Am Yisrael Chai!

In a time when our enemies choose darkness and evil, we must respond with bringing more light and more pride to ourselves and our community.

We are all searching for a message or inspiring thought to hold onto. Perhaps we can find it in the very first opening words of our holy Torah, from this week’s Parsha.

In fact, G-d speaks and is quoted many times in the Torah, but how about we turn our attention to the the very first time the Torah says “and G-d said”?

There it is, in the very first paragraph of the Torah
“And G-d said, let there be light.”

Let there be light indeed!
Perhaps G-d is telling us in the opening verses of the Torah, to add light and make that our life’s mission.

When you see this in physical reality, it can really bring the message across.
If you bring a child into a dark room, it can feel intimidating and frightening.
All you need is even a small candle, a small glimmer of light, and you will see how much darkness is dispelled automatically with a small amount of light.
How much more so, if you bring a lot of light.

When things look very gloomy and dark, we don’t despair. We bring more light, perhaps we can begin with something small, but that small light can light up a room full of darkness.

There are so many ways we can bring light, this Friday we can light shabbat candles.
We can pray, put on tefilin, come to shule, get mezuzot on our doors, join the community in prayer, unity, and comfort.
We can call our friends and relatives and make sure they have all the support and love they need.

Lets keeps our heads high, with Hashem’s help we will prevail, we always do.

Looking forward to seeing you at Shule, as we unite together as an extended Jewish family.
Our deepest heartfelt prayers go out to our young brave heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, and those in captivity.
May Hashem give them the strength and blessings to bring about a swift successful result to this very difficult and troubling situation.

Shabbat Shalom!