Rabbi's Monthly Message - November

Click here to read the Rabbi's message for November.

Anti-Defamation League / Associate Regional Director Mr. Robert Tanen

Mr. Robert Tanen from the ADL addressed the South Florida Shomrim Society regarding recent events that have taken place in the State of Florida that directly impact the Jewish community.

Rabbi's New Year's Message

The Lord will count with the script of the nations(Psalm 87:6)

In the Hebrew numeric there is no digit parallel to zero. The letters of the Alphabet serve as numbers. In the secular writings zero is utilized very much. In this method a multiple series of zeros add up to nothing. A digit placed in front of them will equal millions.

Prayer is a worship of the heart (Taanis 2A). We pray three times daily. With such frequency, there exists a risk of sometimes reciting a prayer by rote, uninspired and without proper concentration. What is the value of such heartless prayer? How can this failure be corrected?

In the thirty ninth chapter of Tanya we are told that even though there might be an accumulation of uninspired prayers, one sincere supplication coming forth out of the depths of our heart and soul will raise all of the past prayers to this one’s high level.

Imagine a person who suffered severe financial losses and is given an opportunity to reverse his failures and convert them into immense profits. He would set everything aside and go on with an all-out effort  to bring this about.

Minchah of Erev Rosh Hashanah presents all of us with a precious opportunity to reflect back on our prayer worship of the past year. We will offer this Minchah with full devoted concentration and an outpouring from the depths of our hearts.  We will be placing  a “1” in front of all past zeros and convert them to millions. We will conclude the year with abundant merit and we will look ahead anticipating a blessed New Year.

תכלה שנה וקללותיה - תחל שנה וברכותיה

The past year’s curses will be eliminated

The New Year will begin with all its blessings

The Western Wall

A female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. 

 
So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site.
 
She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview.
 
"Pardon me, sir, I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. What's your name?"
 
"Morris Feinberg," he replied.
 
"Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"

"For about 60 years."
 
"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
 
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims."
"I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop."
"I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man."
 
"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"
 
"Like I'm talking to a concrete wall."

Being Jewish

As a general principle, Jewish holidays are divided between days on which you must starve and days on which you must overeat.


Many Jews observe no fewer than 16 fasts throughout the Jewish year, based on the time-honored principle that even if you are sure that you are ritually purified, you definitely aren't.

Though there are many feasts and fasts, there are no holidays requiring light snacking.

Note: Unlike Christians, who simply attend church on special days (e.g. Ash Wednesday), on Jewish holidays most Jews take the whole day off. This is because Jews, for historical and personal reasons, are more stressed out.

The Diet Guide to the Jewish Holidays:

Rosh Hashanah ------- Feast
Tzom Gedalia ----------- Fast
Yom Kippur -------------- More fasting
Sukkot -------------------- Feast for a week +
Hashanah Rabbah ---- More feasting
Simchat Torah --------- Keep right on feasting
Month of Heshvan ----- No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip onyourself.
Hanukkah ---------------- Eat potato pancakes
Tenth of Tevet --------- Do not eat potato pancakes
Tu B'Shevat ------------ Feast
Fast of Esther --------- Fast
Purim --------------------- Eat pastry
Passover ---------------- Do not eat pastry for a week
Shavuot ------------------ Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes, etc.)

17th of Tammuz -------- Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
Tish B'Av ----------------- Serious fast (don't even think about cheesecake or blintzes)
Month of Elul ------------ End of cycle. Enroll in Center for Eating Disorders before High Holidays arrive again.

There are many forms of Judaism:

Cardiac Judaism ---------- in my heart I am a Jew.
Gastronomic Judaism --- we eat Jewish foods.
Pocketbook Judaism ----- I give to Jewish causes.
Drop-off Judaism --------- drop the kids off at Sunday School; go out to breakfast.
Twice a Year Judaism -- attend service Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

You know you grew up Jewish when:

You did not respond to the teacher calling roll on the first day of school because you thought your name was "Princess".

You've had at least one female relative who drew eyebrows on her face that were always asymmetrical.

You spent your entire childhood thinking that everyone calls roast beef "brisket."

Your family dog responds to complaints uttered in Yiddish.

Every Sunday afternoon of your childhood was spent visiting your grandparents.

You've experienced the phenomena of 50 people fitting into a 10-foot-wide dining room hitting each other with plastic plates & forks trying to get to a deli tray.

You thought pasta was the stuff used exclusively for kugel and kasha with bowties.

You watched Lawrence Welk and Ed Sullivan every Sunday night.

You were as tall as your grandmother by age seven.

You never knew anyone whose last name didn't end in one of 6 standard suffixes (-man,-witz, -berg, -stein, -blatt or -baum).

You grew up and were surprised to find out that wine doesn't always taste like year-old cranberry sauce.

You can look at gefilte fish without turning green.


You grew up thinking there was a fish called lox.

You can understand some Yiddish but you can't speak it.

You know how to pronounce numerous Yiddish words and use them correctly in context, yet you don't exactly know what they mean.

Is that Kenahurra or is that kaninehurra?.

You have at least one ancestor who is related to your spouse's ancestor.

You grew up thinking it was normal for someone to shout "Are you okay? Are you okay?" through the bathroom door if you were in there for longer than 3 minutes.

You have at least six male relatives named Michael or David.

Your grandparent's furniture smelled like mothballs, was covered in plastic and was as comfortable as sitting on sandpaper.

Baruch Hashem and God willing, may you have a day full of mazel and shalom!

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If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.

Never give in.

Never give up.

Never take no for an answer.