Chabad Tokyo Japan

Happy new month 🍷

Last Friday, we started the month of Elul – the month of mercy and forgiveness.

It is customary to hear the blowing of a shofar every day, which awakens the heart to return to G-d and to repent the negative actions of the past year.

This Shabbat Ekev we celebrate the 7th anniversary of Chabad Kyoto.
It is the first and only Jewish synagogue in Kyoto.

Chabad Kyoto has been super active providing many services to local Jews and Japanese people, and for the many tourists that come throughout the year.

Thousands of guests have participated in Shabbat prayers and meals, joyous festivals and events, Bar Mitzvahs, Weddings, Chanuka and Purim parties, and many community celebrations.

Chabad Kyoto organize fun and educational activities for kids and Torah classes for adults and classes for Japanese on the Seven Noahide laws.

Chabad Kyoto is a home for students from overseas, for families working in Kyoto, and any person looking for community and connection. Weekly house visits and care packages are distributed on a constant basics.

We need your help, especially now with the great influx of tourists, to be able to provide our services and assistance to everyone and to further establish our community.

We have many good news that we would like to share with you, coming up on the next few weeks.
Please keep your eyes on the upcoming posts of Chabad Kyoto.

Donation to Chabad Kyoto: https://www.chabadkyoto.com/donate

About today, the 15th of Av:

Today is the 15th of Menachem Av. It is a very joyous and auspicious day. Several great events happened on this day.
1- People who sinned in the sin of the spies in the desert, were destined to die and not enter the Holy land. On this day, the people stopped dying. This was a great joy to all.

2- On this day young Jewish men would go out and choose a righteous woman to marry. The women would purposely all wear similar clothing to emphasize that what is important is the good character of the person and not the outside. The marriages were a great joy to all.

3- Around the time of the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, the Roman emperor, cruelly killed out all the Jewish people in the city of Beitar, which was a stronghold of Jewish fighters. Not only did he mercilessly kill them, he did not allow them to be buried, the men, women and children. Fourteen years later, on this day, the Jews were allowed to bury them which was a great comfort. A blessing was added in the Grace after meal, which we say to this day.

The opening of Chabad Kyoto 7 years ago. Installation of Mezuzah.

Rabbi Moti & Rabbanit Libi Grumach of Chabad Kyoto and their children, currently in their 5th year of the administration, in front of full of Sakura blossoms near Chabad Kyoto.

Reprinted with permission from an article written by Rabbi Bernstein Moshe for all, including non-Jews. This issue is about this week’s Parashah, Yitro.

In this Torah portion, Yitro, we read about the revelation on Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai is situated in a desert. The desert has no owner. By giving the Torah in the desert, G‑d showed that everyone regardless of what he has can accept the Torah. The Jewish people accepted the 613 commandments while the 7 Noahide commandments were given to all the nations with no exception. Torah was given with the 7 laws on mount Sinai in order to enable man below to build G‑d a dwelling place in the lowest levels of creation. G‑d gave us the task of revealing the true essence of the world, and transforming its darkness into light, into an environment in which G‑d’s Presence is felt.
The first Noahide commandment, The Prohibition of Idolatry also includes the belief that there is no supreme entity except the creator. The Essence of G‑d is totally independent of any other existence. All other existence depends on G‑d, but He does not need or depend on any other existence. He may therefore be defined as the true existence. It is a principle of our faith that G‑d is One, a belief that not only means a singular being but also that G‑d is everything and everywhere. He was, is, and will always be. He has no beginning and no end. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles Him. It is a principle of our faith that G‑d is One, a belief that G‑d is everything and everywhere. The Divine light undergoes stages of constriction, in order for Him to create the finite world. There is a concealment of His infinite light, however, there is no concealment of His true essence.
“The purpose for which this world was created is that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have a dwelling place in the lower worlds,” says the Chassidic master Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.
This revelation on Mt. Sinai was an introduction to the Era of Redemption where all of mankind will be able to comprehend that the world is G‑d’s dwelling place. May this happen in the immediate future.

BH

I am very shocked to hear the news of the attack on former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and I am very concerned that such an evil event should take place.

The Chief Rabbi of Japan, Rabbi Binyomin Y. Edery, calls on all.
Let us all pray for the safety and recovery of the life of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Creator commands mankind as the Law of Noah.
Do not commit murder.
Not only physical murder or injury.
Mental harm, insults, etc. are also among murder.
We must willfully turn away from such evil.
Man was made in the image of his Creator. We need to treat everyone with respect, including ourselves.
This must be observed regardless of political beliefs.

Let us focus on educating our children so that all people can respect all people, and so that we can achieve a peaceful society. Without these basics, society cannot exist.

Our hearts are with the family of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japan.

Rabbi Binyomin Y. Edery
Chief Rabbi of Japan
Chabad House of Japan

Added at July 8th 17:58

I’ve heard just now the very sad news of passing away of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. May he rest in peace.

My sincere condolences to his family.

We need to work hard to repel such darkness and to bring light to the world.

What is the secret to success of the Jewish education?

This is one of the top five questions we get asked. There are several reasons.System of learning from young age is with a lot of review, repetition and study by heart. Students are taught from a young age the different parts of Torah according to their level.

As they get older they learn on a deeper level and the classical ”pair learning” system is practiced.In junior high school, they learn more and more hours in pairs- ”Chevruta” and just several hours a week, they have a formal lesson/lecture. A lot of revision time is given. The idea is to give the student the skills to be able to study independently and in depth. The teacher is in the room and always available to answer any question or issue that needs clarification. This system of learning instills self discipline and responsibility in the young students.

Tzedaka and kindness is emphasized as an integral part of learning. Students are encouraged to bring a coin every morning to put in the charity box at school emphasizing the importance of helping people in need as the basis of our day. Each school has volunteer hours every week and encourages the students to use their free time to help people in the community. The idea behind this is to show our gratitude for the gifts that we were given on a daily basis and not to take for granted the good opportunities that we have.

Prayer, time for connection and thankfulness is set aside each day to instill awareness of the Creator and develop a relationship with G-d Almighty on a daily basis. The students sing many parts of the prayer aloud and together, especially when they are young. 

The beginning is important. There is a beautiful tradition from the time of the Talmud, for the first day of school –”cheder”. When the father brings his child, the teacher puts him on his knees and asks him to read the ”Aleph” and then lick the honey that’s put on the letter for that purpose. The young child feels the love and sweetness of the study of Holy Torah.