Let us examine the story the Bible records following the devastating flood, the greatest natural disaster of all times, which wiped out almost all of humanity. It is the ambiguous story of the Tower of Babel. Here is how Genesis 11:4-8 reads: “The people said, Let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top shall reach the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the entire earth. And G-d descended to look at the city and tower which the sons of man built, and G-d said, …Shall it not be withheld from them all they proposed to do?… G-d scattered them across the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city.”

This is a strange story. Why did G-d interrupt their project? What was their sin? Their motives for building a city with a tower “whose top shall reach the heavens” are quite understandable, even noble. Mankind was only just reconstructing itself after the Flood, which had wiped out the entire human race, except for Noah and his family. If humanity were to survive, they needed to construct a strong city and tower that could possibly avoid the next disaster. What was wrong with their scheme? Hasn’t the Bible made it a moral imperative to “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it”? [Genesis 1:28]

One of the possible answers is this: In stating their objective in creating the city and the tower, the people declared, “Let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top shall reach the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.” Their motive behind this dramatic construction plan was to immortalize their legacy in concrete structure, the endurance of their names in the annals of history.

But what’s the big deal? The answer is simple. When you have observed a flood in which the entire human race has perished, have you nothing else to think about but securing for yourself a name and a legacy? Imagine somebody gazing at a home swiftly being consumed by a flood. Instead of running to rescue the people inside the home, this person stands and reflects how he can be sure to make a name for himself in the process. This would be grotesque. Can’t you ever forget about your ego? Is there never a moment you are capable of saying to yourself, “Forget my legacy! Human lives need to be saved!”

This is true of every grand campaign undertaken to help humanity. If the objective is self-aggrandizement rather than service to G-d and His children, the very core is tainted; the consequences of this blemish will likely be manifested in the future.

In our own lives we often observe people whose lives have been destroyed by a “flood”, in one form or another. Our question at such a time must always be how do I rebuild a broken heart? How can I ignite a tortured soul? How can I help a survivor? How do I bring more light into a dark world? How do I increase acts of goodness and kindness? What new deed can I undertake to heal the world? How do I extend myself to be there for another person? What can I do to change my corner of the world and make it a more moral and holy place? What will I do today and tomorrow to move our aching planet one step closer to redemption?

On Tuesday morning, we all witnessed tornadoes peel away roofs, rip trees from the ground and dump branches and debris all over the streets. However, as I stood in the Sand & Spurs equestrian park moments after the storm, I watched strangers selflessly helping anyone that needed it – people were schlepping debris, passing out water and assisting animals in getting shelter. To me, this was the human race on its best behavior.

So to you and to G-d I say, we have learned from the past; your children look out and care for each other, so please continue blessing us with peace and health. Thank you to all the nameless people who continue to restore our faith in humanity. To the City of Pompano and all its employees, you should be proud. It was an awesome response and job well done – thank you!

Good luck with the hard work ahead rebuilding!

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches. New location coming soon. For all upcoming events, please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

“Dear Rabbi, I used to think my entire life was run by my feelings of guilt. Everything I did or thought seemed to be governed by how guilty I felt that day. It also didn’t seem to matter what ‘it’ was. I’d be feeling guilty about everything and anything … either that I hadn’t done enough or that I’d upset people when I hadn’t meant to or even that I ‘should’ have done something differently. I’d feel guilty about so many things and my life really did seem to be just reacting to one feeling of guilt after another”.

Dear friends, we all suffer from guilt, some more than others. The question is what we do with it …

After his wife died, an old religious man received a parrot from his sons to keep him company. After a time, he discovered that the parrot had heard him pray so often that it learned to say the prayers. The old man was so thrilled he decided to take his parrot to the synagogue on the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah.

The rabbi protested when he entered with the bird, but when told the parrot could pray, the rabbi, though still skeptical, showed interest. People started betting on whether the parrot would pray, and the old man happily took bets that eventually totaled $50,000.

The prayers began but the bird was silent. As the prayers continued there was still not a word from the bird.

When the prayers ended, the old man was not only crestfallen, but also $50,000 in debt. On the way home he thundered at his parrot, “Why did you do this to me? I know you can pray, you know you can pray. Why did you keep your mouth shut? Do you know how much money I owe people now?”

