Beyond the Call

You just can't buy the sort of publicity that the Call of the Shofar program has received in recent weeks within the Chabad community. Many people have come up to me and asked me about it, and I've found myself having to explain what COTS is, and what LGAT is to people who otherwise would not know (or need to know) about either. But while the article itself had some useful analysis and insights into ourselves and at other groups and programs through a lens of 'cult-like markers', that is not the key issue here.

It's not about what specific external programs are or aren't kosher or suitable for us, nor about whether our mashpi'im have been unduly influenced, nor about the knee-jerk reactions of Rabbonim and others, nor about the way this issue has polarised the community and how that may continue to play out.

We need to take a deep breath (no meditation required), step back for a bit, and consider the real issue: the challenge of how we as a community deals with our mental and emotional health.

Pesach and Moshiach

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted - there are a few things floating around that I should get to shortly. In the meantime, in order to get into the habit of posting as soon as possible after something comes to me ...

While Pesach celebrates the initial and prototypical geula and our formation as a Jewish nation, Achron Shel Pesach is about the future geula that we are all waiting for. The Pesach narrative is very much the story of the entire Jewish history - bchol dor vador - in every generation they try to destroy us, and yet we prevail. The last couple of thousand years have been a constant cycle of threat & redemption. Rinse and repeat. But what happens after the redemption?

Cleanliness is next to Chassidishkeit

Our shul recently marked the yahrzeit of Reb Nochum Zalman Gurewicz, on Tisha b'Av. Many people in the community have a diversity of memories about Reb Nochum, whether it was watching him say tehilim in almost every free moment, or his kadish and davening at the amud. In a great reflection, Isaac Balbin reminded us of a few of his attributes and lessons we can learn.

One that stuck out for me was that Reb Nochum was always impeccably dressed, with never a thread out of place.

The Aspirational Chossid

The genesis for this blog was at dinner with some friends. We looked around the restaurant and observed groups of young people in the community, and the discussion moved to what Chabad means to these people and how they express (or don't express) their Chabad identity.

This led to a story about a wonderful farbrengen, which was told to my friend first hand by Reb Mendel Futerfas OBM.