At Brookdale Galleria, Rabbi Yosef and Chanale Cohen led seniors in a Honey Cake Bake and New Year card making. It was a warm afternoon of tradition, friendship, and preparing together for a sweet year ahead.
It is not every week that Elul, technology, and a 4:45 am mystery line up to teach the same lesson.
This week we launched the new YJPHouston.org website for our YJP community. It is fresh, clean, and easy to navigate. More importantly, it is an open door into our community, a place to discover events, inspiration, and opportunities to connect. After months of building behind the scenes, it is exciting to finally see it come to life.
Then came another kind of door. At 4:45 in the morning our doorbell suddenly rang. The video intercom showed no one there. When we reviewed the footage, we saw a man walking listlessly down the street, hesitating in front of our house, debating with himself whether to ring the bell. He finally pressed it, then kept walking into the night. No words, no reason, only a small unsettling moment at the threshold.
Elul is the month when the shofar calls us awake with the cry of “עורו ישנים משינתכם ונרדמים מנרדמתכם” — awaken from your sleep and your slumber. Like that unexpected bell in the quiet of the night, the shofar pierces through spiritual drowsiness and stirs us to prepare for the new year. It is a reminder that the High Holidays are a doorway to renewal, to return, and to begin again.
A new website, a doorbell at dawn, and the call of the shofar all lead us to realize that each moment is a doorway that invites us to step through and begin anew.
As the new year approaches, we invite you to step through the doorway of the New Year with us. Come join, come connect, and let us enter this month of holidays together.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Chaim & Chanie
P.S. Chabad of Uptown looks forward to celebrating the holidays with you. Our doors are to the entire Jewish community to daven and to celebrate, regardless of background or affiliation. For the complete schedule of services, to RSVP for holiday dinners or lunches, visit www.chabaduptown.org/services.
P.P.S. Now is also the time to join or renew your voluntary membership to Chabad. Your partnership allows us to provide free, open and welcoming services to all, for the holidays and year round! www.chabaduptown.org/membership
THE COHEN CORNER
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude
At the end of this week’s Torah portion, we read that exile came “because you did not serve Hashem with happiness and gladness of heart.” The Torah isn’t saying we didn’t serve Hashem; it’s that we did so joylessly. Maimonides teaches that this lack of joy is the root of affliction. Why such a harsh consequence for something so subtle? Because joy isn't just a mood, it's the soul of our actions. Hashem, like a loving parent, cherishes sincere, joyful effort more than grand, joyless performance.
This applies far beyond religious life. Whether it’s building better habits, exercising, or learning something new, approaching it with resentment or pressure drains motivation. But when we find meaning or joy in the process, even in small steps, the effort becomes sustainable and fulfilling. This week, try improving your attitude toward self-discipline. Instead of gritting your teeth through a task, find a way to enjoy or appreciate it. Joy doesn’t make the work disappear; it makes it matter.
Have a marvelous Shabbos!
Rabbi Yosef, Chanale & Mushka Cohen
UPCOMING CLASSES:
- Shabbos, Sept. 13, 9:00 am - Likkutei Torah - Kabbala of the Parsha
- Monday, Sept. 15, 8:00 pm - שיעור שבועי בספר התניא עם הרב מני לע"נ יונה דוד ע"ה בן יפה תחי' פרנגר
- Wednesday, Sept. 17, 8:00 pm - YJP Dinner, Class & Social
- Thursday, Sept. 18, 8:00 pm - The Heart of Prayer
UPCOMING EVENTS & HOLIDAYS:
- Sunday, September 14, 6:30 pm - Pre-Rosh Hashana Women's Honey Cake Bake - Join us for an evening of connection and inspiration as we learn the art of baking fresh honey cakes to welcome the new year. Prayers and Raffles in support of our brothers and sisters in the holy land. www.chabaduptown.org/honey
- Sunday, September 28, 10:30 am - Mommy & Me with a Jewish Twist - High Holidays - Yom Kippur & Sukkos Crafts & Holiday Themed Music & Movement. Join us for a nurturing and engaging program designed for mothers and babies (newborn to 2 years) to learn, play, and connect in a warm Jewish environment. www.chabaduptown.org/mommy
- Friday, Oct. 3, 6:45 pm - Moroccan Shabbat October First Fridays - Join Young Jewish Professionals For a Morrocan Themed Shabbat Dinner at YJP Houston – where spirits run high! www.yjphouston.org/casablanca
- Mon.-Wed., Sept. 22-24 - FREE Rosh Hashana Services, RSVP for Dinner and Luncheons
- Wed.-Thurs., Oct. 1-2 - Yom Kippur Services and Break Fast
- Mon., Tues. & Fri. Oct. 6, 7, 10 - Community Sukkot Dinners Under the Stars
- Saturday, October 11, 9 pm - Sukkah Night Live w/ YJP, YAD & Olami - Join young professionals in their twenties and thirties inside the Sukkah for a Saturday night like no other where the laughs are fresh the food is endless and the vibe is pure joy. www.yjphouston.org/snl
- Tues. Oct. 14 12:15 pm - Shemini Atzeret Yizkor with special Service to Honor the Memory of the Oct. 7 massacre
- Thurs Oct. 14, 6:30 pm - Simchat Torah Uptown - Dance like a Star!
This Shabbos is known as "Shabbos Selichos", when we kick off a series of Selichos recited in preparation for the "Days of Awe" of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur beginning this Saturday night, after midnight (after the Ashkenazic custom; the Sephardic community began on the 1st of Elul). On the subsequent days, this year daily through Monday Sept. 22 (besides Shabbos), the custom is to recite the Selichos in the early morning hours, before the morning prayers, each morning up to and including Elul 29, the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
Please let us know if we can count on you for the Selichos minyan this Saturday night at 1:15 am
Lulav and Etrog set: Don't wait until the last minute! Orders due by Sept. 26, 5 pm. Please order your set as soon as possible www.chabaduptown.org/lulav
Mazal tov Shmuel & Chava Rottman on the birth of a baby boy!
SHABBOS SELICHOS PARSHAS KI SAVO
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, ELUL 19
7:12 pm Shabbos Candle Lighting & Mincha
7:30 Kabbalat Shabbat
RSVP for Shabbat Dinner www.chabaduptown.org/shabbatdinner
SHABBOS, AUGUST 13, ELUL 20
9:00 am Chassidus
10:00 am Services
Followed by Shabbos Selichos Kiddush & Farbrengen sponsored by the Monthly Chai Club! Become a member here.
7:10 pm Mincha
Ethics of Our Fathers Chapter 3 & 4
8:05 pm Maariv, Havdalla and Shabbos ends
Living Torah
SELICHOS
Saturday night, August 13 / Sunday, August 14
Farbrengen at 11 pm
Selichos at 1:15 am
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, ELUL 21
8:00 am Shacharis
MONDAY & THURSDAY, SEPT 15 & 18, ELUL 22 & 25
6:15 am Selichos
6:45 am Shacharis