To which the parrot replied: “A little business imagination would help you, dear friend. You must look ahead: Can you imagine what the stakes will be like on Yom Kippur?” Double compensation.

Exodus 22:7 “If a man shall give money or vessels to his fellow to safeguard, and it is stolen from the house of the man, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.” Go out, suggests the Torah, and find the thief. Then you will actually receive double of what you possessed originally!

Here we are introduced, in subtle fashion, to the exquisite dynamic known in Judaism as teshuvah – repentance, or psychological and moral recovery. Instead of wallowing in your guilt and despair, and instead of surrendering to apathy and cynicism, you ought to identify and confront your “thief”, those forces within your life that keep derailing you. You need to reclaim ownership over your schedules, behaviors and patterns.

Then, you will receive from the thief double the amount he took in the first place. What this means psychologically is that the experience of falling and rebounding will allow you to deepen your spirituality and dignity in a fashion double of what it might have been without the thievery.

The Talmud puts it thus: “Great is repentance, for as a result of it, willful sins are transformed into virtues.”

When you fail and allow your life to fall into a shambles, but then confront the thief and reclaim your life as your own, those previous failures bestow on you a perspective, an appreciation, a depth and a determination that otherwise would not have been possible. By engaging in the remarkable endeavor of repentance, the sin itself is redefined as a mitzvah – a good deed. Why? Because the very failure and its resulting frustration generate a profound and authentic passion and appreciation for the good and the holy.

The next time your inner thief hijacks your moral life, see it as a reclamation opportunity: Reclaim your life with a double dose of light and purity.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches. (Moving to new location… coming soon!) For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

This week’s Torah portion Beshalach (Exodus 14:26 – 15:26) relates that dramatic moment when at the brink of being captured by the mighty Egyptian forces, the Red Sea parted before the Hebrews. The newly-born nation of Israel crossed to the other side and embarked on its journey to freedom.

Do we have anything in our lives today that could even remotely reflect that unparalleled and stupendous miracle? Yes, says the Talmud, and it is the miracle of a marriage that works. “To match couples together is as difficult as the splitting of the sea,” states this ancient Jewish text written around 1700 years ago. What is the meaning behind these words? Everybody knows that the process of finding a life’s partner and maintaining the relationship may at times be excruciatingly difficult. But why, from all extraordinary miracles described in the Bible, does the Talmud choose specifically the miracle of the splitting of the sea to depict marriage?

Do you remember your groom?

Before each of us was born, say the Kabbalists, we were shown, in heaven, the souls of our respective grooms and brides. Now, when you saw the soul of your future husband in the spiritual realms, you were ecstatic. You were witness to an extraordinary spirit, a towering beacon of light, a great personality. You thought to yourself: “For such a husband, I will do anything. I will be there for him in the deepest possible way. I am ready to ‘split’ for him any day.”

Similarly, when you encountered your future bride there in the sublime plane, you were just blown away. What a profound heart! Will I truly have the privilege of building a home with this human being? How will I ever be able to show enough gratitude for the joy of having a relationship with this woman?

Then, you were born. Twenty, 25, 30, 35, 45 years later, you feel an attraction to your spouse, to that soul that once so overwhelmed you. You take a look … But you do not recognize him or her.

“Him? You want me to respect him?” many a woman says. “He is an obnoxious, egotistical, self-centered man.”

“Her?” many a man exclaims. “You expect me to appreciate and honor her? A world-renowned needy and insecure kvetch?”

Many of us fail to recognize in the face and personality of our spouses what we once-upon-a-time saw in their souls. Marriage is the ability to recognize your true spouse, beneath the layers of “rubble” that may eclipse his or her true dignity and beauty. A good relationship stems from the understanding that life is a battlefield in which we often stumble and fail and that the beauty and profundity of human life consists not of a continuous stream of light and perfection, but rather of the light that emerges from amidst darkness, of the serenity that emerges from turmoil, and of the harmony that sprouts forth from strife.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at

4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

The Biblical account of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt has been one of the most inspiring stories for the oppressed, enslaved and downtrodden throughout history. From the American Revolution to the slaves of the American South, to Martin Luther King’s Let Freedom Ring, the narrative of the Exodus provided countless peoples with the courage to hope for a better future, and to act on the dream.

