Updates

Just finished a whirlwind week at the International Conference of Chabad Shluchos, women community leaders, educators and innovators around the world. This is a convention by women, for women. Got to catch up with dear friends, family, and colleagues, network for new ideas and be inspired and reinvigorated as we celebrated the incredible impact of these 5000 women on the Jewish world and beyond. The conference is held on the day of passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. She, together with her husband, the Rebbe, created a Jewish reawakening around the world, which continues to grow and flourish even after their passing. It is thanks to their vision, and inspiration that we do what we do. The Rebbetzin, who did not have children of her own, regarded the Shluchim around the world as her children and their success was her own personal nachas.

This year's conference was especially inspiring, with the theme of accepting every Jew with love. At the closing banquet, I was joined by Guitel & Sigal, as we heard the riveting story of Maya getting physically lost in the jungle, the inspiring story of the girl spiritually lost in the Venice ghetto, to the selfless dedication of the shlucha in Beijing...

Catching up with my sisters is a highlight! Pictured above are my sisters and sister in law with my mom at the closing banquet, fulfilling the Rebbe's mission in Toronto (ONT), Commerce (MI), Coral Springs (FL), Brooklyn (NY), Albany (NY), Chicago (IL), Minneapolis (MN) & Solon (OH)...

Recharged and ready to rumble!

CHECK OUT THESE AWESOME MARCH EVENTS!

• Sun. March 1, Come cheer on Team Uptown at the Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff!
• Fri. March 6, 6:30 pm - YJP Houston "First Fridays" International Around the World Shabbat Dinner
• Mon. March 9, 8 pm - Purim Eve and Roaring 20s with YJP Houston www.yjphouston.org/roaring20s
• Tues. March 10, 6:30 pm - Purim in the Wild West community party www.chabaduptown.org/west
• Fri. March 20, 7:30 pm - Shabbat Dinner Social 50+ www.chabaduptown.org/shabbat50

REGISTER FOR THESE AMAZING UPCOMING TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD!

• May 4-10, 2020 - CYP Ambassadors international mission to Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia, brings ambassadors together to experience the transformative effect ground-up leadership had on post-Soviet Jewry.  For young professionals in their 20s and 30s. Nominations are due Feb 23! www.cypambassadors.com
• May 15-17, 2020 / 21-23 Iyar, 5780 - Shabbat in the Heights registration is open! To be held in Crown Heights, Brooklyn! Use code "chabaduptown" to join our group... www.shabbatintheheights.com

PARSHA: Are You Trapped?
Are you floundering in a loveless marriage just for the sake of your kids? Is your dead-end job getting you down, but you can‎’t resign because you need the paycheck? Are you addicted to pain medication or self-medicating with alcohol? Or maybe your problems are less exciting; you’re in a rut, you’re in a slump and you just can’t be bothered getting out of bed in the morning. Admit it, you’re a slave. more…

Shabbos Shekalim, Mevarchim Adar, Parshas Mishpatim

Friday, February 21
Candle Lighting and Mincha at 5:57 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Services at 6:30 pm
RSVP for Shabbat Dinner

Shabbos, February 22
Shabbos Mevarchim Tehillin at 8:30 am
Services at 10 am
Special reading of Sheklaim in 2nd Torah
Followed by Shabbos Mevarchim Kiddush & Farbrengen sponsored by Yocheved Shwarzman in memory of her father Moshe ben Yaakov
Mincha at 5:55 pm
Torah Study
Maariv, Havdalla & Shabbos Ends at 6:52 pm
Living Torah Video Program (15 min.)

Sunday, February 23 - Shacharis at 8:30 am followed the real BLT = Bagels, Lox & Tefillin

Tuesday, February 25, Rosh Chodesh Adar, 30 Shevat  - Shacharis at 645 am followed by monthly breakfast sponsored by the Melnik Family

Have a good Shabbos!

Rabbi Chaim & Chanie

I am now in New York at the annual conference of Shluchos. I will be going to the ohel on the Yartzeit of the Rebbetzin on 22 Shevat and it would be my honor to have you, or any other names you wish, in mind for prayer. Send me the full Hebrew name and the mother's full Hebrew name. (For non-Jews, their name and their father's name). Last names not necessary. May all of our prayers be answered - Chanie

Hailing from around the world as far away as Laos and Angola, Ghana and Uzbekistan, more than 3,000 Chabad-Lubavitch women emissaries and communal leaders from around the world have gathered in Crown Heights, for multiple days of activities at the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchos).

