livelihood.

נס = פר נסה 

The truly balanced way of doing business is when you realize that there is an obvious symbiosis between G-d’s blessings and your efforts.

Hashem tells us in the Torah

‘Hashem will bless you in all that you do’.

We need to do, and we need Hashem's blessing.

Hashem's blessings is what brings the success, and we need to do human activities as well.

Like a body and a soul. Inseparable.

Doing what G-d wants invites the blessing into the actions that humans take.

May Hashem bless all of us.

Return our hostages, protect our soldiers, heal our wounded and bring secure peace to Israel, the region and to our fellow Jews and citizens in the entire world. 

We want Mashiach NOW. Shana Tova.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

PS. here in Bangkok we are well into the preparations for the High Holidays at Rembrandt Hotel. See information below.

Looking forward to praying, celebrating and receiving the Shana Tova blessings with you.

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

Somebody wrote to me after their mother’s passing.

‘I am quite broken and have been since she passed - she was loved by so many - I don't think anyone will miss me when I'm gone....’

How would you respond to this?

***

This week’s parsha contains an intriguing mitzvah called ‘Egla Arufah’ literally the calf that is decapitated. 

If you are saying uggh, don’t ran away yet. Keep reading.

This mitzvah is carried out when a corpse is found in a field, outside the city, without any clue as to who killed him.

The Torah says this becomes an issue that involves the highest echelons of the Jewish people.

Five members of the Sanhedrin high court that is positioned in the holy temple in Jerusalem must go to the location, as remote as it may be in the furthest edges of Israel. They need to measure which city is the closest.

Once the closest city is established, the ritual of the ‘Eglah Arufah’ is carried out by the elders of the city.

A calf within a year of birth is killed in an arid piece of land which has never been worked, and never yielded anything. It can never be used for planting in the future either. 

The respected elders of that city need to declare that they were not negligent in allowing for this death.

‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see’.

No one suspected these venerable elders of murder. Rather what they are saying is meant to be understood as: 

‘We didn’t encounter this person in our city and allow for him to travel without food or to unaccompanied’.  

(This in itself is a very strong statement about the responsibility we bear for people who are in our vicinity. Ignoring someone else’s plight is tantamount to actually harming them. A powerful statement of civic responsibility. A topic for its own article). 

The ritual is a sensory experience of the killing a calf who had no children on land that produces nothing. This symbolizes the premature death of this person who can now not have children or generate output of good deeds (which are reminiscent of children allegorically).

The Rambam explains the reason for this mitzvah and its elaborate detail is in order to make a scene. A hullabaloo of sorts.

Do you remember during the pre-GPS days when the traffic news would speak about rubbernecking delays because of a traffic accident on the opposite side of the highway? 

Rubbernecking means the tendency that people have when they see something unusual, like police and ambulance activity, to slow down and look to see what happened.

When people see the unusual flurry of activity surrounding this murder, it will lead to chatter about the murder. This may uncover hitherto unknown details and help solve the murder so that the murderer be brough to justice.

Even more importantly, this mitzvah makes a major statement to society that every life is precious.

If someone’s life is cut short, G-d takes it personally.

He instructs in the Torah to set up a task force made up of the highest judiciary of the nation. The most pious and learned elders are dispatched to deal with it.

The impression this makes upon society about the value, sanctity and irreplaceability of every individual is stronger than strong.

And yes. All of this applies even to someone who may not have anyone to miss them.

While we no longer practice this mitzvah in a literal sense, the message it carries with it is more critical than ever.

One of the challenges of our contemporary times is the questioning of the meaning and purpose of life.

And the aloneness that afflicts so many.

Can you imagine? In our super connected generation, people are questioning whether they mean anything to anyone. Would anyone even notice if they were not there.

The pain and deep feeling of loneliness implicit in that question is excruciating and painful.  

I cannot get that question out of my mind.

‘Would anyone even miss me if I were gone’?

How does one respond to such a question?

Often people use it as a way of eliciting sympathy from others. As an invitation for the other person to offer words of validation about their contribution to society that will be missed.

And that is true. There is no one who is not contributing to society in some way. Just by being alive.

But to the person who is not saying it to elicit a soothing response but is genuinely asking the existential question ‘would I be missed if I were not here’?

The Torah portion today teaches us the deepest and most truthful answer.

Hashem ‘misses’ a person if they die.

The unique body and soul composite that was sent down here on earth to become aware of G-d and develop and spread that awareness. Through learning G-d’s Torah and fulfilling his instructions. This mission can only be carried out while the soul and body are together, here on earth the epicenter of G-d’s ‘garden’. 