Moses’ first visit to Pharaoh demanding liberty for his people only brought more misery to the Hebrew slaves; the Egyptian monarch increased their torture. The Hebrews now would not listen any longer to the promise of redemption. Now let us pay heed to this strange verse in Exodus:

So G-d spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and He gave them a command (charge) for the children of Israel, and a command to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, to let the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

G-d is charging Moses with two directives: Command the people of Israel and then command Pharaoh the king. However, the verse is ambiguous: What did G-d command Moses to instruct the people? The message for Pharaoh is clear: Let the children of Israel out of Egypt. But what is it that Moses is supposed to command the people themselves?

The Jerusalem Talmud says something profoundly enigmatic: G-d instructed Moses to command to the Jewish people the laws of freeing slaves.

The Talmud is referring to a law recorded later in Exodus: If a Jew sells himself as a slave, the owner must let him go after six years. He is forbidden to hold on to the slave for longer. This was the law Moses was to share with the Israelites while they were in Egyptian bondage.

Yet, this seems like a cruel joke. The Children of Israel at this point were crushed and tormented slaves themselves, subjugated by a genocidal despot and a tyrannical regime, enduring horrific torture. Yet,at this point in time, G-d wants Moses to command them about the laws relevant to the aristocrat, the feudal lord, the slave-owner?

The answer to this question is profoundly simple and moving, and is vital to the understanding of liberty in the Biblical imagination.

“Before Pharaoh can liberate the Jewish slaves, they must be ready to become free. You can take a man out of slavery, but it may prove more challenging to take slavery out of a man. Externally, you may be free; internally, you may still be enslaved.

What is the first and foremost symptom of being free? That you learn to confer freedom on others.

The dictator, the control freak, or the abusive spouse or parent, does not know how give others freedom. He (or she) feels compelled to force others into the mold that he has created for them. Uncomfortable in his own skin, he is afraid that someone will overshadow him, expose his weaknesses, usurp his position or make him feel extra in this world. Outwardly he attempts to appear powerful, but, inwardly, his power is a symptom of inner misery and confinement.

Only when one learns to embrace others, not for whom he would like them to be, but for whom they are, then can he begin to embrace himself, not for whom he wishes he was, but for whom he is. When we free those around us, we are freeing ourselves. By accepting them, we learn to accept ourselves.

Who is powerful? He who empowers. Who is free? He who can free others. Who is a leader? He who creates other leaders.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” President Abraham Lincoln said. Ask yourself, do you know how to celebrate the soaring success of your loved ones and constituents? Do you encourage them to spread their wings and maximize their potentials? Can you allow others to shine?

Pharaoh may set you free physically. But former slaves can become present tyrants. People who were abused often become abusers themselves. It is what they know about life; it is the paradigm they were raised with. They grew up in abuse and slavery, so they continue the cycle with others.

The first commandment the Jews had to hear from Moses, before even he could go the Pharaoh to demand he let them go free, was, “One day you will be free. Remember that freedom is a gift; use it to free others.”

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, has two dreams. In the first, Pharaoh sees himself standing over the Nile River, “And, behold, there came up out of the River seven cows, handsome and fat of flesh and they fed in the reed grass. And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the River, ugly and lean of flesh and stood by the other cows upon the bank of the River. And the ugly and lean cows ate up the seven handsome and fat cows.” [Genesis 41: 18-20]

In the second dream, Pharaoh sees seven thin, shriveled ears of grain swallow seven fat ears of grain.

None of the wise men of Egypt can offer Pharaoh a satisfactory interpretation of his dreams. Then, the “young Hebrew slave,” Joseph, is summoned from his dungeon to the palace. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty, symbolized by the fat cows and fat grain, will be followed by seven years of hunger, reflected by the lean cows and the shriveled ears. The seven years of famine will be so powerful that they will “swallow up” and obliterate any trace of the years of plenty.

Joseph then advises Pharaoh on how to deal with the forthcoming crisis: “Now Pharaoh must seek out a man with insight and wisdom and place him in charge of Egypt. A rationing system will have to be set up over Egypt during the seven years of surplus,” Joseph explains, “in which grain will be stored for the upcoming years of famine.” [Genesis 41: 33-36]

Pharaoh is blown away by Joseph’s vision.

In Pharaoh’s first dream, he saw how the seven ugly and lean cows that came up after the seven handsome cows “stood near the other [fat] cows upon the bank of the River.” In other words, there was a moment during which both sets of cows coexisted simultaneously, and only afterward did the lean cows proceed to swallow the fat cows.

