ESSAYS| 2017

ESSAYSss| Finalists

Overcoming Addiction through Balance
האור העוצמתי שבחשכת ההתמכרות

By Yisroel Yitzchaki, Kfar Chabad, Israel

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017   הקדמה אפיזודה מהחיים: עליה שגרמה לירידהדורון וזילפה היו זוג שמח שחי באחווה, עד שדורון החליט לעשות שינוי ולחיות חיים בעלי משמעות רוחנית, ללמוד ולהעמיק במשמעות החיים. לעומתו זילפה אשתו, חוותה את השינוי כדבר המאיים על הקשר הזוגי. האווירה בביתם נעשתה מתוחה, עד שהחלו לחשוב על ניתוק הקשר. דורון הבין שעל

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The Olympic Theory

By Shneur Zalman Ives, Brooklyn, NY

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017   Introduction  Many misconceptions plague the concept of redemption and the personality who will usher it in. Possibly the most widespread and fundamental misconception is the view that the purpose of redemption is to extradite the Jewish people from a difficult situation, be the said difficulty physical or spiritual. The truth

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Adjusting to Distressing “New Normals”

By Malky Bitton, Vancouver, BC

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 Introduction This essay addresses the concern of how to pick oneself up and carry on when faced with a frightening new normal, a distressing shift in the status quo. Through developing the concepts of אין מזל לישראל and כבשה אחת בין שבעים זאבים as explained by the Rebbe, we will demonstrate

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To Find Meaning One Must Make Meaning

By Bentzi Avtzon, Bala Cynwyd, PA

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 About this there’s no question: In today’s digital age the average person is exposed to more information than ever before. What happens across the globe is known before it can be referred to in past tense. Even when we don’t seek it, when we begin the morning insistent that this time

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All Fun and No Joy: The Paradox of Life in the Postmodern Era

By Yossi Grossbaum, Folsom, CA

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017  We have more conveniences today than ever before. Forgot to buy some household supply or ingredient? You can have it delivered to your doorstep in less than an hour. Looking for information about any obscure subject? The answer is instantly accessible using a device that almost everyone carries in their pocket.

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Love: The Basis of the Torah

By Rochel Cohen, Leeds UK

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 Life issue: Low self esteem. Children sing it. Teacher’s discuss it. Parents enforce it. Day after day we recite the same verse of ‘Hareini’ – I take upon myself the positive commandment of ‘and you should love your fellow as yourself’. Rabbi Akiva states that this above statement is the basis

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Wanting Desire

By Mushka Silberberg, Chicago, IL

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017   Introduction Pulling oneself out of bed at the command of the six a.m. alarm clock is never easy. Most people want to be successful and productive, but when the daily grind hits, many cannot gather the motivation to actually do what they must. While they understand the negative results of

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How to Kick Bad Habits to the Curb

By Rivkah Shanowitz, Montreal, QC

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017   Preface What  is  a  habit?  A  habit  is  a  routine  behaviour  that  is  followed  regularly   to  the  point  that  it  becomes  involuntary.  This  behaviour  then  gets   stored  in  the  Basal  Ganglia,  the  sub  conscious [1]. There  are  many  pop-­psychology  books  today  that  deal  with  overcoming   habits.  Luckily

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The Dynamics of Happiness

By Rafi Chemel, Toronto, ON

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 Introduction The current age seems to be fraught with a strange paradox. On the one hand, never before has there been such an abundance of material wealth, prosperity, technological development and medical breakthrough. To put it simply, life is better than it has ever been. Yet simultaneously, the rate of depression

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Why We Need a Break

By David LIchtenstadter, Brooklyn, NY

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 We all love to relax and to be entertained in the time that we know that life has real meaning and we have serious goals to achieve. So it is intriguing why we have the urge for these acts and to know if they are at all permissible. In today’s day

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