Walls vs. Roofs

I’m still on a high from this year’s extraordinary High Holiday experience. It felt so wonderfully inspiring to be together with all of you; enveloped in so much warmth, passion, and love for Judaism. What a powerful and elevating kick-start to our New Year. No doubt, G‑d Almighty has heard our heartfelt prayers and will grant us a sweet new year of health, joy, nachas, and prosperity.
 
Fruma and I feel proud to be leaders in this fantastic community!!
 
Now you’re all invited to move upwards and onwards with us; from the solemnity of the year’s start to the jubilation and joy. I urge you all – the nearly 500 men, and women, and children who came to pray and hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: partake in the joy of Sukkot & Simchat Torah!
 
Here are a number of ways and opportunities to celebrate:
 
1) Join us for dinner in the sukkah –  CLICK HERE
 
2) If you have your own sukkah, invite a Jewish family to join you.
 
3) Come by Chabad to shake the lulav and etrog … I’ll be there waiting for you!
 
4) Put Simchat Torah on your calendar and be sure not to miss the holiday finale.
 
Now for a short thought about a sukkah.
To build a kosher sukkah, you need to have two primary elements:
 
1) Walls that are stable.
 
2) A roof that is not.
 
If your sukkah walls flap in the wind, your sukkah may not be kosher. And a sukkah's roof that is impermeable is also a no-no: if the rain can't make its way in, the sukkah is no good.
 
Regardless of where in the world we Jews have made our home, we always built on these two principles.
 
1) Our walls are solid. Our Jewish identity remains pristine, safely preserved inside the sturdy walls that define us, regardless of where we are.
 
2) No matter how tough our situation might be, we keep an eye out for the Heavens. There is no ceiling to our potential, to the possibility of change and improvement. At all times, we remain aware of the gaps above us that allow us to dream, transcend the here and now, and succeed.
 
Fruma and our children – Malka, Yankele, Shimi, Mendel, Mushka, Riva & Rachmiel –join me in wishing you a Shabbat Shalom,