Message from the Director

Have some of us missed the point of Pesach?

With just over a week to go until Pesach, many of us are preoccupied in some way or another with food!  Either we are getting rid of it i.e. chometz or we are purchasing it i.e. matzah. We’re even talking about food, discussing and sharing recipes and debating the cost of matzah.

Whilst it is correct to ensure that all Chometz is removed and that we have the most Kosher matzah and food, we aught to also spend some time preparing for the highlight of Pesach itself, the Seder night.

The Seder enables all of us to interact and teach something to our children and families, on a level that many are unable to do during the rest of the year. With so much information easily and readily available it is easy to transform, what could be a long boring evening, into a stimulating and exciting Seder experience.

Essentially the Haggadah is structured around the premise that people are curious and that we all like to know about and understand the things around us. On Pesach we want our children to ask and we welcome the opportunity to tell them about our history and heritage.

In Kabbalistic texts we find that questions and answers are closely linked to the main theme of the Seder, exile and redemption.

When a person has an unanswered question it is like they are in exile. Groping around in the darkness of ignorance and having to deal with the insecurity of doubt.

However, when an answer is found the freedom to move on is both exhilarating and uplifting. Suddenly there is light and hope.

So amidst all those food preparations, why not set aside just an hour, do some research and come to the Seder prepared with some answers. Have something new up your sleeve, something that can inspire or move those who have made an effort to be together with you.

I am convinced that the enduring nature of Pesach has more to do with the brain, than the stomach!

Please check out our website, www. Lubavitch Brighton.com, for all the information you may need about Pesach and to sell you Chometz.

Wishing you a very happy and kosher Passover.

Rabbi Pesach Efune

The reason why the month of Av is the saddest one in our calendar is because the Temple was destroyed on the ninth of Av, resulting in 2000 years of exile, culminating in the Shoah, the Holocaust of World War Two. In order for us to appropriately commemorate the Destruction of the Temple, Jewish law demands that from the first day of Av one should neither eat meat nor drink wine. Weddings and other public festivities are also to be avoided. This ruling is summed up by the Shulchan Aruch in the following way, “When Av begins one should minimize feelings of happiness”.

In contrast to Av, we have Adar, the month in which we celebrate Purim and which begins on Sunday. In anticipation of Purim the Shulchan Aruch rules as follows, “Just as one should lessen one’s feeling of happiness in Av, so one should increase one’s happiness when Adar begins”.

A Chassidic Rabbi once commented, “ Just as if we saw a person dancing joyously to loud music and drinking wine in Av we would cry out in protest, so too if we see someone that isn’t happy in Adar, we need to protest. It just is not right!”

But are you happy? If not, what can make you happy? Some people think it is wealth or material things. Others think it can be good health, friends and family. Perhaps it is all of the above and perhaps none of the above.

In view of the fact the Jewish Law “demands” that we regulate our emotions and that at certain times we must be happy and at others sad, is good enough proof for me that we mentally can adjust our thinking to effect our emotions and so therefore the real source of happiness lies within.

It is as simple as making a decision that from now on, I will choose to be happy!

So now that Adar is about to begin let us all resolve to become happier people because happy people are better people.

Purim is just around the corner and so if you haven’t yet booked tickets for the Purim Extravaganza, please do so as space is limited and tickets are going fast.

Please have a look at our website www.lubavitchbrighton.com to what’s happening this week at Lubavitch.

Wishing you all a very happy and inspirational Shabbat.

Rabbi Pesach Efune

Unity: an easy word to say but an extremely difficult one to achieve.

In fact true Jewish harmony was only ever once achieved and that was when we  stood at Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah and we behaved “like one man with one heart”.

In spite of the elusive nature of unity, surely we couldn’t have endured such a challenging history and survived as a people, without some mechanism that could at least attempt to bring us together or to go even further, to unite us without even being aware of how united we really are?

Last Friday I celebrated my fiftieth birthday, a fact that in itself I would not normally share so publicly, had it not been for the special gift that my wife gave me. Unbeknown to me she decided to commission the writing of a new Sefer Torah that was commenced in New Church Road Shul after the morning service, on my actual birthday.

There is a Rabbinic tradition that the 600,000 letters in the Torah correspond to the 600,000 souls who left Egypt, and who in turn reflect the totality of the Jewish people throughout the ages. In other words each Jew has a letter in the Torah and if one letter is missing then the Torah scroll is invalid. All the letters are equal, one letter is no more or less important than any other symbolising the fact that ultimately we are one united people, with one purpose and that all divisions are only artificial and superficial.

It is only through Torah that we can once again achieve the elusive deep harmony that we experienced over 3000 years ago at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

Please do take a look at our website, www.lubavitchbrighton.com to see what’s happening this week and please do book a place for the forthcoming Purim Extravaganza. Space is limited.