Watch Chanie, Guitel & Sigal LIVE this Sunday, at 4:45 pm Houston time, as they celebrate with the Shluchos at the annual banquet, the culmination of the five-day International Conference of Women Emissaries. www.chabaduptown.org/kinus

The smells... the colors.. the people! Flowers from around the world! ❤️ 💐🌷🌷🌹🌺🌸🌼🌻 "The world is G-d's garden and we are its gardeners." What an awesome night marking Tu B'shvat this past week. Thank you River Oaks Plant House and thank you all for coming out and making it so beautiful! Click here for pics

UPCOMING EVENTS!

• Sun. March 1, Come cheer on Team Uptown at the Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff!
• Fri. March 6, 6:30 pm - YJP Houston "First Fridays" International Around the World Shabbat Dinner
• Mon. March 9, 8 pm - Purim Eve and Roaring 20s with YJP Houston www.yjphouston.org/roaring20s
• Tues. March 10, 6:30 pm - Purim in the Wild West community party www.chabaduptown.org/west
• Fri. March 20, 7:30 pm - Shabbat Dinner Social 50+ www.chabaduptown.org/shabbat50

REGISTER FOR THESE AMAZING UPCOMING TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD!

• April 27-May 3, 2020 - CYP Ambassadors international mission to Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia, brings ambassadors together to experience the transformative effect ground-up leadership had on post-Soviet Jewry.  For young professionals in their 20s and 30s. Nominations are due Feb 23! www.cypambassadors.com
• May 15-17, 2020 / 21-23 Iyar, 5780 - Shabbat in the Heights registration is open! To be held in Crown Heights, Brooklyn! Use code "chabaduptown" to join our group... www.shabbatintheheights.com

CHABAD.ORG NEWS: Global ShabbaTTogether Weekend Raises Inclusion Awareness
In Houston, ShabbaTTogether began with a Friday-night dinner led by Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff, co-director of Chabad of Uptown with his wife, Chanie, for young professionals and young adults with disabilities from the local Friendship Circle. On Shabbat day, Rabbi Dovid Goldstein, director of Friendship Circle in Houston, spoke about the idea and importance of inclusion. On Sunday, an eight-hour course trained people in Mental Health First Aid. Pics and more…

PARSHA: Seeing the Sounds

Sinai was a spiritual revelation that changed the way the Jews perceived the meaning of existence. more…

Shabbos Parshas Yisro

Friday, February 14
Candle Lighting and Mincha at 5:52 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Services at 6:30 pm
RSVP for Shabbat Dinner

Shabbos, February 15
Chassidus at 9:00 am
Services at 10 am
Torah Reading with 10 Commandments
Followed by Shabbos Lunch Kiddush
Mincha at 5:50 pm
Torah Study
Maariv, Havdalla & Shabbos Ends at 6:47 pm
Living Torah Video Program (15 min.)

Sunday, February 16 - Shacharis at 8:30 am followed the real BLT = Bagels, Lox & Tefillin

Friday, February 21 - Shacharis at 645 am for Zeidman yartzeit, followed by breakfast

Have a good Shabbos!

Rabbi Chaim & Chanie

Last Friday, I got my dollar from the Rebbe. 

Moshe Raichman was in town from Israel for the funeral and shiva of his 100 year old grandmother. Jet-lagged, he rummaged through his bedroom dressers of his youth and chanced upon a dollar that somehow got to his possession that the Rebbe gave me on Sunday, 26 Shevat, 5751 (1991). I vividly remember making those trips to NY with my Yeshivah from Detroit, especially the first trip I joined marking 40 years of the Rebbe's leadership in 1990. 

This year, I made a quick trip to NY with Levi, marking #70years of leadership of #TheRebbe. The energy of the chassidim young and old were just like I recall in the 40 years celebratory year. Among it all, a friend sent me a picture I have not seen in a very long time of the gathering of Maariv of that year in 1990. I remember how suddenly the room quieted as the Rebbe was about to speak. From where I was in the huge room, I could not see. I quickly scaled the pole and held on for the entire talk, while the Rebbe opened up the sicha with the words that has forever been etched in my mind ..ויהי בארבעים שנה, Vayehi Barbaim Shana, "When reaching forty years"...