True, the soul goes back to G-d ascending to heaven while the body is laid to rest in the earth. But that soul is now missing in the ranks of the active on-duty legions of the ‘servants of G-d’ here on earth.

No one is redundant. 

Hashem doesn’t make junk or spare parts. Anyone who is here on this earth is created by G-d for a divine purpose.

Before we do any mitzvah we remind ourselves, that ‘Baruch ata… asher kidshanu bemizvotav vetzivanu..’ G-d has sanctified us and commanded us to do this particular mitzvah.

There is nothing more empowering and uplifting than knowing that Hashem has instructed you to do something for Him. 

Let that knowledge sink in. Reflect on it. If you truly ‘get it’, you will feel joy and may even be tempted to sing and dance. 

You and I have been chosen by G-d to be instructed by Him. He desires our good deeds. He takes pleasure in our discovering Him. 

Yes, if you died, Hashem would ‘miss’ you. 

Choose life. 

***

Here is a practical takeaway from this mitzvah of ‘Eglah Arufa’.

Not one Jew is superfluous to Hashem.

One may think, what is the big issue if a Jew assimilates and their connection to G-d dwindles and weakens.

The collective is strong thank G-d. There are plenty of practicing Jews. 

This mitzvah teaches us don’t think that way. 

Hashem cherishes and awaits every single mitzvah and connection from every single Jew. 

Every single one of us counts. 

At the time of the giving of the Torah if there would have been one Jew missing, the collective Jewish nation would not have received the Torah.

If a fellow Jew’s Judaism ‘dies’ G-d forbid, the most prestigious and pious of the community need to recognize their negligence. 

And every single member of the closest city is held responsible. 

Why? For if they were they to have done their job of teaching and engaging their friends and acquaintances in the ways of connectivity to G-d, their friend would not have ‘died’ spiritually.

You and I, who are connected and active in our connection to G-d must take ownership for every single Jew that we have access to.

Let us join forces in spreading forth the timely message that Rosh Hashana is approaching. In preparation for Rosh Hashana we have a full month (that started on Wednesday) in which we can approach G-d to establish a relationship before the days of awe, the high holy days.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman the first Rebbe, gave the analogy of the King in the field. Hashem is so to speak affable and approachable during this month.

He smilingly welcomes and interacts with anyone who wishes to connect to him. Without pre-conditions. Just as they are.

Let us utilize this special time. Let us spread the word to others, so that we live and all those we know around us live and progress in our connection to G-d.

May we all be blessed for a Shana Tova

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yosef Kantor

For further reading:

The unsolved murder

The mysterious Egla Arufa (decapitated calf) 

The King in the Field, Elul

By the Grace of G-d

Dear Friend,

Seeing something makes it very real.

Look at this picture and tell me if it looks like a car from which two adults and four children all emerged alive. 

Here is what happened. After the car tumbled off the side of a canyon road in California, the father was treated for a gash on the forehead that was fixed with stitches. The mother suffered three broken ribs. The children – including two one year old twins – emerged without a scratch.

This story happened back in the summer of 2022. I remember seeing this picture just after it happened as I am friends with the father.

Fast forward to this week. I forgot about this story.

My friend came to consult with me about incorporating prayer into his daily schedule.

I was delighted by the purpose of our meeting. It is very inspiring for me to see people grow in their Jewish observance. I am humbled by the arduous journeys and great efforts that people make in advancing in their spiritual growth. 

Rather than just suggesting certain prayers to incorporate into his schedule, it was a chance for me to spell out the basics of prayer.

Prayer in its purest sense is turning to G-d when in need. 

Simply put, to understand that there is no other source for life, health, sustenance or money other than the Creator of the Universe. 

Turning to G-d when you need something is the basis of prayer.

When you see a traffic buildup and you call out ‘Oh my G-d, please let me get home in time to meet my child when they come home from school’ this is prayer.

The most basic and fundamental form of prayer. 

Sometimes people get a bit overwhelmed when they think about prayer, because they assume it must be done in a certain way and using exact words. 

That is true when we refer to detailed prayer. Basic prayer is simply communicating with G-d about your needs. 

When viewed from this perspective, it is safe to say that most of humanity is praying without even realizing it. 

About two thousand years ago when the Jews were exiled to non-Hebrew speaking lands, they began to lose their ability to express themselves eloquently in Hebrew or in any language for that matter. 

It was for this reason that the prophetically endowed sages of that time compiled prayer texts in Hebrew. This would allow even the simplest of Jews to be able to speak to G-d in the most subliminally meaningful and poetically expressive language before the Almighty.

The Siddur Prayer book gives every person the ability to pray like a professional. (And of course these days there are Siddur Apps).