Wishing you all a very happy and inspirational Shabbat.

Rabbi Pesach Efune 

Once again our faith in humanity has been re-ignited, but sadly for the wrong reason.

Why does it take a calamitous disaster, like that experienced by Haiti, to spur an unprecedented united outpouring of support and assistance for our fellow human beings? Countries have pledged millions of dollars in aid and the rich and famous have done the same. Tiger Woods apparently has donated $3 million towards the relief effort and so have many other celebrities and philanthropists. All very admirable.

But my question is this. Why do we always have to wait until an emergency before we help others in need? Haiti, only 200 miles away from America, the wealthiest country on earth, has the shortest life expectancy, lowest income per capita and highest level of unemployment in the western hemisphere.  

Why did Tiger Woods have to wait until this earthquake before helping the poor people of Haiti? Why didn’t he build a school or clinic last year and why did America only now offer such generous assistance to this impoverished nation? 

The answer is that there seems to be a very deep rooted human mind-set that finds it much harder to help when things don’t look totally desperate than in an emergency when the outlook is very bleak and desperate. Whilst perhaps we don’t fully understand why this should be the case, we nevertheless should attempt to address this human failing.

I believe that Jewish Law offers a positive response to this attitude by demanding that we help others before they become destitute and need to beg for charity and help, by giving them an interest free loan. This enables the recipient to maintain their dignity and if done properly, to attain self sufficiency, thus no longer having to rely upon others for charity.    

Our challenge is therefore, to listen more attentively when someone asks for help. Although their request may not sound desperate, the mere fact that they are even asking should be interpreted as being an emergency and so we should respond appropriately and wait until it becomes an emergency.

As the old Chinese proverb goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him a meal, give him a rod and you feed him for life.” 

Please do take a moment to look at our website, www.LubavitchBrighton.com, to see what’s happening this week.

On behalf of all of us at Lubavitch Brighton, I wish you and your families a very happy and inspirational Shabbat. 

Rabbi Pesach Efune
Director

There is a tendency on the part of many, when asked to participate in a project that is meant to strengthen Jewish education or Jewish institutions in general, to say that the place is not conducive for such a project. Many times an attempt to establish a new school, yeshiva or even shul, has been stymied by people who have this negative attitude.

A suitable response to this off-putting attitude can be found in the famous “burning bush” narrative.

Moses is walking in the middle of nowhere, a real wilderness, far from anything spiritual or holy and suddenly he sees this burning bush that does not seem to get burnt. As he approaches to investigate this phenomenon he hears G-d telling him “to remove his shoes for the place upon which you stand is Holy.”

From this first encounter that Moses had with G-d we can learn a very important lesson.

The Torah teaches us that a person, wherever they find themselves, even in the middle of a barren desert, can change that place into Holy ground. Let a person not argue that this is the wrong place and that the locals don’t want something new and “too religious”. Those who are fired up with the force of optimism should not be deterred by such negative opinions and should feel confident enough that with a little bit of effort any place or community can be transformed.

Brighton is no different!

Please look at our website to see what events and study groups have been arranged and I am sure that you will find something that will interest you.

Wishing you a very happy and inspirational Shabbat and please remember that together we can achieve anything.

Rabbi Pesach Efune

Over the past few days a number of people have asked me if it was appropriate for them to wish me a happy New Year. I have consistently answered that I am always pleased to accept good wishes from anybody and everybody, no matter what time of year it is.

I have however, pondered the age old question as to what real happiness is, anyway? This question has been the subject of human debate for centuries and now is not the time to discuss all the opinions and answers. Personally, I think that it is a sense of fulfilment that makes us deeply and genuinely happy, and that this sense of accomplishment is connected directly with doing another human being a good turn or helping them out.

We feel best about ourselves when we’ve helped another person in need. That could mean visiting a sick friend in hospital, giving a short term loan to an acquaintance in hardship, or taking an elderly person out for a Sunday afternoon drive. 

The sense of accomplishment experienced when helping our fellow man achieve something that they could not do themselves, or befriending a lonely individual who the rest of society has overlooked, is what really makes us happy.

So perhaps, therefore, a more suitable salutation around this time would be “Have a Fulfilling New Year”.

Whether we make a resolution now or at a later date, we aught to resolve to increase the amount of kind acts that we do, for not only will they be appreciated by the recipients but will effect us in a very deep and profound way; making us happier people and ensuring that we indeed have a happy future.

Wishing you all a very restful and inspirational Shabbat and please remember it’s fun being Jewish.

Rabbi Pesach Efune

It’s all in the timing.