Rebbe

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Rebbe Knew

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “The Rebbe Knew.”

This year at Passover seder, I had the privilege to sit next to an elderly Jewish lady, whom I’ll call Esther. We sat together at a Chabad seder, and on the wall next to us was a beautiful painting of the Rebbe.

My wife and I were spellbound by his lifelike holy image, especially his knowing, piercing blue eyes. In fact, we joked that it would be funny if the eyes started to move back and forth in the painting. Esther, who was sitting directly next to me, overheard us and proceeded to tell me some amazing stories about the Rebbe, which I am pleased to be able to share with all of you.

(AI generated image via Designer)

The Framing of Bibi

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “The Framing of Bibi.”In light of the radical left’s latest accusations and chants of “Crime Minister” against Bibi, here is a list of no less than a dozen claims made against Bibi over the past 20 years, ranging from the ridiculous to the absurd. All of these allegations so far have been found to be without merit and thus are ostensibly politically motivated versions of ridiculous “bubba maisa” (old wives tales).

This makes them look and sound like they don’t have any new or powerful ideas for building the economy, making peace (with security), or building the future of the state. The sensible people on the left should work together with the right to solve problems instead of trying to make yet another desperate, false accusation.

(Source Photo: Adapted from Kindel Media via https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-person-s-hand-with-a-handcuff-7785048/)

True Self Is Helping Others

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “True Self is Helping Others.”

The Rebbe’s message was that self-improvement was really about helping others! All the changes we commit to around the Jewish New Year and make in ourselves is not really about us, but rather about us being able to develop ourselves in order to “give it all away” to help others. Too often, people think in terms of self-help, self-improvement, where everything is sort of in terms, well, ourselves–my looks, my degrees, my career, my bank account, my family, and so on. However, people should not lose sight that everything that Hashem gives us is really for a higher spiritual purpose, for giving to others or “paying it forward.”

In this vein, we learn Torah not just for the sake of learning, but rather in order to actually do Mitzvot! Rabbi Kaplan explained that the Rebbe would make each and every person feel special and important. Why? Because by building up the individual, each could then go out and build up the world. And this is one of the reasons that I love and respect Chabad so much—from my experience, people like Rabbi Kaplan and Chabad in general, are all about living this life lesson from the Rebbe and giving, giving, and then giving some more in order to really improve the Jewish community globally and by extension the world.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)