Click here for extensive discussion on the development of Tefilah.

In this article let me just touch very briefly on the basic ‘form’ of prayer. The order and sequence of how ought to present their requests to G-d.

It starts with submission to G-d and praising him. 

Just as if you were standing in front of a human king. You would start off by acknowledging and praising his exaltedness and greatness.

Then comes the request. You petition the king for his kindness and benevolence.

The conclusion of prayer should be with thanks and blessings of Shalom.

The beginning of our daily communication with G-d is the moment we open our eyes.

We say Modeh Ani Lefanecha … I thank you G-d for returning my soul…

The mere fact that I opened my eyes and am aware means that I am alive.

We therefore start by thanking G-d for life itself.

The more elaborate form of thanks for the gifts we are blessed with before we even do anything are the morning blessings of gratitude. 

Click here for morning blessings of gratitude.

Then we ask G-d for our needs and thank Him for everything He does for us.

It was only after I finished the meeting that I was reminded that this was the very same friend who two years ago had this incredible miracle. That he and his family walked out of their totally wrecked car alive and well thank G-d.

I had been emphasizing thanking G-d as an important part of prayer and indeed the person I was meeting has so much to thank G-d for. 

But not just him. So do I. So do you. 

It was Divine Providence that this meeting took place this week.

At the beginning of the week, I paid a visit to Phuket with our son Leibel. It was a short stopover on our way back from Almaty, Kazakhstan.

(We had spent the weekend there, joining hundreds of Chasidim who traveled from far and wide to visit the grave of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, the father of the Rebbe in honor of his eightieth yahrtzeit. 

As mentioned in last week’s article, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was exiled by the KGB to a remote province in Kazakhstan because of his holy work of spreading Judaism. 

He is buried in a small Jewish section of a general cemetery and until very recently was too remote for many visitors. In exile during his lifetime and after passing. 

A truly inspiring symbol of standing firm in commitment to G-d to the point of sacrifice).

We used the layover time in Phuket to visit the Chabad House to pray and eat something. 

And for something else very touching. To visit the hotel property in Patong where our family had an accident and were saved by a miracle. It was back in 2021 during Covid when we were in Phuket as part of the Sandbox quarantine program. 

(Another thing to thank G-d for. That the pandemic is over. We are able to move around freely without restrictions).

Why did we want to go back to that same site? 

To bless G-d for His kindness and benevolence in making a miracle for us.

The Code of Jewish Law teaches, 

When an individual sees the place where a miracle was performed on his behalf — for example, he was saved from a wall which fell on him or from a wild animal or robbers — after thirty days [of the event.], he is obligated to recite the blessing, “Blessed are You, G-d our L-rd, King of the universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.” This rule applies] even when there is no [specific feature or landmark] associating the miracle with that place.

Isn’t every single breath a miracle? Every sunrise, sunset, wind, rain and all the other things we call ‘nature’?

True, life itself is a miracle and a blessing. However, the regularity and predictable rhythm of nature is not by chance. It is exactly the way that G-d intended. He intentionally created the world in a way that for most part He is concealed behind the façade of the garments of nature.

When something unusual happens, those garments are moved aside for a moment. When an event occurs that naturally would have caused fatal damage and miraculously that danger is averted, this is a revelation of G-dly presence.

Upon experiencing this kind of Divine intervention, there is a special thanksgiving blessing. Praising Hashem and thanking Him for the extraordinary above-nature twist of events.

Whereas G-d chooses to remain hidden in the natural running of the world, in the case of a miraculous event, He is choosing to show His Face (so to speak) so that we can ‘see’ His presence and take that inspiration with us for the rest of our lives. 

This weeks Torah portion is Reeh. See.

The first verse reads, ‘See I set before you today a blessing…’

All of us are always recipients of G-d’s blessing.

Sometimes in a most dramatic way. And with pictures that allow you to literally ‘see’ the miracle.

Like my friend who emerged from his car miraculously and has pictures to show the enormity of the miracle.

Other times they are ‘small miracles’ when things come together in a way that you would not be able to predict.

May the Almighty bless you with the gift of R’eeh – seeing His blessings to you in every aspect of your lives.

And collectively we pray, for secure peace in Israel, for our soldiers, the return of our hostages, the healing of the wounded and the ushering in of peace to the world at large. 

Especially as we are about to enter the month of Elul. This week on Tuesday and Wednesday we mark the last day of Menachem Av and the first day of the month of Elul which means we are just about thirty days away from Rosh Hashana.

Time to start wishing for a Shana Tova. 

Chodesh Tov

And of course, what is most immediate,

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Kantor