It was this detail of the dream that caused the wise men of Egypt to reject the interpretation that Joseph would later offer to Pharaoh and compelled them to present all types of farfetched explanations.

For how is it possible that plenty and famine should coexist? Either you have fat cows alone or you have lean cows alone, but you can’t have them both together! The seven years of famine cannot be present during the seven years of surplus. Either you have lots of food, or you have no food. But you can’t be both satiated and hungry at the same time.

All of us experience cycles of plenty and cycles of famine in our lives. There are times when things are going very well: We are healthy, successful and comfortable. Often, during such times, we fail to invest time and energy to cultivate genuine emotional intimacy with our spouse, to develop real relationships with friends and to create a sincere bond with G-d. We feel self-sufficient and don’t need anybody in our lives.

Yet, when a time of famine arrives, when a serious crisis erupts in our lives, we suddenly feel the need to reach out beyond ourselves and connect with our loved ones and with G-d.But we don’t know how.

Because when we do not nurture our relationships and our spirituality during our years of plenty, when the years of famine confront us, we lack the tools we so desperately need to survive the crisis.

This is the essence of Joseph’s wisdom: You must never detach the years of plenty from the years of famine. When you experience plenty, do not let it blind your vision and desensitize you from what is truly important in life.

The priorities you cultivate during your “good times” should be of the kind that will sustain you during your challenging times as well. If you are investing your time and energy in things that will prove futile when the climate of your life changes and will not hold you up when challenges come, you might want to re-examine your present choices. Why wait for the day you will have to say, “If I would have only realized…”

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

This story takes us back 2,100 years ago, to the year 164 BCE, some 150 years before the birth of Christianity and two centuries before the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. Israel was then under the rule of the empire of Alexander the Great. A Syrian ruler, Antiochus the 5th, ascended the throne and he was determined to impose his values on the Jewish people. He forbade the practice of Judaism, set up a statue of Zeus in the Temple and systematically desecrated Jerusalem’s holy sites. Jews who were caught practicing Judaism were tortured to death.

To put it into historical perspective, had Antiochus succeeded, Judaism would have died. Its daughter religions – Christianity and Islam – would never, of course, have come to be.

A small group of Jews, led by the elderly priest Matityahu and his sons, rose in revolt. They fought a brilliant campaign and, within three years, they had recaptured Jerusalem, removed sacrilegious objects from the Temple, and restored Jewish autonomy. It was, as we say in the Hanukah prayers, a victory for “the weak against the strong, and the few against the many.” Religious liberty was established and the Temple was rededicated. Hanukah means “rededication.”

This was a remarkable event and an extraordinary triumph. We, the Jewish people, are here today only because of the courage and vision of this small group of determined Jews who would not allow their G-d and their Torah to be reduced to the dustbins of history by the Syrian-Greek tyrant.

Yet astonishingly, the Talmud, the classical text of Jewish law and literature, gives us a very different perspective on the Hanukah festival.

“What is Hanukah?” asks the Talmud (Talmud, Shabbat 21b.) The answer given is this:

“When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they contaminated all its oil. Then, when the royal Hasmonean family overpowered and was victorious over them, they searched and found only a single cruse of pure oil that was sealed with the seal of the High Priest — enough to light the menorah (candelabra) for a single day. A miracle occurred, and they lit the menorah with this oil for eight days. The following year, they established these [eight days] as days of festivity and praise and thanksgiving for G-d.”

So, according to the Talmud, the festival of Hanukah is less about the military victory of a small band of Jews against one of the mightiest armies on earth, and more about the miracle of the oil. The Talmud makes only a passing reference to the military victory (“when the royal Hasmonean family overpowered and was victorious”) and focuses exclusively on the story with the oil, as if this were the only significant event commemorated by the festival of Hanukah.

This is strange. The miracle of the oil, it would seem, was of minor significance relative to the military victory. Besides the fact that this was a miracle that occurred behind the closed doors of the Temple with only a few priests to behold, it was an event concerning a religious symbol without any consequences for life, death and liberty. If the Jews had been defeated by the Greeks, there would be no Jews today; if the oil would have not burnt for eight days, so what? The menorah would have not been kindled. Would the latkes taste any worse?

