RESOLUTIONS AND RESOLVE

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well, and had many wonderful Yomtovim and Shabbosim.

And wishing all the travellers, safe trips home. It was great being with the ones who were here in London!

Mazal Tov to Avi for his birthday next week. We missed you and the Family in London this year! Wishing you continued success and growth Avi, with much happiness and nachas from the Family.

We now move from the blissful state of Elul and Tishrei, and we re-enter our worldly life and pursuits. But we now carry with us, all of our new acquirements that we have collected, and also armed with new RESOLUTIONS for the New Year.

In relation to this , I saw an interesting lesson that we can learn from Noach, who appears at the end of this weeks parsha, Bereishis. It was an article based on a sicha of The Rebbe Vol 35 p11-13.

There is an inner voice we have that torments us: - "Why even bother to pursue a path of spirituality and holiness, studying the Torah and fulfilling G-d's commands? After all, we are just one very small person in a very big world, and the world is often cold, and even hostile to goodness and holiness!"

We can therefore be inspired by Noach, when this voice tries to disturb us.

Noach was the only righteous person of his generation.

Yet, incredibly, this did not deter him from following his morals and ethics.

Noach RESOLVED to behave properly, despite the antagonistic behaviour of his contemporaries.

Furthermore, his conduct brought salvation to the whole world.

If Noach, who was truly on his own, was capable of this, then certainly we today, who are not alone, can courageously withstand the moral challenges of our contemporary world.

Gut Shabbos and a Good Year to all!