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...