I was recently contacted by someone named Daniel Steinberg, a Rabbi, marketer, and stand-up comedian who had previously written for Howard Stern and interned at Saturday Night Live. Rabbi Steinberg recently began a service called “The Maggid Method,” helping speakers, especially Rabbis, craft their sermons and presentations and hone their speaking techniques. Each week, he interviews one or two Rabbis and asks them about their methodology in preparing sermons, their style of delivery and what they feel their areas of strength and weakness are. I was quite flattered that Rabbi Steinberg reached out to me to interview me. The result can be viewed here or listened to here. While I wish I used fewer filler words and phrases and that my voice was less nasal and whiny, I was, overall, reasonably pleased with the result. The other rabbis he has featured are also well worth listening to.
Hakarat HaTov and Mazal Tov
It is ironic that an episode about speaking and sermons came out during a time period in which I have spoken relatively little. A special thank you to Lydia Belzer for her thoughtful and inspiring comments last Shabbat morning, and to the women who spoke on Sunday at the Nach Yomi Siyum about their Nach Yomi journey. A special mazal tov to all our members who participated and completed the Nach Yomi cycle, some of them for the second time. Kol HaKavod as well to those who have undertaken to join the program when it starts over, on February 1. Note that Nach Yomi is open to men as well; daily Torah study in any form is essential to what it means to be a serious Jew and studying Nach is a great way to get to know the basic texts, personalities and stories of our tradition.
Join us this Shabbat to hear from Rabbi Yakov Majesky, middle school principal at TA in Baltimore and a kidney donor, to speak about his journey to kidney donation. There are six members of the Dallas Jewish community who require kidneys, including our own Linda Blasnik. Please join us on Shabbat morning to hear Rabbi Majesky.
Next Shabbat, we will have the honor of hearing from Yossi Landau, the director of operations for the southern region of ZAKA. Yossi was one of the first to witness the carnage of October 7, and he will be speaking about his experiences and the essenital work ZAKA has done and continues to do.
MSOTW
Last week’s MSOTW was the Cabo Jewish Center/Chabad of Cabo, the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue. Donated by Raymond Schinazi, the aron kodesh is modeled after that of the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt. A special thank you to Sonia and Rabbi Benny Hershkovich for giving us (me and the Finkelsteins and Rachmans) a grand tour of the magnificent facility, which includes the shul, a kosher restaurant, a gorgeous Mikvah and a kindergarten. Being a Chabad Shaliach in Cabo can be quite lonely, as it is far away from any established Jewish community and there are very few local Jews, but they serve the needs of locals and tourists alike with dedication and humor. This Week's MSOTW
Name this shul, where it is located and its connection to Dallas.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky
Congregation Shaare Tefilla 6131 Churchill Way Dallas, TX 75230