Levi and I visited the Ohel, Crown Heights and happened upon various Farbrengens until 3 am.... The next morning we went for Shacharis, morning services, at 770 joined one of the hundred of minyanim that happens every couple minutes. Levi was honored to read from the Torah as hundred leaned in to hear. This is just a few feet away from where the Rebbe assumed leadership 70 years ago with a handful of excited chassidim and made his famous mission statement of loving every Jew unconditionally. Just a few feet away from the very pole I scaled 30 years ago that has energized me with the Rebbe's message every day. In the very same shul with thousands of Chassidim as vibrant as ever in 2020 as they were in 1950.

Among the many locals and visitors were not only a myriad of ages, also a myriad of people with disabilities. That California guy with an extreme stutter, that takes him 45 seconds to be able to tell you his name, is dancing in the circle and hanging with the rest of the guys; that French guy has been paralyzed since birth has a bench moved over for him so he can sit with his wheelchair by the table of the farbrengen; the Israeli fellow wrapping his tefillin with the help of a friend, has a cluster of cognitive and motor disabilities; that grandson in NY from Yeshivah is taking time away from his friends to help his grandfather walk to a seat so he can write his letter to visit the Ohel; that NY teenager has unfortunately had a mental health crisis and talks to himself while mindlessly wandering the shul, a friend and a total stranger offers him a snack from the farbrengen. All are accommodated by their peers. Everyone is embraced. All under one roof. All one family of chassidim. Everyone is included. #70years of leadership, 70 years of love for one's fellow.

This weekend is "ShabbaTTogether," an international Shabbat of inclusion. Every Jew is part of the Jewish community, and every Jew belongs in Shul. At Chabad of Uptown we will be hosting and partnering with local agencies for two important events! It's not too late to register!

➠ ShabbatTTogether FCYA First Fridays - YJP Houston with Friendship Circle of Houston
➠ Mental Health First Aid - Uptown with Jewish Family Service of Houston!
➠ You may also want to check out our newest section of our website on Mental Health & Wellness - www.chabaduptown.org/mentalhealth

THIS WEEK'S EVENTS:

• Fri., Feb. 7, 6:30 pm - ShabbaTTogether FCYA First Fridays: Celebrate a special edition of "First Fridays" - Shabbat Dinner - together with Young Adults with disabilities for an evening of fun, camaraderie and integration as part of a Global Shabbat of Disability Inclusion.
• Sun., Feb. 9, 9:30 am - Mental Health First Aid - Obtain skills to respond to the signs of mental illness and substance use. Includes and a user manual to take home. FREE FOR YOU - a $100 value! Qualifies for 8 CEU credits for social work (LMSW, LCSW, LPC, LMFT).
• Mon., Feb. 10, 7 pm LADIES - JWC Tu B'Shvat Floral Workshop & Social - Join the Jewish Women's Circle for a Tu B'Shevat celebration to create your own floral arrangement under the professional guidance of Mitra from River Oaks Plant House, Gain insight into the relevance of the "New Year for the Trees" and Enjoy drinks and Tu B'Shevat themed refreshments $18 per person RSVP required A joint project of Chabad of Montrose and Chabad of Uptown

SAVE THE DATES!:

• Mon. March 9, 8 pm - Purim Eve and Roaring 20s with YJP Houston
• Tues. March 10, 6:30 pm - Purim in the Wild West community party

Shabbos Shira Parshas Beshalach

Friday, February 7
Candle Lighting and Mincha at 5:46 pm
Torah Study
Kabbalat Shabbat Services at 6:30 pm
RSVP for FCYA First Fridays Shabbat Dinner www.yjphouston.org/shabbattogether

Shabbos, February 8
Chassidus at 9:00 am
Services at 10 am
Followed by Shabbos Lunch Kiddush
Mincha at 5:45 pm
Torah Study
Maariv, Havdalla & Shabbos Ends at 6:41 pm
Living Torah Video Program (15 min.)

Sunday, February 9 - Shacharis at 8:30 am followed the real BLT = Bagels, Lox & Tefillin

Have a good Shabbos!

Rabbi Chaim & Chanie