Updates

Where were you on 9/11?

(For those who were around) – Where were you standing when you heard JFK was shot?

What were you doing when the news broke out that the IDF had rescued the hostages at Entebbe Airport, or as we celebrated this week, when they liberated Jerusalem in 1973?

All of these events, whether tragic or miraculous, each played a role in defining the history of the world thereafter.

And it's just human nature to associate world events with our own personal connection.

But obviously, for those who were there, whether witnessing downtown Manhattan on 9/11 (as myself) or on the Air France flight that was hijacked to Entebbe, their memory of the moment is incomparable to any of ours.

In the broader history of the Jewish people as well, the defining moments are also seen in a similar sense; As the Medrash Tanchuma writes that at the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai every single soul of the Jewish people that would ever be created in the future was there.

In fact, the Talmud writes that had one soul been missing the Torah would not have been able to be given.

So, where were you in the summer of 1312 B.C.E. when the Torah was given on Mount Sinai?

You were right there!

Well, before your cynical side writes it off as a "figurative" thought, it's just like the genetic and hereditary elements of our psyche that are undisputed scientific realities that predate our birth by thousands of years.

So take it a step further. Embedded in our Souls DNA is its pre-birth participation in perhaps the most defining moment of the world's documented history;

No event in the history of the world has been published, debated, or studied as many times as the Torah.

Nothing has impacted the world as largely and broadly as the Bible and no people has survived and sustained under the harshest of conditions as much as the Guardian Nation of the Torah.

So the good news is that you were around when it all started.

But it doesn't end there.

Just like your inherent and genetic ability to be a great doctor didn't come to life till you went to Medical School, your participation at Sinai can remain hidden unless you are conscious of it.

So this coming Wednesday we'll all be going back to Mount Sinai to relive and recreate the most defining moment in the history of the world

Make sure you (and your whole family) are all there.

We need you.

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Chaim
ChabadTexas.org Editor

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Rebbe's Tefillin campaign, Chabadtexas.org has a "40 Years" homepage which highlights many of the new features created for this occasion.

In honor of forty years, the Tefillin site now features:

• The Tefillin Booth: A short tefillin animation
• A timeline of the tefillin campaign
• Personal experiences shared by visitors

The Tefillin site also includes:

• Tefillin Wizard: Step-by-step instructions
• Tefillin Videos
• Articles on Tefillin
• Stories
• First Person Encounters
• and much more!

Let me know what you think (ummm.... by clicking "post a comment" right here...)

Maybe I will send out a promo email about it next week.....

Uptown Stuff… 

Ø       This Friday night -  May 11 in Uptown at 7:30 pm. and Shabbos morning at 10am. Candle lighting this week at: 7:38 pm  Special dinner for Young Adults, Singles, & Couples. Visit www.chabadtexas.org/youngadults for more info and to RSVP.  

In other news... 

Ø       Over 500 people joined Chabad for the Lag B'omer Parade & Carnival. What a beautiful day! 

Ø        I  got myself going on Facebook under Rabbi Chaim. It is a lot of fun. Now I've got three profiles (in addition to the blog): Myspace, YouTube & Facebook!

Ø       Our family will be heading to NY for Chanie's brother's bar-mitzvah and the Yartzeit of the Rebbe. I've got to get myself some tickets.

Looking forward to seeing y’all real soon! 

Rabbi Chaim