Updates

Just built the site for High Holidays at Hilton Post Oak!

Uptown - See you there!

• Tonight: Continue class on Basic Mitzvot: Its source, application and mystique. 8-9pm
• Shabbos Parshas Devarim / Chazon: Friday, July 20: Services at 7:30 pm (open to everyone - kids, young adults and young at heart!) ; Candle Lighting at 8:04pm
  Please RSVP! Young Adults Shabbaton - A Friday night dinner for young adults (professionals, singles & couples) with good food, company and spirit!  
• Saturday, July 21: Morning Services at 10 am followed by Kiddush Kiddush Sponsored by Albert & Rosita Goan in memory of her son Aryeh ben Avraham Singer, a"h
  Mincha Services & class in Ethics of our Fathers (Chapter 3) at 8:15 pm; Havdala & Shabbat Ends at 9:06 pm
• Friday, July 27, Lunch & Learn at Coane & Associates; 12-1pm The 9th of Av: Destruction & Renewal, the Kabbala of Challenge. RSVP to [email protected]
• Tuesday July 31: Last Mommy & Me – 9:30-11am (Skip July 24 in observance of Tisha B’Av)
  From our inbox: Chanie, Look at the challah we made in Mommy and Me class!  It's gorgeous.  Sophie stood near the oven the whole time it was baking.  We loved the experience. Thank you, Olga and Sophie
• Tuesday, July 31: Uptown Lunch & Learn – 12-1:15 pm (Skip July 24 in observance of Tisha B’Av)
• The past two years at the Houstonian Hotel & Paviolion on Post Oak we had special inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable and welcome in a beautiful, exquisite setting.
  For this year we have secured the Hilton Post Oak Hotel for services, dinners and break fasts on Rosh Hashana (Sept 12-14) & Yom Kippur (Sept. 21-22). Look out for more online, in your inbox and mailboxes as we roll all the details out! 

In other news….

• July 4, America’s (and my legal) birthday was spent at Funplex with the (then) almost new Aggies. The kids had a grand time! (It was very interesting to hear Matisyahu’s hit “King without a crown” played over the sound system while we encircled the indoor(!) Ferris wheel. The place was in much better condition when I was growing up, but, we had a great time anyway…
• I was very touched and humbled to see so many of you at the farbrengen at my home and even more so at the surprise-show-up for Friday night at Uptown. Thank you for your kind wishes and for the Mitzvos done in my honor.
• The Chabad Lubavitch Center construction is finally taking shape with the structural steel. See www.chabadtexas.org/building for new pics and videos…
• On July 8-9 I attended the Regional Conference of Shluchim with some great Southern hospitality in Atlanta, Georgia at the beautiful Chabad House there nestled in a beautiful wooded (memorial like) neighborhood. The region covers the states of FL, LA, SC, NC, TX, AL, GA and Puerto Rico. Two days of great sessions and camaraderie…. On Sunday night a couple hundred members of the community turned out for a dessert reception.
• After their first Shabbos at Texas A&M with a table full of students on Friday night, Sunday took us and the kids for a personal visit to this newest Chabad outpost. We had a great BBQ and left their house a mess. What a treat! Here is a pic I swiped from their SD Card of Rabbi Yossi and kids Menachem, Lazer & Leible crossing the Texas border on the way down from the east coast. Manya is behind the camera... I guess! Visit their new website at www.jewishaggies.com. If you know of any students at or headed to A&M, give them a holler!
• Tisha B’av is this Monday night and Tuesday (July 23-24). Join us for services at Chabad Lubavitch Center on Fondren Rd. Click here for times. Visit www.chabadtexas.org/holidays/3weeks for guides, calendar, times, insights, multimedia and more. 

See you Shabbos!

Rabbi Chaim & Chanie

FROM OUR INBOX: Chanie, Look at the challah we made in Mommy and Me class!  It's gorgeous.  Sophie stood near the oven the whole time it was baking.  We loved the experience.
Thank you, Olga and Sophie

A friday night dinner for young adults (professionals, singles & couples) with good food, company and spirit!

Led by Rabbi Chaim & Chanie

 

5103 San Felipe
(Corner Sky Lark; block west of S. Post Oak Rd.)
Houston, Texas

Friday, July 20, 2007
Shabbat Candle Lighting  8:04 pm
Special "User-Friendly" services (open to everyone- kids, young adults and young at heart!)
followed by Shabbat Dinner for Young Adults Only
7:30 pm

Saturday, July 21, 2007
Shacharit Services followed by traditional kiddush (open to everyone - kids, young adults and young at heart!) 
Kiddush Sponsored by Albert & Rosita Goan
in memory of her son Aryeh ben Avraham Singer, a"h  
10:00 am

See www.chabaduptown.org for more info to RSVP!

We took the kids to see the new Aggies (www.jewishaggies.com), welcome them to Texas and had a wonderful time!

Rabbi Yossi and kids Menachem, Lazer & Leible crossing the Texas border on the way down from the east coast. Manya is behind the camera... I guess!

Our Sages teach us that the destruction of the Holy Temple, of which these Three Weeks commemorate, was caused by baseless hatred among Jews. Thus, when love and unity reigns, the exile will be abolished and we will return to Jerusalem to serve Hashem in the rebuilt Beis Hamikdash – The Holy Temple.

Unity can be achieved by all Jews to learning the same subject in Torah. For when a Jew studies Torah, he and Torah are joined in "a wonderful union, like which there is none other."  How much more so when a number of Jews study the same topic. They too, through their study, are united with the eternal Torah, forging an eternal bond between the Torah and the Jews – and the Jews between themselves.

When this is coupled with learning something which encompasses the laws of the entire  Torah – and even greater level of wholesomeness is achieved!

The Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, the magnum opus of Maimonides, is the only book of Jewish law that encompasses a compendium of the entire Oral Torah. Therefore, a person who learns Mishneh Torah, fulfills the mitzvah of studying and knowing all of the Torah’s laws.

Today, Thursday July 12, marks the annual Siyum Harambam, closure of the yearly cycle of studying the Mishneh Torah. This project was initiated by the Rebbe to unite all Jews in study, and for the benefit of studying the entire body of Jewish law, as compiled by Maimonides. The universal acceptance of Maimonides is evidenced by his headstone, which is engraved with the words “From (the first) Moses to Moses (Maimonides) there arose none like Moses.” Through the time of the Judges, the Prophets, the Kings and the Sages, the Mishnah and the Talmud, and all of the subsequent Jewish sages, no one could compare to Moses – until Maimonides!

Tomorrow, Friday July 13, the new cycle will commence. For a few minutes each day you may join Jews around the world in this study of unity and wholesomeness by visiting our Daily Study Section of the website with text and audio classes in Hebrew and English. MP3 downloads are also available though logging into our premium section my.chabadtexas.org.

May this unity allow us see the fulfillment of the coming of Moshiach NOW!

Rabbi Chaim
ChabadTexas.org Editor