SECRET OF SURVIVAL

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well.

Mazal Tov to Freida and Mendel on the birth of a baby boy BH! We are all so happy BH! Mazal Tov to Sara and Aaron Glick on the birth of a baby girl BH - Gila Lieba. And Mazal Tov to grandparents Reuven and Chana Lieba. Keep them coming Boston Davidoffs! And this is following on the birth of a baby girl to Alisa and Juan - Emma Joyce, and the engagement of Dani Davidoff

All such wonderful news, and all so appropriate to the theme of this week's Sedra Shemos! (see below)

I saw an interesting letter from the Rebbe this week, based on our Sedra, as follows:
'We are told how a handful of Jews - 70 souls - managed to survive on the foreign soil of Egypt, in the midst of an overwhelmingly powerful and hostile people. They survived, not by imitating their non-Jewish neighbours and trying to hide their identity, but on the contrary, by realizing that they were different, and by guarding most zealously and uncompromisingly their identity and spiritual independence.

Our Sages point out this SECRET OF OUR SURVIVAL in their commentary on the first verse of the Sedra 'And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt.' 'Because they did not change their names and their customs, they were redeemed from Egypt.'

Moreover, not only did they manage to survive in such adverse circumstances, but they MULTIPLIED IN NUMBER, AND GREW STRONG IN SPIRIT, until they received the Torah at Sinai, bringing light to the entire world, and accomplishing the purpose of creation.

This lesson should especially be remembered in our own day, when the Golus has become so tragically devastating, both physically and spiritually. Jews, dispersed throughout the world, are everywhere surrounded by a demoralised and hostile world, a world in which basic principles of humanity and justice are trampled upon, a world so confused that darkness is mistaken for light and light for darkness, a world living in fear of atomic self-destruction G-d forbid.

In this dark Galut, we Jews must realize more than ever before, the teaching of our Torah, Torat Chayim (the Law of Life), that only through the preservation of our identity and spiritual independence, based on the solid foundations of our Torah and Mitzvot, and nurtured through an uncompromising Torah-true educationof our children, can we ensure the survival of our people, spiritually and physically, AND MOREOVER, GROW AND PROSPER.' - The Rebbe.

Wishing everyone a Gut Shabbos, and continued news of engagements and births for the whole Family, and Klal Yisrael!