1. Home
  2. /
  3. Mendel's Messages
  4. /
  5. Page 22
no comments

Know Thy Friends

For “Shabbat360” of 2023/5783 our theme and logo this year was a meaningful twist on the Life360 app which shares location and other phone info with selected friends and family for safety and comfort purposes. Their slogan is Find Friends … Read the rest

...
no comments

Some Chanukah Tweets

Looking back at our Chanukah tweeting over the years is a little telling, as we’ve been much more focused on “sharing the lights” than on meaningful messages as we’ve done for tweets for many of the other holidays. But Chanukah Read the rest

...
no comments

Chassidus as Coals and Pearls

Here’s a thread below explaining the ideas behind this banner our school kids painted some years ago for #19Kislev, aka #YudTesKislev, the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus.

These ideas are based on a talk of the #FriedikerRebbe R’ Yosef Yitzchak on … Read the rest

...
no comments

Kantoni’s Upswing Trope

The usual translation for קטנתי “Katonti” in Vayishlach is “I’ve been diminished” or “I have become small” but the Torah trope melody (a dynamic upswing) suggests otherwise!

The seeming absurdity of singing “Katonti” to such a dynamic upswing tone is … Read the rest

...
no comments

And Jacob was alone – not good to be alone.

On a Friday afternoon I attended a funeral at the Fuller Road cemetery just down the street of someone I didn’t know. An alumni friend (whom we know) called and said it was his old UAlbany college roommate (early 1980’s) … Read the rest

...
no comments

The “Vshavti B’Shalom” Maamar

In 1977 the Rebbe shared a very long Maamar (a Chassidic discourse) titled “V’Shavti B’Shalom” based on the words of Jacob’s pledge/promise after his dream of the ladder in Parsha Vayeitzei. This was said not long after he suffered a … Read the rest

...
no comments

Jacob’s Ladder & Two Road-Trip Stops

For Thanksgiving 2022 our family went on a road-trip to see 4 of Raizy’s siblings and their families in the Midwest. We drove through Canada, spent a night in Detroit, most of the weekend in Chicago and a morning stop … Read the rest

...
no comments

Elon Musk’s “Hardcore” Letter to Twitter Employees and Closing Paragraph of Rambam’s Book of Acquisitions

It so happens that the daily study-cycle of #1ChapterRambam completed the Book of Acquisitions, unit on Servants/Slavery, on the very same day that Elon Musk is said to have sent the demanding “hardcore” letter to remaining not-yet-fired employees at Twitter … Read the rest

...
no comments

Rabbi Shimon & Case of 2 Gardens – (Mendel’s Hebrew commentary)

The last Mishna in “HaBayit v’Aliyah” the 10th chapter (all about upstairs and downstairs apartments) of Talmud tractate Bava Metziah is the case of the upper and lower garden:

The case of an higher and lower garden that are owned Read the rest

...
no comments

Diversify Songs and Jewish Life

One of our techniques to keeping Simchas Torah dancing going strong in a college campus Chabad House for 3+ or close to 4 hours is to diversify and change things up.

Simchas Torah is a time for fast lively songs, … Read the rest

...