By Register Citizen
LITCHFIELD — Just about everyone has dreamed about world peace. Everyone has an idea on how to achieve it. Now, Chabad Lubavitch of Northwest CT is doing something about it.
For an attempt at world peace, it’s not what you might expect. But it works.
“Every human being has his or her vision of Utopia,” Rabbi Joseph I. Eisenbach, Chabad’s director, said in a statement. “In Judaism, the Sabbath day of rest on Saturday is more than just a religious holy day on which we don’t work – it’s a practice run for living the spiritual life right here in this material world. And that’s a huge part of what Utopian world peace is all about.”
Men, women and children alike are invited to join the local celebration Friday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m., at the Chabad Community Center, 7 Village Green Drive, Litchfield, attending Chabad service and enjoying the time-honored Friday night dinner, complete with classic Jewish cuisine like challah and chicken soup, matzah balls and kugel. Admission is $20 for adults, $12 for children younger than 10). Family maximum is $50. Become a sponsor for $300. Please RSVP online at www.chabadNW.org/RSVP or by calling 1-800-297-6864.
The One Shabbat, One World international initiative www.chabadNW.org/ONESHABBAT will ask worldwide Jewish communities and individuals to mark the 25-hour Shabbat beginning Friday, Feb. 6. Participants will light the traditional Shabbat candles on Friday eve and/or attend prayer services. They will also be invited to “test-drive” the time-honored Shabbat meals, complete with the customary chicken soup, kugel and other Jewish delights.
Shabbat, the Biblically-mandated Saturday Sabbath and one of the “Ten Commandments”, or essentials of Judaism, consists of not working from sunset Friday afternoon to nightfall Saturday night.
“We believe strongly in the ripple effect, a sort of spiritual chaos theory, when it comes to changing the world into the better place it can and should be,” Eisenbach said. “When the Jewish person observes the Shabbat, he or she creates a stable home — an anchor of absolute values in today’s chaotic world.
A stable home creates stable neighbors, then a stable neighborhood, then a stable city, and ultimately, a stable universe. Besides being an island in time, a retreat from the hubbub of society, Shabbat is an absolute in a world filled with uncertainty, change and confusion — a world that so desperately needs absolutes. What’s a better way to ignite world peace then to clear a peaceful time in your life once a week?”
wonderful yet wouldnt that go under mitvtzah shabbos
how colorless and shameful!
when u think of moshiach this is the last thing in mind it would seem this department is really in name only and really defunct