Think: 

"They're ornamental! Like a woman's jewelry! Shouldn't be a problem to carry on Shabbat", said Rabbi Eliezer in the Talmud, referring to weapons worn for show. 

His colleagues rejected his argument. "Weapons are not ornamental! They are reprehensible; nothing but reprehensible. And when Moshiach comes they will be abolished!"

They quoted the prophet Isaiah: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not raise sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”

Someone asked, "If, as Rabbi Eliezer says, weapons can be ornaments, why are they destined to be abolished in the future?

 Will there be no ornaments in the future? "And Abaye answered, "It would be like a candle in the afternoon. It has no use, and thus, has no ornamental value either."

Days are coming.

When those days come, the noisy tanks, their big guns, their hulking jets - will all worth less than a designer flashlight on a blinding summer afternoon.

Days are coming, and they're coming soon.

No one on earth will have even the slightest interest in war. People will look at their daggers and bayonets and wonder, "How could we have been so blind as not to notice that these would work marvelously as plow shears?!" 

And those who still don't get it will blush a deeper red than all the innocent blood they've been willing to spill.

Days are coming. We ain't joking around.

Those who have made war for sport, believing that war is the only sensible way forward, will fall on their faces, drowning in their own humiliation. 

Those who cheered them will founder in confusion, baffled by the new universal reality that peace and friendship are the only sensible ways forward.

Days are coming.

Everyone will be looking to build, to plant, to produce. No one will be interested in destruction. No one can even remember why destruction and violence was ever a thing. 

The price of war equipment will plummet, with not a buyer in sight. Realizing that the industry is done for good, they'll beat they swords into plow shears; spears will be re-purposed into pruning hooks.

Nations will renounce war, once and for all. Military academies everywhere will shutter, out of business for good; for very good.

G-d will bring us those days and change everything so swiftly and so drastically, that the world's warmongers won't know what hit them.

 They'll realize the horror of their habits, reel in bitter regret over their wasted potential, and repent for the all the pain and suffering, all the broken hearts and shattered dreams. 

 The reality of a world at peace will be so natural, so normal, we'll wonder what on earth took so long.

Those are days are coming and they're coming very soon.

We will have our hearts warmed, finally, with the knowledge that the world has made peace with peace, war is a long-forgotten relic of the olden days, and as the Chabad Rabbi of Sumy, Ukraine wrote, "The air-raid sirens will herald nothing but the coming of Moshiach." 

And they'll usher in a peaceful Shabbat that will never, ever end.

- Adapted the great Rabbi Eli Friedman Chabad of Calabasas

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom, have an uplifting week! Looking forward to celebrating together!

Rabbi Mendy & Mussy

p.s. As always, we would love to chat with you over coffee or drinks, about Judaism, or just life - simply reply to this email.

pps. Help support the emergency fund for the people of Ukraine being coordinated by Chabad on the ground. 

---> SXSW Info <---

SAVE THE DATES for Purim x SXSW 2022!

High Energy Purim Party: Wednesday, March 16

Purim Masquerade Feast: Thursday, March 17

📖 Read:

•  Several hours after Odessa awoke to explosions Thursday morning, Chabad Rabbi Avraham Wolff, the city’s chief rabbi, got a call from a nearly 90-year-old Holocaust survivor. The man was so distressed he could barely speak. Ukraine’s Jews seek refuge in synagogues as Russia invades - LA Times

•  Trove of Newly Digitized Jewish Texts Reveal Untold Historical Treasures. Thousands of manuscripts at Chabad-Lubavitch Library now readily available to the public

•  Ukraine’s Jews seek refuge in synagogues as Russia invades.

 HIGHLIGHT:

Snapshot of the first New Moon Circle

  Upcoming:

Shabbat: Shabbat morning services 10:30 am

Torah discussion and reading 11:00 am

Followed by Kiddush and Cholent

Sunday: Weekly Sunday morning minyan followed by a HEAVY BREAKFAST 9:30 am

Saturday Night 2/26:  YJP Couples Game Night

3/4:   First Friday-Shabbat Dinner March

3/11: OpenShabbat at SXSW

3/16: High Energy Purim! tickets go on sale next week

3/17: Purim Feast GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

 WATCH:

Video of yesterday's morning prayers at the Chabad Choral Synagogue in Kharkiv. The eerie sound of artillery fire is heard in the background.

Openshabbat at SXSW

Join us for the return of #openShabbat at SXSW on March 11!

Click Here to RSVP early!

  Jewish word of the week: Choshuv (adj)

A Hebrew word that's used in Yiddish, choshuv means important or notable. If you are hosting an important guest, you can refer to them as a choshuve gast (gast being Yiddish for “guest”).

Shabbat Vayakhel

Light your candles at 6:09 pm

in Austin, TX

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