The day has come to an end, as the shadows of evening have already spread throughout the sky. The townspeople, together with the multitudes of guests, the hundreds of students, and their teachers and mentors, gather in the big room to daven the first tefillah (prayer) of the new year — Maariv of Rosh Hashanah.
I was born in 1926 in Kursk, Russia. It was at the beginning of Soviet rule, but despite the difficulties involved, my parents made sure to give me a Jewish education. When I was ten years old, my parents managed to get a permit to leave Russia, and we came to the Israel, then the British Mandate for Palestine. There I continued my Torah studies.
Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida, delivers his insights on the Parasha of Vayelech. This week he answers the question: Does the Torah leave room for individuality? – based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Rabbi Shmuel Lesches, Maggid Shiur in Yeshiva Gedola of Melbourne, Australia, has compiled a guide to the laws and customs of Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Teshuva, Blowing Shofar and Tzom Gedalia for the benefit of the wider Lubavitch community.
Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida, delivers his insights on Rosh Hashana. This week he answers the question: How can we Connect to G-d on Rosh Hashana? – based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
In Beis Rebbe (p.34), it is noted that the Mitteler Rebbe was not able to be in Lubavitch for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur of 5586 (1825) and he sent a message that his son-in-law the HaRav Menachem Mendel (commonly known as the Tzemach Tzedek) should say a maamar in his stead. The Tzemach Tzedek refused, [as only a Rebbe can say his original maamar Chassidus], but he said a parable to explain the meaning of tekias shofar. The clarity in which he presented this thought, that the people were so affected by it, that even before he explained the nimshal (what we should learn from it), they burst into tears.
“As a rose among thorns so is, my wife among the daughters” is a call which gets back a response as: “Like an apple tree among the forest tree, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow, I delighted to sit & its fruit was sweet to my taste.” (Shir Hashirim 2:2)
As a left-wing radical in the 1960s, I was advocating an anti-war revolution, until I met the Rebbe who drafted me into an entirely different revolution – and, while doing so, changed my life.
Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida, delivers his insights on Parashs NItzavim. This week he answers the question: How can we get along with everyone? – based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
This week’s edition of MyLife: Chassidus Applied with Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Episode 228, will air tonight, Sunday, here on CrownHeights.info, beginning at 8:00pm. This week Rabbi Jacobson will address the topics: What Can We Practically Do to Pray a Bit Better? Should I Be Concerned About Speaking Loshon Hora When Speaking with My Mentor? For the Sake of Sholom Bayis Should I Do Something My Spouse Prefers That I Would Normally Refrain from Doing? Does the Torah Expect the Same from People Regardless of Their Vital Childhood Experience? Is There Any Value in Rigidly Doing Mitzvot by Rote Even If It Does Not Refine Me? What Does It Mean That We Need to Stimulate G-D’s Desire to Recreate Existence on Rosh Hashana? If We Did Nothing Would the World Cease to Be?
Quite often the question is asked, “What did Chassidus accomplish?” or sometimes it is phrased in stronger words, “You see in the generations before the Baal Shem Tov, that there were great tzaddikim and ehrliche (righteous) Jews, who did not need the “light” of Chassidus to attain their level. So why is it necessary now?”
I am the son of Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, who fled Europe during World War Two and made his way to Australia, where I was born. In his work as a community rabbi, my father was very much guided by the Rebbe, and I would like to relate here a few anecdotes which my father had shared with me.
Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida, delivers his insights on Parashs Ki Tavo. This week he answers the question: How do we have such a great healthy self esteem? – based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
This week’s edition of MyLife: Chassidus Applied with Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Episode 227, will air tonight, Sunday, here on CrownHeights.info, beginning at 8:00pm. This week Rabbi Jacobson will address the topics: How Can I Balance Hiddur Mitzvah Without Becoming Obsessive Compulsive? Are the Rambam’s Dietary Directives the Proper Halachic and Chassidic Way to Eat? As a Ger I Wonder at Times Whether My Mitzvos Have Any Effect? Chassidus Applied to Chai Elul, Parshas Ki Tavo and the 6th Week of the Shiva D’Nechemta; Lessons from Elul 15: Establishment of Tomchei Temimim 121 Years Ago
In the beginning of this weeks parsha, the Torah instructs us that the first born son is to receive a double portion. Then the possuk states, this applies even if the man had two wives and by both of them their first child was a boy. However, the man loves the second wife more than the first and he desires to bequeath the double portion to the son of the wife he loves over the firstborn of his first wife.
JLI presents its unique new two-minute video featuring a powerful and relevant message from a timely tale. Tree Talk: How to bless someone who has everything.
Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida, delivers his insights on Parashs Ki Teitzei. This week he answers the question: Why do we have to Disconnect to Re-connect? – based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
