Sunday night was a sleepless one at the Meaningful Life Center office in Crown Heights which was a buzzing hive of activity as the 11:59 PM essay submission deadline came and went.
Emails for the MyLife: Essay Contest, made possible by a grant from the Meromim Foundation, began pouring in last week and continued to arrive in the organization’s inbox right up until the deadline.
“I was awed and inspired when I realized what this volume of essays means when translated into hours of studying Chassidus,” said contest director Rabbi Sruli Baron.
“Each contestant must have spent upwards of 10 hours researching and writing their essay. We’re talking thousands of hours spent applying Chassidus to our lives. Now that’s impressive.”
The contest has made waves around the world, connecting to people of all ages and from all backgrounds. The impact has especially been felt in schools, seminaries and yeshivos–where teachers have reported seeing their students energized in an unprecedented way by the teachings of Chassidus.
“The MyLife: Chassidus Applied Essay Contest has helped our bochurim appreciate the study of Chassidus on a completely new level.” says Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld, assistant principal of Yeshivas Achei Temimim in Pittsburgh.
“Incorporating this contest into our Language Arts curriculum has given our students the opportunity to apply what they are learning in their Judaic classes through the creation of thought-provoking essays. We plan to continue to incorporate this into our curriculum in future years.”
Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Dean of the Meaningful Life Center (MLC) and conceiver of this unique project, comments, “It’s inspiring to see so many entries from the younger generation. These bright applicants represent the future leaders and innovators of Lubavitch. We wish everyone the best of luck in the coming rounds of judging. In my point of view, all the entrants are winners.
“Indeed,” Rabbi Jacobson adds, “the biggest winner is Chassidus itself and our Rebbeim, who dedicated their lives to teach us Chassidus, thereby giving us the greatest possible gift: A blueprint for living the healthiest possible life and to realizing the purpose of our lives.
“The fact that hundreds of people have invested their time, energy, and ingenuity to study and apply these teachings is a testament to the profound relevance and timelessness of Chassidus and its power to transform people’s lives.”
Now, the judging phase will commence. Every essay will be judged blindly; the judges have no knowledge of the author’s identity or age. Among the judges are Rabbis Leibel Altein, Dr. Yitzchok Chakiris, Dr. Shimon Cowen, Manis Friedman, YY Jacobson, Dr. Shmuel Klatzkin, Sholom Lipskar and Shais Taub.
Judges essays in Hebrew are Rabbi Osher Farkash and Rabbi Dovid Olidort.
The contest winners will be announced on or around April 2, 2017 (6 Nissan).
To stay tuned for contest announcements and to read the essays as they are published, opt-in to the weekly newsletter at www.meaningfullife.com.
The MyLife: Chassidus Applied Essay contest has been made possible by a grant from the Meromim Foundation.
*Additional judges to be announced.
This has nothing to do with tznius,
Horrible to say such a thing. Do you believe that women should be seen and not heard? Because that is what you’re implying. You can continue to deny the patriarchal nature of Lubavitch society, but it is a fact. If you take your head out of the safe cocoon of “the Chabad system is always right” for a minute, you might be jolted out of your unrealistic perception of what is normal for women in the 21st century. This is not equal to being immodest. This is doing something intelligent and good. How exactly you managed to bring tznius into… Read more »
“Women don’t have to be front and center with the spotlight on them in order to accomplish things.”
How is judging a contest by reading essays untzniyus?
This contest is an amazing initiative, which is spreading Chassidus worldwide. Kol hakavod to Rabbi Jacobson and all of the organizers and judges.
This is a wonderful initiative. I’m just wondering why there are only men on the panel of judges? There will be women submitting essays, too–so why is this a solidly male group of judges?
Please consider adding women to the board, if not for this year then for the next.
Keep up the amazing work–this is an amazing program that helps people discover for themselves how chassidism remains fresh and relevant in the 21st century.
And maybe it has nothing to do with being “patriarchal.” Maybe it’s just a matter of tznius. Kol kvuda bas melech penima. Maybe My Life organization is trying to be sensitive to these standards that are really quite the norm in most of the frum world. I think we sometimes forget that there is still a difference between men and women. Women don’t have to be front and center with the spotlight on them in order to accomplish things.
But u have to understand we still are a patriarchal society
Maybe they should have a separate division for women to compete.
If females can submit essays, why can’t females judge?
Looking forward to reading the winning essay this year.