Addressing the Personal and Emotional Needs of Our Community and Answering the Most Pressing Questions of Our Lives -- from the Perspective of Chassidic Thought.

THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:

• Chassidus applied to Ki Tissa and Parah 

       o How do I deal with a serious setback? With loss, trauma, death and other hardships? 

       o What fundamentals can we learn from this week’s Parsha based on the sicha of Ki Tissa 5752? 

       o What relevant lessons does the red heifer have for us today? 

       o If the people who saw the miracles of the exodus and the revelations at Sinai could still sin and make a golden calf, what chance do we have to not steer away from sin? 

       o What are the 13 attributes of mercy, and how can we use them in our daily lives? 

       o Why did Moshe break the tablets? 

       o Why was it necessary to create a second set of tablets? 

       o What exactly was the sin of the golden calf, why is idolatry such a severe sin and why would G-d be “jealous” of false gods? 

       o Can we correlate Moses’ mask and the Covid masks we are wearing today? 

• Lessons from Purim 

       o What happened after the Purim story in the Megillah?  

       o Why is the entire Megillah written in Hebrew and not in Persian? 

       o Are kohanim allowed to drink excessively on Purim?   

       o What is the importance of giving the half shekel? 

       o Did the Rebbe ever publicly say a “Purim Torah”? 

       o Why could Esther commit adultery in order to save the Jews, but Mordechai was not allowed to bow to Haman? 

• Follow-up: 

       o Mars landing 

       o Bitachon 

• Chassidus question: How do you explain the Hayom Yom of Shushan Purim Katan that the stones benefit from the words of Torah we speak while we tread on them? 

• MyLife 2020 Chassidus Applied Essay and Creative Contest: 16th Place winners: 

       o Essay English: First, Love Yourself, Sara Friedman, 18, Student, Yeshiva Schools Pittsburgh, PA

       o Essay Hebrew (men): שמחה - אתגר החיים, Simcha Bunem Feldman, Educator, Beis Shemesh, Israel 

       o Essay Hebrew (women): מצבי רוח במשנת הרבי, Esther Meizlish, Educator, Kfar Chabad, Israel 

       o Creative: What is Within (3D model), Naomi Deitsch, 17, Student, Beis Chana, Orange, CT, New Haven, CT