ChabadNewOrleans Blog - Chabad-Lubavitch of Louisiana

The Love For a Small Child

Thursday, February 27, 2025 - 4:44 PM

Malkie and I thank each of you who reached out to us with Mazel Tov wishes upon our daughter Basy’s engagement to Chaim Meir Bukiet. We look forward to the opportunity to return those good wishes to you at your time of celebration.

This week the Jewish world was filled with love towards the two little lion cubs, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who together with their mother Shiri, were finally brought to dignity following the horrific kidnapping, murder, mistreatment of their bodies, and the attempted body switch charade perpetrated by those vile Hamas monsters. Our people values children. We love life. The collective Jewish heart aches for these children and their family. We prayed and hoped that they would return alive and well. They became symbols of Jewish consciousness.

In this week’s Parsha we read about the instructions to create an Ark, a Kaporet (cover), and the Keruvim (cherubs).

The greatest commentators, Rashi and Ramban (Nachmanides) differ in their understanding of the roles and purpose of these important elements of the Sanctuary. Ramban argues that they are three parts of the same entity. Collectively they represent Divine Communication to the people of Israel. The ark held the Tablets of the Covenant, and the original Torah scroll, while the Kaporet/Keruvim were the channel through which G-d communicated to Moses throughout the forty years in the Sinai.

Rashi, on the other hand, maintains that the Ark served as the home Divine Communication (Torah), while the Kaporet/Keruvim serve as a Symbol of the Divine Love for the Jewish people. He emphasizes the fact that the Keruvim had childlike faces symbolizing the love a father has for his small child.

(Another commentator, Rabbi Bechaya, puts a different spin on the same idea. He highlights the fact that the two Keruvim looked like a male and a female, symbolizing the love between Hashem and the Jewish people. When the people would come for the pilgrimage festivals to Jerusalem, the priests would pull back the curtain of the Holy of Holies so that the people could see the two Keruvim locked in a loving embrace.)

The Rebbe points out that according to Rashi this explains why the Keruvim were above the Ark. The connection between Hashem and the people of Israel is even more powerful than the connection between Hashem and the Torah. The love of a father towards a small child, even when he does not behave according to “expectation” is incalculable.

May each of us feel that love in the most potent manner and reflect it back to Hashem with great devotion.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin

Tiki Torches in Mississippi and other musings

Friday, February 21, 2025 - 11:27 AM

Yesterday a young man in his 20s who immigrated from Ukraine to Israel had a Bris. When asked what Jewish name he wants to take, he replied, Kfir Ariel, named for the two little Bibas boys. The lions sleep tonight… but a roaring lion has been awakened. The heart wrenching Bibas story has moved people in a powerful way. Join a mighty force for good by going to https://onemitzvah.org/bibas and let the world hear the lion roar.

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This week, Adi, one of the two Israelis that was injured in the Bourbon St. terror attack, returned to Israel to continue his rehab at “home.” At a farewell gathering, his father Haggai was overheard commenting to the Israeli medic that was to accompany them home, “When we have time on the flight, I will tell you what a “Kehillah” is. We are very proud of our “Kehillah” – the New Orleans Jewish community for going above and beyond to embrace these two young men and their families during their challenging time in our city.

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Speaking of proud, tonight Chabad at Tulane is hosting 1,800 Jewish students for Shabbat dinner. 1,800 Jewish young people proudly experiencing their Jewish identity. Hundreds of boys putting on Tefillin before sunset. Hundreds of girls lighting Shabbat candles. 1,800 voices declaring Am Yisrael Chai and Shabbat Shalom. To support the event: http://tulanechabad.org/4293008.

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If you heard that a group of people with Tiki torches were marching in Mississippi, you would probably assume that it was a white supremacist rally or something like that. In fact, this past Sunday, a group of Jews marched in Gulfport with torches honoring the dedication of a new Torah scroll, a first for the Gulf coast Jewish community. A very proud moment indeed. Mazel Tov to Rabbi Akiva and Hannah Hall and the entire Congregation Beth Israel community for the special occasion.

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Yesterday, 22 Shevat, was the Yahrtzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, the Rebbe’s wife, who passed in 1988. While she had no children of her own, she has the unique status of being a Jewish woman whose name is carried by tens of thousands. Since 1988, nearly every Chabad family, and many who were influenced by the Rebbe, have named a daughter after this special woman. I am privileged to have a daughter and a granddaughter who carry that august name. This was something for which the Rebbe expressed much appreciation.

In conjunction with her Yahrtzeit, the International Chabad Shluchos annual gathering is taking place this weekend in New York. Thousands of women, who occupy leadership positions in every state and country around the world, gather to inspire each other and go back to their communities stronger and more committed than ever to push our world over the threshold of Redemption very soon.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin

Super Bowl Monday and Beyond

Friday, February 14, 2025 - 10:38 AM

New Orleans recently hosted the Super Bowl. In the months and even years leading up to the big day, significant resources and manpower were invested to ensure that the event itself would go well, and the city would be presented in the best possible manner. Indeed, it appears that the effort paid off. Rave reviews from the participants and organizations involved indicate that it was a huge success. Now what?

