1. Home
  2. /
  3. Mendel's Messages
no comments

Life Lessons from Unexpected Delivery of 1500 of Same Book!

As many @chabadoncampus centers, we were delivered 21 cases of the same thin book by attorney & Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, refuting common arguments against Israel (in his style & perspective). Goal of sender is to share with students,… Read the rest

...
no comments

Matisyahu in Albany…. 20 Years Later!

Back in 2004, Matisyahu was just starting to tour, he hadn’t signed yet with the big labels. He was scheduled to play a small bar downtown called Savannah’s one night of Chanukah 2004. His tour manager at the time was … Read the rest

...
no comments

Rabbi Zvi Kogan HYD of Chabad in Abu Dhabi UAE

Surely many of you have seen the terrible news of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the missing 28-year-old Chabad Rabbi in Abu Dhabi UAE found murdered by terrorists.
This coming week is the annual Kinus HaShluchim, the international conference of Chabad Lubavitch
Read the rest ...
no comments

Children’s Rain Songs

There are a few rain songs / Nursery Rhymes that almost all American children know. It’s a classic part of an American education. We chose three of them to take a closer look. Singing them as adults one begins to … Read the rest

...
no comments

Elliott’s Tefillin at the South Pole

I checked my phone one morning to get this picture from Elliott W, a UAlbany and Shabbos House alumnus, wearing Tefillin at the South Pole – THE SOUTH POLE!

He later told me that it was 36 degrees below Zero … Read the rest

...
no comments

Schach Mulching on the 7th of Cheshvan

Nothing is by coincidence, the Baal Shem Tov insisted and celebrated Divine Providence and that there’s a lesson in everything!

As those who have experienced the Shabbos House Sukkah know, we cover the top with bamboo mats (which are Kosher … Read the rest

...
no comments

Election 2024 – Apolitical Life Takeaways

A thread of some apolitical (meaning non-political, just to be clear!) life-lessons & takeaways from #Election2024, a thread (originally on Twitter):

> Don’t feel stymied, limited, inhibited even by expert predictions. Polling, stats and future forecasting are all valuable & … Read the rest

...
no comments

Chapter 15 in Island of the Blue Dolphins

This week my daughter (5th grade at Maimonides Albany) was working on a homework project for school on “Island of the Blue Dolphins” by Scott O’Dell. We had to read one chapter at a time together, and fill out a … Read the rest

...
no comments

Noah’s Sons in 2024

We were sitting around at Kosher on Fuller on Thursday night, October 31st, and I asked Yoni S. what he thought I should speak about on Friday Night at the Hillel Shabbat dinner? Yoni said, if the Torah portion is … Read the rest

...
no comments

Focus on the Chai

Not the tea (though I like Chai-Spice). The Hebrew word Chai which means life, live, alive.

This Simchat Torah two of the songs we sang repeatedly, maybe every Hakafah circuit were “Am Yisrael Chai” and “David Melech Yisrael Chai vKayam” … Read the rest

...