WELCOME TO THE CHABAD LUBAVITCH EPPING
During the last year we have established connections with many families in the wider Epping area, many of whom have been known to us at Chabad for years, as well as meeting new families and faces.
During this time, we have met and discussed the future role of Chabad Lubavitch within the Epping areas. In due course we would like to open a new Chabad Centre, building on the success story of Chabad Gants Hill servicing the community for over thirty years and Chabad Buckhurst Hill over the past ten years.
Activities have included periodic Shabbat services, Shabbat meals, a Yom Kippur service with a “break-fast”, monthly discussion groups.
Chabad has the ability through its dedicated teams of Shluchim (Chabad emissaries) Rabbis & staff, to provide exciting, lively and relevant services within a Family Synagogue setting, coupled with a broad range of social and fundraising events.
We are continuing to build up our database of Jewish families living in the area and interested in getting involved. Please feel free to participate in what’s currently available and becoming part of the team that will build Chabad Epping into the future.
We look forward with great excitement of sharing more with you very soon.
In the meantime please feel free to contact us for more information any queries or just a chat.
Rabbi Aryeh MBE & Devorah Sufrin
Thought for the week from Rabbi A. M. Sufrin MBE
SHOFTIM – JUDGES
SHOFTIM
The fifth section of the Book of Deuteronomy continues Moses’ second farewell address to the Jewish People.
Moses instructed the Jewish people to appoint judges and sheriffs throughout the Land of Israel to try cases and uphold the law. (16:18)
The Hebrew word for “cities” used here (she’arecha) literally means “gates”. The “gates” of our bodies are our ears, eyes, nose and mouth, through which stimuli from the external world enter our bodies and personal world. This verse therefore, requires us to station “judges & sheriffs” to guard these “gates” against the intrusion of anything that could be harmful to our spiritual health.
Through studying the Torah, we learn which influences are beneficial (and therefore permitted) and which are harmful (and therefore forbidden). The job of the “sheriff” is to enforce the decisions rendered by the judge. Our inner “sheriffs” are the techniques that each of us needs to cultivate, in order to combat the voices within us that oppose the decisions of our inner “judges”
Have a wonderful Shabbat and successful week to follow. Safe travels to and from your summer holidays.