Unfortunately, the political and military victory of Hanukah did not last. What lasted was the spiritual miracle – the faith which, like the oil, was inextinguishable.

Strength founded on military power alone is temporary. It may endure for long periods of time, but ultimately, its might will wane and it will be defeated by another power. Strength that is founded on moral and spiritual light can never be destroyed.

Imperial Greece and Rome have long since disappeared. Civilizations built on power never last. Those built on care for the powerless never die. What matters in the long run is not simply political, military or economic strength, but how we light the flame of the human spirit.

So please, this holiday season, listen to the message of the candles – strengthen your faith and ignite the world with acts of goodness and kindness.

Join us at our Menorah Lighting ceremonies this Hanukah:

• Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. at Pompano Citi Centre in the courtyard near the carousel. Lighting with Mayor Lamar Fisher, music, latkes, doughnuts and crafts for kids. Free.

• Sunday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. at Deerfield Beach, across from the main lot and Fire Station. Grand Menorah lighting, Chanukah refreshments, music, crafts and entertainment. Free. Everyone welcome!

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

What can we do while the world is being terrorized?

The terror is intended to destroy and divide. The terrorist are looking for free nations that are united and looking to take away all that we believe in. How do we survive? How do we win? Can we win? Can we succeed in being a free people with good values who love and care for the world around us?

As a Jew, I can tell you yes – yes, we have survived until now and we will continue to not only survive, but thrive!

How?

Let me answer with a story:

Some time ago, Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, the Rabbi of the city of Migdal Haemek in Israel was visited by Mutty Dotan, head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council. Dotan told him that he had just returned from Germany where he attended a ceremony in honor of the 25th anniversary of the twin cities pact between the regional council and the Hanover district in Germany. After the ceremony, German Bundestag (Parliament) member, Detlev Herzig, of the SPD party, approached him and related this story.

His father had died a few weeks before and, before his demise, he confessed to his son his part in the Holocaust. He explained that since there are many Holocaust deniers today, he wanted to share the truth with his son.

He told his son that he had been an officer in the German air force, the Luftwaffe, during World War II and handed him an envelope. Upon opening the envelope the astonished son found a Wehrmacht army officer’s certificate, wrapped in a strange wallet made of parchment.

His father explained that while destroying a synagogue with his Nazi comrades during the war, he encountered on the floor a scroll made of high quality parchment. The Nazi officer cut out a piece of the scroll to use as a wallet, in which he placed his celebrated officer’s certificate.

Later he discovered that the scroll of parchment was something very sacred to the Jews, it was their Torah scroll. He told his son to give over the evidence to the first Jew he would meet and ask him to deliver it to a holy Jew in Israel who would know how to use it properly.

Upon returning to Israel, Dotan decided that the one who fit the description best was Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, founder and Dean of the school network Migdal Ohr, Chief Rabbi of Migdal Haemek, and recipient of the 2004 Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

Rabbi Grossman took the wallet in his hand. There it was: Made of the parchment of a Sefer Torah, a Torah scroll, this Nazi officer fashioned a nice wallet for himself. Trembling and gripped with emotion, Rabbi Grossman observed that the Nazi had cut out a piece of the Torah from the book of Deuteronomy.

The Rabbi began to read the words inscribed in ink on the parchment of the Torah scroll. They were the terrifying words of the chapter of rebuke in Deuteronomy 28, in which the Torah warns of the terrible consequences if the Jews would abandon their covenant with G-d, if they would reject their Torah.

Then the Torah continues to say in Deuteronomy 29:9 and right there on that wallet: “You are all standing today before G-d.”

Rabbi Grossman remembered what the great Biblical commentator Rashi explains, that after hearing the horrifying words of rebuke, the Jews were terrified they would not survive. So Moses comforted them and said: “You are all standing today before G-d. Just as G-d cannot die, you too will never die.” These were the words inscribed on the wallet.

Imagine: Nazis come in to a synagogue, murder the Jews and desecrate the Torah scrolls — as was their routine. One of them has the chutzpah [audacity] to cut off a piece and use it for his personal wallet. At last, Hitler triumphed over the Jews and their G-d.

Six decades later that very wallet ends up in the hands of a Rabbi in Israel who has thousands of Jewish children studying from the very Torah they desecrated in his schools. This Rabbi now kisses the holy parchment, quotes the divine promise that we will never perish.

