Rabbi Abrams Blog

Bittersweet conference in NY It’s bittersweet.  I’m meeting up with my colleagues from around the world, enjoying seeing our son, Mendel, meet his online school friends in person, and “recharging my batteries”. But there is a cloud looming over what usually would be very festive and celebratory. You may have heard about the horrific murder of Rabbi Tzvi Kogan HY”D (which stands for  H ashem  Y ikom  D amo- May G-d avenge his blood), from Dubai on Sunday. He was a Chabad rabbi in Dubai, with the mission of ensuring the Jews of United Arab Emirates have kosher food to eat.  He ran a kosher grocery store called “Rimon”. What is a Shliach I’ve written before about what a shliach is.  Shliach means messenger, emissary or ambassador, not just rabbi. Our job as shluchim is to represent the Lubavitcher Rebbe and be his hands and feet in the cities to which we are sent, in the capacity in which we are sent.   A shliach doesn’t have to be a rabbi per se.  A...

Natanya and I are getting ready for a trip to Israel in a few weeks to attend my sister, Rivkah’s wedding (the soldier who is now in university).  This will be my first time in the Holy Land, and we’re very excited about it. One of the places I’m eager to visit is “The Cave of the Patriarchs (and matriarchs)” in Chevron (Hebron).   This is where the founders of humanity and the Jewish people were buried. Adam & Eve Abraham & Sarah Isaac & Rebecca Jacob & Leah Unfortunately, we’ll have to take an armored bus, because it’s in a dangerous neighborhood in the “occupied west bank”, but what I call Shomron. Ironically, of all places in Israel to be disputed, the purchase of this cave & grave is recorded in the Bible (Genesis 23), which we will be reading this week!  After Sarah died, Abraham searched for a burial plot for his wife, and purchased it at an above market rate from Efron the Chittite.  I believe it is the first recorded real estate transacti...

Every four years, I get to remind the community about two rabbinical and important, election related things: While I do follow politics, and have personal opinions, as a rabbi, I am not qualified or authorized to share my personal opinion. My job is to reach out and care for every Jew.  When someone sent me a message that Doug Emhoff (Kamala Harris’ husband) is a nonpracticing Jew, my response was, “Him and a few others.  I love every Jew.”   Mine and Natanya’s mission here is too important to start choosing which Jews should feel at home. I may not be qualified or authorized to talk about a particular candidate, but there is something election related that I am authorized and encouraged to remind everyone: While “free choice” is a principle of Jewish faith, there is one exception.  2,000 years ago, King Solomon wrote, “A king's heart is like rivulets of water in the Lord's hand; wherever He wishes, He turns it”- Proverbs 21, 1. This means, that you and I have more f...

A year ago, things were very different. A year ago, we spoke about “never again” in the abstract.  Many people in Israel spoke of peace deals and two state solutions.   As a SoCal Jewish boy growing up in the 90’s, many of my friends grandparents were Holocaust survivors.  I couldn’t understand or even really believe how it could have happened.  The world was so kind and accepting of Jews. Every year we read in the Passover Hagaddah, “In every generation, they rise up to destroy us, but G-d saves us from their hands” and I couldn’t help but tell myself that our generation was different and this verse didn’t apply today. Now I understand. Some people call it October 7th. I call it the Simchas Torah massacre. Just like we were attacked in 1973 on Yom Kippur, because it was Yom Kippur, in 2023 we were attacked on Simchas Torah, because it was Simchas Torah. What is the Jewish response? Elie Weisel, a famous author, professor and Holocaust survivor met the Rebbe and...

I hope you had an amazing week.  We just got back with the family last night from a few day trip to Mammoth and Yosemite (thank you Uncle Mark in Mammoth and Dr. Kaye from Fresno for hosting us!) A few weeks ago, we started reading the last book of the five books of Torah, Devarim (Deuteronomy).   The entire book is the final speech of Moses, which broke the Guinness world record for the longest speech ever.  It was 36 days long. Moses spoke to the Jewish people as they were on the east bank of the Jordan river, about to cross into Israel.  (They would wake up in the morning and gather to listen, until the end of the day, when they would go back to their tents to sleep, to then come back out the next day and pick up where they left off). For some reason, this year, as I’ve studied the portion every day, I’m finding it so much more meaningful and relevant than ever before.  Here are a few points I’m noticing: Moses the Rabbi/Rebbe If there is any role model for a...

A few months ago, in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday, I made a resolution to get back into the habit of going every Friday to do some outreach, visit some Jews and do mitzvahs together. Especially tefillin for men, and Shabbos candles for women. Today Hashem taught me a lesson about this. I was planning to go a bit later in the day, but had to run to Lowes for a couple cans of paint. While pulling out of our driveway, the thought crossed my mind to bring a pair of tefillin with me just in case I meet some Jews, but I brushed it off, saying, “I’m going to do some outreach later today anyways.  How many Jews will there be at Lowes already?” Sure enough, I walked up to the ProDesk and two Israelis were sitting right there. Hopefully, they’ll put on tefillin like they promised, but it’s a reminder for me to always be prepared for mitzvahs that Hashem lines up in my path. This Shabbos is the “Vision Shabbos”, when G-d shows us all a vision (at some level) of the Third Temple we are waitin...