Living Light

Dear Friends,

This week’s parsha, Vayechi, offers a quiet but profound truth. Though it begins with Yaakov Avinu’s passing, its name means “and he lived.” The Torah is teaching us that true life is not confined to a moment in time. A life lives on when its values are transmitted, when its light is carried forward, when what was kindled continues to burn.

Before Yaakov leaves this world, he gathers his children and blesses them. He does not withdraw from life; he plants himself within it - embedding faith, purpose, and destiny into the next generation. Vayechi teaches that the Jewish mission is not escape from the world, but infusion - ensuring that spiritual light becomes part of lived reality.

This is the deeper meaning of Chanukah as well. Though the candles were put away two weeks ago, their work is not done. Chanukah is not about light that flares and fades, but light that endures. The word Torah - whose very root is or, light - is the vessel that carries Chanukah’s flame forward, illuminating not only holy moments, but ordinary days as well.

That is why the welcoming of a new Torah this Sunday - the Lance and Ilana Kaplan Torah - is such a powerful continuation of Chanukah’s message. A Torah is not simply written; it is escorted, embraced, and danced into the heart of a community. Like the two bris milahs our community celebrated this week, it proclaims that holiness is not meant to hover above the world, but to be engraved within it - into parchment, into flesh, into life itself.

And this idea takes on even deeper resonance as we look ahead to January 25th, when we will gather for a community concert that will also mark the shloshim of the Sydney massacre. Tragedy seeks to extinguish light. Torah and mitzvot answer by increasing it. When Jews come together in faith, in song, and in unity, we affirm that the Jewish spirit cannot be silenced.

Vayechi reminds us that even after loss, life continues - vayechi. Light continues. Meaning continues.

We invite you to be part of that living chain: to dance with the Torah this Sunday as we welcome a new source of light into our community, and to stand together on January 25th as we honor memory with music, faith, and resolve. When we carry Torah forward - together - its light does not fade. It lives.

Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ruvi New

PS - I want to share something that changed how I think about Israel’s security. 

Like you, I've followed the debates—what Israel should give up, what it should hold, who to trust, when to act. Smart people disagree. The arguments go in circles.

A newly published film presents a Jewish values-based framework that brings life-saving clarity to the complex dilemmas Israel faces. Drawing on a principle from Laws of Shabbat, the Lubavitcher Rebbe articulated a doctrine for Israel's security decisions—one he spoke about hundreds of times over decades, to Israel’s prime ministers, generals, and journalists.

The film unpacks this teaching using satellite imagery of Israel’s geography, archival footage, and in-depth analysis. It shows how the framework applies to the dilemmas Israel faces right now: Which threats are existential? When does compromise make sense? What’s negotiable and what isn't?

It doesn't tell you what to think—it shows you how to think through these impossible choices, and how to make the path to peace and security very attainable.

52 minutes. I think you'll find it valuable.

Watch here at https://youtu.be/Z6wtKoUcioY?si=-S_csT3SV04OYcow