The newsletter which you are reading right now, is number 500! For the past 500 weeks, I sat down every Thursday evenings to write the weekly newsletter, which is sent out the following day to hundreds of email addresses. Sometimes I thought to myself is it's worth the effort? Do people even read it? Although I do get feedback from time to time, I was thinking if it was still worth all the time and effort?
It was about at week 200 and something, I had a lot going on with work commitments, and as much as I tried, I did not manage to send the email newsletter that week... I was upset but I thought it wasn't that bad, anyways there are only few who actually read it. Maybe it is a sign that I need to stop it altogether.
Well, over the next few days, my inbox was filled with many messages such as "Rabbi Chaim, hope all is ok, your email didn't come", "Rabbi Chaim, I was waiting for the weekly Jewish joke...", "Rabbi Chaim, I was waiting for the Torah thought so I could share it at Shabbat dinner with my children...".
I didn't need any more encouragement than that.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your comments, it's always nice and encouraging to get feedback. And yes, it's ok if you read the joke before the Torah thought, no need to apologize:).
A special thank you to Rivky, for the final editing of the newsletter every single week, amidst the many Shabbat preparations.
On another note, this coming Tuesday evening we are starting the new and exciting JLI course. If you didn't sign up yet, you can still do so and join.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Chaim
ב"ה