Through all the destruction in every generation G-d says clearly (Deuteronomy 29:9) “You are all standing today before G-d,” stand together and nothing can happen to you!

So I turn to each and every one of you and I am telling you: “Stand united, that’s how we will win this war!”

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

When we are born from a male and female union we are given life. Life includes things such as health and intelligence (physicality), which is part of our ‘nature’ – things beyond our control. As we grow up, the world around us nurtures us (spiritually); many things are directly affected by this including our knowledge and our emotions. Nature and nurture can affect our future. We will be given choices in everything we do, and the choices we make will or will not be inspired by our nurture or our nature. The outcome can be positive or negative, but, one thing all our choices will have in common is, no matter the person, their parents or their upbringing, we make the final choice. We didn’t choose our nature or nurture, but we do chose to use the nature and nurture either as an excuse or as a reason for the choices we make. We can choose to do the opposite of what our nature and nurture dealt us.

If you had every excuse in the world to be the worst type of person in the world because of your nature and nurture, what would you choose?

Here is what one person did.

Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger has the ultimate skeleton-in-the-closet, and he’s not shy about sharing it.

He was born in 1958 and was raised Catholic in Germany. As a young boy, he admired his father, Major Arthur Wollschlaeger, who was a tank commander in World War II and awarded the Iron Cross by Adolf Hitler.

Dr. Wollschlaeger said, “My father was a hero, I had no doubt. The fact that he was a Nazi didn’t mean anything to me because I was a child.”

But as he got older, he had questions that his dad didn’t answer. He was determined to know the truth. So, as a teen, he took a trip to Israel.

“What I learned about the Holocaust shocked me, not only from the fact of history I didn’t know, but also the contrast to my father’s stories of heroism. That was not a hero,” he said.

About his father, he said, “He admired Hitler during the war. The treatment of the Jews … he never used the term ‘murder,’ never used the term ‘extermination.’”

Dr. Wollschlaeger admits his attraction to the Jewish faith was driven by his discovery of the truth.

“There’s no question that my initial step towards Judaism was motivated by guilt and shame as a young German. How could that happen? How could my people do that?” he said.

He turned his guilt into conviction, and, ultimately, action. Seven years after starting his spiritual search, he converted, became an Israeli citizen and joined the Israeli army.

“I felt comfortable in a family of choice, the Jewish community, versus a family of origin, which rejected me,” he explained.

Over the years, his relationship with his father deteriorated.

“He was bitterly disappointed that his son betrayed him, the son whom he wanted to raise to be a good German,” said Dr. Wollschlaeger.

He moved from Israel to South Florida more than 20 years ago, where he now practices medicine. He hopes the next generation never forgets. He has taken his daughter to the concentration camps, which he calls “the entrance to a man-made hell.”

Dr. Wollschlaeger said, “We, as human beings, have the capacity to do tremendous good and do horrific and horrible things.”

But, it is rare to have both so uniquely intertwined in one family’s history.

Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger will be speaking Tuesday, Nov.10 at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort. R.S.V.P. at Chabadoflighthousepoint@gmail.com or www.JewishLHP.com.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

We have different names, different colors, different shapes and different sizes. We eat different foods and enjoy different sports. We have different houses of prayer and we have different books of prayers.

Are we really that different? There seems to be a never-ending cycle of hate and war throughout the world based on these differences. There also seems to be an ever-growing divisiveness within our own communities. How do we change that? Are humans really just different, separate beings that will always clash? Does being human mean being different? What is it that divides us and what is it that can unite us?

I propose we go back to the beginning …

When G-D created the first human being, the Bible describes it like this: “And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life’, and man became a living soul.” [Genesis 2:7]

So what divides us is the physical body. We are different people with different histories. Let me explain what unites us with a story: The story is told of an opera singer who was known for his readings and recitations from the Classics. He always ended his performance with a dramatic recital of Psalm 23. Each night, without exception, as the actor began his recitation, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” The crowd would listen attentively and then rise with thunderous applause, in appreciation of the actor’s ability to bring the psalm to life.

One night, just before the singer was to offer his customary recital of Psalm 23, an old man from the audience spoke up. “Sir, would you mind, if tonight, I recite Psalm 23?” he asked.

The actor was surprised by this unusual request. However, he invited the old man to come onto the stage to recite the psalm, curious to see how the ability of this man weighed against his own talent.

