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Walls enclose, insulate, isolate. Walls cut you off from the world. But a broken wall signifies danger. If it's holding back a river, water will come pouring in. If it's securing a border, enemies or aliens will infiltrate its breaches. A broken wall means vulnerability, exposure, loss of identity.
What, then, is it that we need? We need walls with gates in them. We need strong walls, with gates that open and close. Gates that are open during the day and closed at night. Gates that open to allow people to pass in and out to exchange ideas and merchandise; gates that also close, to safeguard the city to keep out harmful and destructive forces.
How good it is if your city, your community, your family, your own body and your own soul, have strong walls with properly functioning gates, so that you are secure in your own identity, protective of what is best and most precious in yourself, and open to the world to give and receive, learn and teach.
On the 10th of Tevet of the Jewish year 3336 (425 BCE), the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia laid siege to the walls of Jerusalem, eventually breaching walls protecting the holy city, destroying the Holy Temple, and sending the Jewish people into exile.
Today, Friday December 17th, is the 10th of Tevet on the Jewish calendar. Every year, we observe Tevet 10 as a day of fasting and repentance — a day devoted to safeguarding the walls of our identity, repairing its breaches, and making sure its gates are functioning properly.
Click here to learn more about the 10th of Tevet.
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shalom M. Paltiel
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Click here to view photo album of Menorah Lighting on Main Street.
Click here to view photo album of the Children's Chanukah Celebration.
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Dec 12
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New Torah Studies Course: Tools for Living Shmot 5771 | 8 Sundays
Beginning, December 12th | 10:00 - 11:30 AM
At Chabad Port Washington | 80 Shore Road
Class given by Rabbi Paltiel
Each class is self contained and participation in either individual or multiple classes is welcome.
Fee: $60.00 | Couple Fee $90.00
Members: $40.00 | Couple Fee $60.00
Click here for more info and to RSVP.
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Feb
6
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New JLI course: Towards a Meaningful Life
A soul-searching journey for every Jew
6 Sundays, Feb 6 - March 15 | 10 - 11:30 AM
At Chabad Port Washington | 80 Shore Road
Fee: $99.00 | Couple Fee $149.00
Members: $79.00 | Couple Fee $119.00
Click here for more info and to register.
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But He Started It!
By: Rabbi Aron Moss
Sydney, Australia
My child always blames everyone else for his own misbehaviour. It's always "he started it," "she made me do it," and nothing is ever his fault. How can I teach him to take responsibility for his actions and not shift blame to others?
Answer:
Yesterday my two year old son snatched a toy from his older sister. She was about to throttle him, so I intervened. I saw this as a chance to impart some Jewish wisdom, so I explained to my daughter the idea of our two inner voices - the Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer Hora.
There's a voice inside that tells me to be upright, moral and well-behaved. This is my drive to be good, called the Yetzer Tov. But I also have a deviant and rebellious side, an inner voice that tries to convince me to do whatever is wrong and hurtful and selfish, known as the Yetzer Hora.
These two voices constantly battle to win me over. I have to choose which side gets the upper hand. And I am responsible for my choice. If I listen to my darker side, then I only have myself to blame.
So before my daughter had the chance to attack her brother I asked her, "Are you going to listen to your Yetzer Hora and hit your brother, or are you going to listen to your Yetzer Tov and just find something else to play with?"...
Click here to read full article.
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| B"H |
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Board of Directors
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Adam Katz, Esq., President
Frank Arnold
Bert Brodsky
Martin H. Brownstein, M.D.
Howard Fensterman, Esq.
M. Allan Hyman, Esq.
Sara E. Paltiel
Rabbi Shalom M. Paltiel
Alan Rosenzweig
Alan Salzbank
Michael Samuel
Felix Sater
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Daily Thought
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Healthy Body, Healthy Soul
To serve G‑d you need a healthy body as well as a healthy soul. How can you meditate, pray or study properly when the body's wellness is neglected?
Taking care of your body so that the soul can flourish is a divine service.
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Shabbat Times
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| Shabbat Candle Lighting: |
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Friday, Dec 17
4:10 pm
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Shabbat, Dec 18
5:14 pm
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* PATRONIZE OUR SPONSORS *
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This Week @ www.ChabadPW.org |
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| Days of Opportunity |
 Tevet 10
What happened on Tevet 10? Why do we need the Holy Temple? The positive aspects of a "siege mentality" and more...
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| Seasons of the Soul |
 Books With Souls
The Rebbe regarded the victory of Tevet 5 as a victory for all Jewish people, a victory for the books themselves.
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| Video |
 The Courage to Change
"G‑d, please grant me the serenity to accept that which cannot be changed; the courage to change that which can be changed; and the wisdom to know the difference."
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| Q & A |
 Can I Go Kosher at My Own Pace?
I want to do it right, and anything short of a 100% kosher kitchen seems like a compromise.
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Chabad-Lubavitch News from Around the World |
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| CAMPUS LIFE |
 Yale Jewish Center Launches Major Expansion Project
Lian Zucker, a sophomore and one of 2,000 Jewish students who attend Yale University, effuses praise for its Chabad House, a center of Jewish life that she describes as a home away from home.
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| NORTH AMERICA |
 Virginia Community Honors Legacy of Rabbi Cut Down in Prime of Life
More than 400 locals and out-of-town guests packed an auditorium at a Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center in tribute of a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary whose dedication to his community would not be sidetracked by the three-year illness that ultimately claimed his life.
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| CAMPUS LIFE |
 California Students Get Their Own Torah Scroll
For students of California State University, Northridge, Chanukah celebrations were much brighter this year thanks to the dedication of a new Torah scroll completed just days before the festival.
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| EDUCATION |
 Technology Transforms Classroom Experience One Click at a Time
Down Under, in Melbourne, Australia, at the Yeshiva Beth Rivkah Colleges, there's a learning revolution going on.
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Parshat Vayechi
Jacob lives the final 17 years of his life in Egypt. Before his passing, he asks Joseph to take an oath that he will bury him in the Holy Land. He blesses Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, elevating them to the status of his own sons as progenitors of tribes within the nation of Israel.
The patriarch desires to reveal the end of days to his children, but is prevented from doing so. Jacob blesses his sons, assigning to each his role as a tribe: Judah will produce leaders, legislators and kings; priests will come from Levi, scholars from Issachar, seafarers from Zebulun, schoolteachers from Shimon, soldiers from Gad, judges from Dan, olive growers from Asher, and so on. Reuben is rebuked for "confusing his father's marriage"; Shimon and Levi for the massacre of Shechem and the plot against Joseph. Naphtali is granted the swiftness of a deer, Benjamin the ferociousness of a wolf, and Joseph is blessed with beauty and fertility.
A large funeral procession consisting of Jacob's descendants, Pharaoh's ministers, the leading citizens of Egypt and the Egyptian cavalry accompanies Jacob on his final journey to the Holy Land, where he is buried in the Machpeilah Cave in Hebron.
Joseph, too, dies in Egypt, at the age of 110. He, too, instructs that his bones be taken out of Egypt and buried in the Holy Land, but this would come to pass only with the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt many years later. Before his passing, Joseph conveys to the Children of Israel the testament from which they will draw their hope and faith in the difficult years to come: "G‑d will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
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