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Yossi Deren

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May 4, 2018, 10:36 PM

Torah = search engine optimization

Is life just "happening" to you? Did you wake up this morning, turned your phone on and then just got overwhelmed by the sheer amount of emails and messages you need to deal with? Are you trying to figure out...

Apr 28, 2018, 12:04 AM

Be G-d’s Answer

One of the most inspiring stories about the short life of our nephew, Zalmy Plotkin OBM, occurred in ... Burger King. Yes, Burger King. Here is what happened: On a particularly hectic day in the Plotkin home (preparing a Sheva Brochos...

Apr 14, 2018, 1:00 AM

The (Sad) Story Behind the Numbers

Never again? Never what again? Never can the world allow innocent men, women, children, and babies to be gassed, again? Never can the world be relatively silent about such behavior, again? Never can the world allow murderers of innocent people...

Mar 30, 2018, 4:56 PM

You’re better than you think you are

We're about to burn the Chametz. In the spirit of asking questions, here is another one: Last night we searched our homes using a candle to find the last remnant of anything leavened - and today we destroy that chametz (as...

Mar 24, 2018, 12:48 AM

Let’s Wake Up

Question: what is the one thing that - will stop society from descending into the all-out chaos of gun violence, Mideast conflict, nuclear wars, populist anarchy, etc. ? - causes the Jewish People to thrive even after 3,000 years under the...

Feb 23, 2018, 9:41 PM

Can we change? As individuals and as a society? Or are we Americans doomed to some sort of vicious cycle that will continue to cause pain and grief, mostly for our children? Well, how about if we ask those children...

Feb 16, 2018, 11:34 PM

How Do We Stop This?!

The inverse of "He who saves a Person, saves the World" is that our world was destroyed 17 times over this past Wednesday with the loss of 17 innocent souls ... including 5 Jewish teens who were members of...

Feb 9, 2018, 9:40 PM

The Only Antidote to Evil

"The Holocaust is an extortion racket -- there were never any death camps!", shouts an insane Nazi running for Congress in Illinois. "And if there were, don't call them Polish -- it was the Germans who did it", say the...

Feb 5, 2018, 11:33 PM

Allow me to generalize: religious Jews are very happy people, and it has nothing to do with religion. There are millions of unhappy religious people on the planet. It has nothing to do with their lifestyle - many religious...

Jan 27, 2018, 1:14 AM

This Call’s For You – Please Pick Up

Dear friend - you're being called to greatness! Yes, I know life doesn't always feel that great ... and we don't always feel that great about ourselves ... so what's up with the cliche about being "called to greatness"? Let me...

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About Me

Rabbi Yossi Deren was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1973, lived in Western Massachusetts through the '80s and today serves as the Spiritual Leader and Executive Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Greenwich, Connecticut. Together with his wife Maryashie, they founded the synagogue-center in 1996 as Emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory.