On Wednesday, Chavie and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. It’s been a journey of love and perseverance, and I couldn’t imagine doing life without her at my side. While enjoying a special restaurant-like dinner prepared with love by Chavie’s sister Brocha, I was pondering on how strong, thoughtful, opinionated and resourceful Chavie is and how, sadly, many women in the world don’t have the freedom to live like her. The same folks who accuse Jews of the worst behaviors, are mighty silent to the cry of the Iranian women who are seeking freedom from their Islamic tyrants, some even supporting the Ayatollah and his goons. What happened to women’s rights? What happened to modern feminism? First, they ignored the raped Jewish women of Israel and now they are ignoring the abused, and murdered, women of Iran.

In this week’s double Torah portion, Vayakhel-Pekudei, we read about the Jewish women’s devotion to the building of the Tabernacle in the desert. They weren’t only first to donate funds but were passionate about ensuring that the woven materials were crème de la crème. The Talmud in Tractate of Shabbos mentions that, at times, fathers/husbands felt that they needed to bring fear into their home so that their families remained on the straight line of morality, ethics and religion, but overall Judaism teaches that parenthood and spousal behavior must be done with pleasantness and calm, where no one feels quashed by the “man of the house”. So much so, that the Holy Ari teaches that in the era before Mashiach’s arrival, the sages of Israel will follow the spiritual lead of their wives.

As I reflect on my twenty years with Chavie I am inspired by feminine Jewish leadership. She is my partner in revolutionizing Jewish Montana, she’s a beloved mentor to so many woman in our community, she’s a hostess and Balabuste bar none, she speaks at Jewish events around the country, she launched a successful Podcast, she writes weekly on her Substack, she shares and inspires on her busy Instagram, she raises our five children with unimaginable and incomprehensible love and TLC, she is a devoted sister and daughter, and she shows up as my rock, despite my many flaws, in ways that are so meaningful and valuable. I celebrate the women in my life and wish our society would celebrate feminine depth, wisdom and incredible impact, not just their physical beauty.

Happy Anniversary Chavie Dear!

May G-d guard our brethren in Israel and the world over from harm and send us Mashiach speedily. May G-d protect the armed forces of Israel and the United States wherever they may be!

Purim was epic. One hundred beautiful souls came together to celebrate the downfall of Haman and triumph of Esther and the Jews. We didn’t just celebrate the past but took the time to internalize that Haman has descendants like Khamenei, Tucker Carlson and Anna Kasparian. Like Haman, at first, they didn’t share their real intentions, but five minutes later they couldn’t help themselves and revealed that it wasn’t about Zionism or Israel, it was about the Jews. Tucker went after Chabad this week claiming that we are behind the war with Iran because we are working towards the building of the Beis HaMikdash, the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Sisa, we read about the sin of the Golden Calf, when the Jewish people were sucked in to believing that Moses wouldn’t return from Mount Sinai, so instead they should serve a golden idol. While most of the Jews didn’t sin, it’s only the Levites that stood up and condemned the unholy behavior. Most of the Jews were neutral, “I don’t want to get involved” or “it’s too political”, standing silently at the sidelines as immorality ensued. The Levites were rewarded for eternity, gifted with the priesthood and Temple service, for having the backbone to stand up to the insanity in real time. Martin Niemöller’s famed “first they came for the socialists” is more relevant today than ever before in my lifetime, and if the Golden Calf taught us anything, it’s that we must stand up to Tucker and his ilk.

It’s to the point where it feels like theatrics. The left labels the right as nazis and the right does the same to the left. While we can debate the term nazi at a different time, the right and left both have loud voices that are putting targets on the backs of every Jew and are playing with fire. So, let’s do this: if you’re a democrat, please spend your time ousting the Jew haters from the leadership of your party, and if you’re a republican stop telling me about the left-wing crazies and focus on the ones in your party. America is going through a darkish period and if the people with a moral clarity remain silent when it’s happening in their ranks, then they’ve lost their moral high ground. And to Tucker the Jew-hater and Islamic terrorist backer, Chabad, and all Torah-observant Jews, do believe in the third temple reconstruction, we hope and pray for it three times each day and when Mashiach comes and it happens, it won’t be a time of war but as Maimonides rules “In that era, there will be neither famine or war, envy or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know God”.

We want Mashiach now!

May G-d guard our brethren in Israel and the world over from harm and send us Mashiach speedily. May G-d protect the armed forces of Israel and the United States wherever they may be!