The Word of the Rabbi - Chabad Lubavitch of Athens Greece

The secret of the apple and honey

Thursday, September 26, 2019 - 5:29 AM

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rosh hashana crop.jpg

If yes, you know that the main Mitsvah of this holiday is to listen to the Shofar on Monday 30/09 and Tuesday 1/10.

But Rosh Hashana is also famous for the custom of dipping apple in honey in order to have a sweet year. But why an apple specifically?

Tηe apple, once you cut it, has to be eaten immediately, since it becomes brown quickly. The honey, on the other hand, endures indefinitely and was even used as a preservative by the ancients.

The apple represents modernity, novelty. It has to be consumed immediately, as very soon, what was considered modern, fresh and innovative stops being new. The honey represents tradition, well-established institutions that hold through the test of times.

Judaism needs to be an apple dipped in honey. We need to find the right balance between modernity and tradition. We need to find how to preserve our ancient heritage and values while embracing modern life and progress.

On Rosh Hashana, as we will dip the apple in the honey, let's wish to achieve the perfect combination between tradition and renewal.

Shabbat Shalom and Ktiva vechatima tova leshana tova umetuka,

Rabbi Mendel and Nehama Hendel

The missing woman mystery solved

Friday, September 20, 2019 - 7:27 AM

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This is a true story that happened last week in Iceland, I heard it from my first cousin who is the director of Chabad in Reykjavik:

A group of tourists spent hours Saturday night looking for a missing woman near Iceland's Eldgja canyon, only to find her among the search party. The group was travelling through Iceland on a tour bus and stopped near a volcanic canyon. At the stop, there was word of a missing passenger. The woman, who had changed clothes, didn't recognize the description of herself and joined in the search. But the search was called off at about 3 am when it became clear the missing woman was, in fact, accounted for and searching for herself.

We are in the Hebrew month of Elul, right before Rosh Hashana. It’s a time for reflection. It’s a time for looking for ourselves, our inner selves. Our soul.

Some may feel lost. But we are never truly lost. We simply need to (re-)connect to our deeper truth, our spiritual dimension, our soul.

Let's utilize this precious month of Elul to find ourselves and arrive to the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, well prepared. May we all have a good and sweet year,

Ktiva vachatima tova,

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Mendel Hendel

The fake news that led to the Nobel Prize

Sunday, September 15, 2019 - 8:59 AM

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Do you know the origin of the Nobel Prize?

It started from a case of "fake news": in 1888, Albert Nobel was surprised to read his own obituary in a French newspaper. It was a mistake; it was his brother Ludwig who had died. But Albert was shocked to see the title: "The merchant of death is dead". The dubious title was because dynamite, the explosive invented by Alfred, was the seed of destruction and death in the world.

This made Albert reconsider his life and the legacy he wanted to leave. He changed his will and decided to leave 94% of his wealth for the benefit of humanity, by creating prizes for those who contribute to it in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace. Albert Nobel succeeded: his name is now connected to a benefactor of mankind, and not to a merchant of death.

What about us? What legacy will we leave?

The month of Elul, the last month before the High Holidays, is the ideal time to look back to the past year and see what we have accomplished. What legacy did we create? If this the one we want to be remembered for?

Then, since thank G-d we are alive and can change the course of our lives, we can choose what we want to correct and improve and make a practical plan on how to realize it during the next year.