Softly, the old man began to recite the words of the psalm. His voice was parched and weak, and his tune pretty lousy.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want … Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff-they will comfort me. Only goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord for many long years.”

When he was finished, there was no applause. There was no standing ovation as on other nights. All that could be heard was the sound of weeping. The audience had been so moved by the man’s recitation that every eye was tearful.

Amazed by what he had experienced, the opera star queried, “I don’t understand. I have been performing Psalm 23 for years. I have a lifetime of experience and training — but I have never been able to move an audience as you have tonight. And frankly, you have a horrible voice and can barely carry a tune. Tell me, what is your secret?”

The old man humbly replied, “Well, sir, you know the psalm … but I know the Shepherd.”

My dear friends, get to know the Shepherd within each and every one of us!

What unites us is our Creator, our Shepherd, our G-d. Get to know the shepherd and you will get to know the song of life. When we sing the Psalm, it will bring unity — peace, love and tolerance!

We humans were created with a body and a soul. The soul was given in order to bring unity, not to divide us! So, if we see another human, we must realize his uniqueness, which is his soul, is a part of G-d, our G-d, and that’s exactly what unites us!

So, next time you want to hate or divide, just stop and think that what makes us human is not the body, but the soul!

[Malachi 2:10] – Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why should we betray, each one his brother, to profane the covenant of our forefathers?

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

To be productive today, you must have learned to use computers and phones. You must be so fluent in using them that you can do anything while still using it. I just read in a recent study that most moments are captured by a person through a phone camera. For example, if you were to go to a sports game and there is a high fly ball to center field – snap, snap, snap – or if you go to a park and there is baby taking her first steps – snap, snap, snap. Those moments are seen and captured forever.

The good thing about being so tech savvy is that we accomplish a lot more in less time. We can send things across the globe in a flash. We can do amazing research on anything and have instant answers to any question we have on any subject. All this has made us much more productive than we ever were. It has made anything possible. So many wonderful things have started because of technology. Relationships, friendships, partnerships, cures are just a few examples of some of the great things the modern world has brought us.

With all that said, there are some negative things as well. I won’t go through the list, but I will point out one which I think we can work on. And that is the lack of personal attention and focus which, before technology, we were forced to have. Say you wanted to tell something to your mom, you would go down the block to your mom’s house and tell her in person. Today, you would text five words. Say you wanted to tell your child “I love you.” In the past, you would have had to tell them in person while looking in their eyes. Today, you text them while you are at work ‘Iluvu.’

We have lost all personal communication and have forgotten how to enjoy each other. We have forgotten how to sit across from each other and be the social, loving and caring creatures that we are!

We need to fix this, but the question is how?

Sunday, Sept. 27, Jews across the world began the seven day Holiday of Sukkos [or Sukkot]. After Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Torah says we must dwell in a Sukkah. (A Sukkah is a hut. It has four walls and a roof made from tree branches). How does one fulfill the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah? One should eat, drink and live in the sukkah, both day and night, as one lives in one’s house on the other days of the year: for seven days, a person should make his home his temporary dwelling, and his sukkah his permanent dwelling.

“In Sukkot, you shall dwell for seven days,” instructs the Torah, “…in order that your generations shall know that I made the children of Israel dwell in a sukkah when I took them out of the land of Egypt.” (Lev. 23:42-43).

According to Chabad.org, our sages, noting the Torah’s use of the verb “to dwell” in the above verses, define the mitzvah of sukkah as a commandment that, for the duration of the festival of Sukkot, the sukkah is to become our primary dwelling place. Everything ordinarily done in the home should be done in the sukkah.

So every autumn, just as the weather is turning inhospitable, we move outdoors. For a full week, we exchange our regular home for a home which leaves us at the mercy of the elements, demonstrating our trust in G-d’s providence and protection, as our ancestors did when “following Me in the wilderness, in an uncultivated land.” (Jeremiah 2:2).

Dwelling in the sukkah for seven days is a beautiful and inspiring experience. Perhaps this is the solution to our problem. Leave the modern world and enter into the ancient world. Surround yourself with family and friends … talk to them, spend time with them, learn with them, sing with them, eat with them, play with them, read with them. Experience G-d’s timeless solution to a modern problem. Happy Sukkos.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.