| Chabad Lubavitch of Northern Virginia• Email: [email protected]• Phone: 703-426-1980 • www.ChabadNoVa.org |
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| Farbrangen — this Tuesday evening...!
Determination, Defiance, and Transformation
How the Lubavitcher Rebbes faced down challenges and persecution to transform Judaism
Join us on Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:00 pm for a Yud-Shevat Farbrangen. Refreshments, shmoozing, l'chaims,inspiring words, and more . . . !
Marking the 72nd yahrtzeit of the Previous Rebbe and the beginning of the leadership of the Seventh Rebbe
Special guest speaker (via hookup): Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie, Orange County, CA — shaliach, historian, and author of two books, "The Secret of Chabad' and the forthcoming "Undaunted, the life and times of Rabbi Yosef Yitchok Schneerson"
If you cannot attend in-person, join us via Zoom!
RSVP to OurShul.org/rebbes for in-person or Zoom/p>
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The Exodus from Egypt, which we read about in this week's Torah portion, is commemorated every year with the holiday of Passover. We have a seder, eat matzah and bitter herbs, drink four cups of wine, and celebrate our freedom.
But more than just recounting events of the past, we are meant to relive the Exodus in our own lives. And not only during Passover, but every day of the year.
The Hebrew word for Egypt is "Mitzrayim," and the letters that compose that word can also spell the word "meitzarim," which means "boundaries" or "limitations."
Whenever we recall the exodus, we must also be prepared to leave our own Egypt, our own limitations. These limitations can sometimes be self-imposed, where we convince ourselves that we are unable to perform as Jews are expected to.
But like our ancestors in Egypt, the Exodus is possible and we must do all we can to break free.
And like our ancestors, we hope and pray every day for the final redemption from the current exile, with the coming of Moshiach!
Shabbat shalom,
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The Return of Wednesday Night Chavrusa Learning! |
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Join one of our personalized study groups and maximize your learning potential. Groups focused on Jewish Mysticism, the weekly Torah portion, Intro Talmud, Advanced Talmud, and more...
Wednesday evenings 7:30 pm
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Services at Chabad of NoVa |
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Morning Services: Shabbat, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday.
Generally speaking, we have morning services on weekends, Mondays and Thursdays, and other specials days such as fasts, Rosh Chodesh, and holidays.
- Friday evenings, 10 minutes after candle lighting
- Shabbat 9:30 am
- Sunday 8:30 am
- Monday and Thursday, 7:00 am
If you need a minyan, for example because of a yahrtzeit, please contact Rabbi Deitsch, and we'll try to arrange one.
On special days, and on federal holidays, our schedule might be different. Check with the shul.
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Shabbat Times
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Shabbat Candle Lighting: |
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Friday, Jan. 7
4:45 pm
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Shabbat Ends: |
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Shabbat, Jan. 8
5:48 pm
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Kiddush |
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This week's kiddush is sponsored by
Roman and Olga Povcher
In gratitude to HaShem for all his kindnesses
Contact the shul to mark your special occasion
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Escaping the Bondage of I
“I am going to deal with you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the big crocodile who sprawls in his channels, who says, ‘My Nile is my own and I have made myself.” (Ezekiel 29:3)
We all have a little pharaoh inside. Sprawling through the veins of every human animal is a voice that says, “This world belongs to me and I have created myself.”
Resistance is futile. To imagine that you could confront and defeat your own ego is absurd.
Domesticate it, yes. It’s inconvenient when your little pharaoh bites people. But a tame crocodile remains a crocodile.
Rather, the only strategy is to reframe this little pharaoh.
What is this voice inside that says “I,” after all?
It is really nothing less than G‑d Himself, the only true “I,” breathing inside you. Only that it has lost its frame, its greater context. And now, it feels as an “I” all its own.
Your job then is to reconnect this ego of yours to its higher purpose and meaning.
Why does G‑d wish to breathe within you?
Because He wants you to complete His world from within.
And such a job requires a mighty ego.
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Donate to Chabad at No Cost to You |
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When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Chabad Lubavitch of Northern Virginia. Simply click on the image above, or here, and support us every time you shop. Once you set Chabad as your recipient, then every time you go to smile.amazon.com, you'll be supporting us.
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Parshat Bo
The last three of the Ten Plagues are visited on Egypt: a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick, palpable darkness envelops the land; and all the firstborn of Egypt are killed at the stroke of midnight of the 15th of the month of Nissan.
G‑d commands the first mitzvah to be given to the people of Israel: to establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. The Israelites are also instructed to bring a “Passover offering” to G‑d: a lamb or kid goat is to be slaughtered, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that G‑d should pass over these homes when He comes to kill the Egyptian firstborn. The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night together with matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs.
The death of the firstborn finally breaks Pharaoh’s resistance, and he literally drives the children of Israel from his land. So hastily do they depart that there is no time for their dough to rise, and the only provisions they take along are unleavened. Before they go, they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver and garments—fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth.
The children of Israel are commanded to consecrate all firstborn, and to observe the anniversary of the Exodus each year by removing all leaven from their possession for seven days, eating matzah, and telling the story of their redemption to their children. They are also commanded to wear tefillin on the arm and head as a reminder of the Exodus and their resultant commitment to G‑d.
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