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Challenges

Mar 15 2017

Golden Calf – Golden Opportunity

Challenges, Lifestyle, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

One of the great mystery's of Jewish history is the sin of the Golden Calf. How is it possible for a People who just experienced the greatest Divine revelation of all time were able to deny the existence of the very G-d who revealed Himself to them by creating and worshiping another G-d?   This question has been discussed by the commentators who explain the events from a different perspective and we have addressed in this column in the past.   I'd like to focus on a different question that presupposes a belief in...

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Feb 22 2017

Laws for healthy living

Challenges, Lifestyle, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

Dieting, exercising, meditation, yoga and other forms of care for the body are all the rage these days. Imagine if you were independently wealthy and spent your entire life every waking moment engaged in these activities. Is that a life?   Of course not!   These activities while very important for the health of ones body are good when they create a healthy environment within which one can live a life of purpose. A life of purpose is being a good spouse, parenting and raising wonderful children and engaging each day in making the...

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Jan 26 2017

Lost in a Cemetery

Challenges, Death, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

A clearly protective mechanism for the discomfort of loss is black humor. So when leaving a funeral this week and finding myself lost a number of thoughts came to mind.   Why did I just hit three dead ends?! You really don't want to get lost in a cemetery until you are really lost for good. The only way out of here is up.   Anyway, it's been a busy week and I haven't found anything that resonated with me from this week's portion or this weeks escapades until I hit my third dead...

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Jan 18 2017

Moving Forward

Challenges, Healing, Lifestyle, Moses, Relationships
by Chabad Intown

Recently I had a run in with a friend. I suggested that we sit down and talk it out. His response was, "nah, let it sit for some time and it will blow over for both of us". Turns out he was correct. It did blow over.   But it doesn't always. Sometimes, issues from the past linger and the can become consuming, eating us up from within, until it gets resolved.   How does one resolve the issues from the past? There are two approaches: A. face the demons head on...

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Jan 11 2017

Apology Therapy

Challenges, Loving-Kindness, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

Not sure if such a thing exists, but we find an amazing example of apology and sensitivity in this week's Torah portion.   Jacob is on his death bed. He asks his son Joseph for a kindness. The kindness is that when he passes, he wants Joseph to bury him in Israel in Hebron in the Cave of Machpelah.   He says to him, (I'm paraphrasing), although I didn't do this for your mother, I'm still asking you to do this. The commentators explain that Jacob was saying, "I know you have...

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Dec 07 2016

The Tire of Perspective

Challenges, Change, Lifestyle, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

Imagine yourself driving down the highway. Suddenly a tractor trailer starts veering into your lane. So you do the natural thing and begin to move over to the next lane, but lo and behold there is a car right there. What do you do? You stop imagining! Seriously, this happened to me last night. I instinctively reacted by slowing down thinking that the truck and car will pass me and I’ll be fine. Just when I thought I was safe, the truck that just passed me kicked up a tire...

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Nov 30 2016

Brute Force

Challenges, Change, Lifestyle, Relationships
by Chabad Intown

Spousal Manipulation.  Sounds like a bad idea if you want to have a happy marriage.  Yet we see in this weeks Parsha that Rivka seems to be doing just that in dressing Jacob up in Esau's clothing, preparing animals from the back yard and pretending that they were hunted and teaching her son Jacob to deceive his father.   It opens up an uncomfortable question of, do the ends justify the means? Often times in Judaism and in the Torah, the answer is yes.  But then it begs the question here, what...

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Nov 14 2016

You Can Help Our Country!

Challenges, Lifestyle, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

It pains me to see the discord that has evolved in this country throughout the election process and in many ways more visceral this past week since the election.   Republicans blame the Democrats, the Democrats blame the Republicans and the bottom line is friendships are broken, vulgarity is spewed and society as a whole is breaking down. Everybody blames the other one for being immoral or not caring about the values and principles that this country was built on.   Why can't we be more like Israel?! People argue passionately and...

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Nov 09 2016

I Predicted It!

Challenges, Lifestyle, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

I predicted it!   No, I didn't predict who would be voted as our new president! I did predict that we would all wake up Wednesday morning and the world would go on. And I was right.   You want to know how I was able to predict this with such certainty?   The answer is in this weeks Torah portion. G-d blesses Abraham and tells him that his children will be as the stars in the sky. Practically speaking, we are far from the number of the stars in the sky as we constitute less...

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Oct 11 2016

The Way I Think #52

Challenges, Holidays, New Year, Rebuilding
by Chabad Intown

How was the sermon? Was it passionate? Was it on the money? Did it make its mark?   How inspired were you these past few weeks? What kind of good resolutions did you make?   Now that the HH days have passed and we are up to the fun stuff Sukkos and Simchas Torah, what happens to those sermons or the inspiration of the services?   Hence, The Way I Think #52   #52 is the number of weeks until the next Rosh Hashanah. So my question for you and for me is, “do we wait until week...

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