Good Shabbos Email - Chabad of Peachtree City

HAAZINU- DIGGING FOR THE TOP

Friday, September 28, 2012 - 6:19 PM

HAAZINU

DIGGING FOR THE TOP

Over the just-completed High Holiday season, someone approached me with the following unconventional issue: “I really want to feel the King. I want to perceive Him sitting on His throne.”

I had been talking with this person recently and it was clear to me that this was not someone dealing with emotional or psychological challenges. This person genuinely wanted to feel the Almighty in a stronger, more powerful, and more close way than before.

This request caught me off guard. As a Rabbi, I have faced many types of issues, questions and dilemmas, but this one was uncommon. Besides, how exactly does one respond to such a question?

As if to confound the situation further, th… Read More »

YOM KIPPUR- TIME TO BE UNTETHERED!

Friday, September 28, 2012 - 6:13 PM

YOM KIPPUR

TIME TO BE UNTETHERED!

(From last year’s sermons on Yom Kippur

At Chabad of Peachtree City)

The day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a solemn day. It is a day of elevation, designed to lift the human being to a level not normally attained on a usual day. Food, regular clothing, and other materialistic pursuits are off limits. It is the person, as he or she is, coming forward, as is, before the Almighty.

For one day, a human being is in Heaven, so to speak.

It makes sense, therefore, that, as the day wanes and is about to conclude, the prayers hit an all-time crescendo. The prayer book, indeed, instructs its reader to cry out the verse of “Shema”: “Hear O Israel,… Read More »

VAYEILECH- SURVIVING THE GOODBYE

Friday, September 21, 2012 - 6:04 PM

SURVIVING THE GOODBYE

Every person has surely gone through the process of bidding farewell, of saying goodbye, to someone they care about. It could be something small, like saying goodbye to children going away for a weekend. It could be saying goodbye to a grandparent, or other relative, after an enjoyable visit for a few days. It could be a child leaving home for an extended time. And so forth.

It could also be a farewell for good, a real goodbye, to someone about to leave this world whose time has come.

The degree of emotion and sentiment in parting from someone depends, obviously, on the circumstance. The situation also dictates what would be shared between those who are taking leave of each other.

An… Read More »

ROSH HASHANAH- THE BEGINNING OF GREATNESS

Sunday, September 16, 2012 - 3:12 PM

THE BEGINNING OF GREATNESS

(From last year’s sermon on Rosh Hashanah

At Chabad of Peachtree City)

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a calendar event: The calendar changes. Jewish people scramble for a new Jewish calendar so they know when the Jewish holidays will occur in the coming year. As with every New Year on any calendar, the change naturally motivates people to focus on change.

Rosh Hashanah, of course, is infinitely more than a simple calendar change. It is part of the “High” Holidays. It is a highlight of the year, not merely a date on which the calendar ends or begins. The change people feel on Rosh Hashanah is because of its special energy. This energy evokes deep feelings within s… Read More »