The people of Israel left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea and counted 7 weeks in preparation for the event of seismic proportions, Revelation at Sinai. By all accounts the preparation was well worth it. Amid an unprecedented display of sound and light, G-d gave us the Torah, we embraced our role and expressed our devotion to Hashem, and the world received a manual for purposeful living. Now what?

We spend four weeks each year preparing for the High Holidays. There is the Teshuva. Rabbis prepare their inspiring sermons. Congregations prepare for additional participants. Large scale events are planned and carried out throughout the month of holidays. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah are a smashing success. The Judaism quotient is off the charts. Now what?

A renowned speaker is coming to town. A venue is arranged, and hundreds sign up to hear the message that this speaker conveys. The speaker does not disappoint. The crowd is uplifted and inspired. They walk away feeling energized and transformed by the powerful ideas put forth by the speaker. Now what?

One of life’s challenges is learning how to carry momentum forward following a watershed moment into regular daily life. How do we prevent the gains made by New Orleans in preparation for the Super Bowl from sliding back into the “same old” to which we are accustomed? How do we prevent the “high” of Revelation at Sinai from slipping down the rabbit hole into a Golden Calf? How do we prevent our potent feeling of Jewish identity from crashing after soaring aloft during the High Holidays? How do we prevent the transformative message conveyed by the speaker from becoming a mere memory that has no bearing on our ongoing reality?

If you know the answer, please let me know!

In meantime I will offer a Torah based solution that I still struggle to implement in my personal life.

The solution is concrete action. The feelings are wonderful. If we want them to have staying power, then we need immediate practical application. We must identify real measures that we can implement right away, which will carry the momentum forward and allow us to grow and develop further. This is one of the reasons why Mitzvot are so central to Judaism. They serve to ground all the lofty ideals inspired by the Torah and our faith in G-d and integrate them into everyday life.

Doing this requires energy and motivation. But if we want the wonderful sensation that we felt at the zenith of our experience to not go to waste, buckle up and start grinding away.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin

Open Access Judaism

Friday, February 7, 2025 - 11:31 AM

If you walked into any Chabad high school and observed the students in the study of Chassidus, you would hear the employment of a lexicon that is nearly unknown to those unfamiliar with this genre of Torah study. Students might be discussing subjects such as the loftiest realms of the spiritual cosmos with the ease of a tourist who is describing a recent destination that they visited. These young men and women are as comfortable with the doctrine of Tzimtzum (an abstract Kabbalistic concept that explains how a finite world comes from an Infinite Divine Energy) as they are talking about the weather or current events. Students of Chassidus are elbow deep in the type of character analysis and refinement that would otherwise be reserved for professionals in that field. When they read a Torah or Talmud narrative, they are as likely to relate to it on the esoteric level as they would on the level of the straightforward.

How did this happen? How were concepts that were reserved for the select few over thousands of years made available to all who seek them? How did a mindset that took millennia to develop within the greatest Tzadikim, become the natural perspective of teenagers?

This is the story of Yud Shevat – the 10^th of Shevat, a day that marks a key turning point in open access Judaism. On Shabbat morning, the 10^th of Shevat, 1950 the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe passed away at the age of 69. That Friday he released an essay based on a talk that he had given years earlier, which he reworked for publication in honor of his grandmother’s yahrtzeit (the 10^th of Shevat).

In the essay he employs an analogy of a king who is embroiled in a war. In the interest of victory, the king expends all resources necessary. He is even willing to tap into the greatest treasures that were kept hidden for generations in the storehouses of the Kingdom.

The Previous Rebbe explains that this is a reference to the battle against exile/evil. Hashem created a world that appears to be at a disconnect with its creator, with the intent that it would be transformed through human effort into a “dwelling for the Divine.” As the war becomes more intense, greater resources are needed to ensure victory. In the past 300 hundred years, the Torah’s deepest secrets, the precious gems of the Divine storehouse, have been made increasingly more accessible. This effort began with the Baal Shem Tov. It was taken to new heights with the founding of the Chabad movement. Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the Alter Rebbe, used accessible language of human intelligence to present these lofty ideas. In the 1940s these teachings started to get translated into additional languages, such as English. The Rebbe made this effort the mandate of his leadership, making the deepest concepts of Torah accessible to the greatest extent. To this end he was willing to use any method and means available that would advance the cause. He established centers around the world. He embraced the use of technology. He encouraged innovation and initiative on the part of his Chassidim to discover new methods and new frontiers.

Today a person can access these precious treasures anywhere and anytime. They are available in print form, digital form, videos, podcasts, live streams, posts, tweets, and tiktok reels. Hashem has empowered us. We are ready for victory. Let’s roll!

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin