"My brother died at the Chabad House in Mumbai, India&q

Mevater ↓

Tue, Dec 02 2008, 10:35 pm

"My brother died at the Chabad House in Mumbai, India"

Monday, December 01, 2008

My Dear Fellow Jew,

On Wednesday night I logged onto Reuters on my Blackberry and I saw
something about terrorists in Mumbai. No connection to me. Or so I thought.

The next morning the news slammed home when my chavrusa told me that his
cousin is the Chabad shaliach in Mumbai and that there was some kind of
attack and they can't seem to get him on the phone.

For the next 24 hours I, my family and everybody I know had only one thing
on our minds - the fate of the Chabad shaliach, his wife and the unknown
number of hostages inside the Chabad house.

Information was so conflicting. We tried to make sense of it all, grasping
at straws, hoping against hope that somehow, somehow they would come out
alive. And we davened. Hundreds of thousands of Jews. We all poured out
our hearts in Tefilah in every country, city, neighborhood, yeshiva, shul
and home. An unprecedented outpouring of Tefillah.

And then the news came that the counterattack had begun and commandos were
storming the building. How we sat on edge, imaging in our mind's eye the
commandos fighting room to room.through the bullets and the explosions.

And while all this was going on I thought to myself.

"Ribono Shel Olam, look at your amazing people. Hundreds of thousands of
people gripped by fear, davening for people they never knew and from
sections of Klal Yisrael that they don't belong."

Last Thursday it didn't matter if you were Chabad, Bobov or Toldos Avrahom
Yitzchok. OUR brothers were in that house and we reacted instinctively -
with the love of brother.

And so I wonder, my dear brothers and sisters:

Imagine we could always be this way!

.Imagine we walked in the street and gave a smile and a Sholom Aleichem to
every Jew, even if he didn't look like we did.

.Imagine there was a way we could hold onto the incredible Ahavas Yisrael
that was displayed this past Thursday, that showed we are one nation!

Yes, I know. I realize it's not so simple because tragedy has a way of
uniting people - but it's not impossible! Consider this:

If there wasn't Ahavas Yisrael in our hearts in the first place we wouldn't
have reacted so powerfully and instinctively with nonstop Tehillim.We
woudn't have listened to the news 20 times that day!

If we can just shake loose of the yetzer hora that pushes us to be
divided.If we just took a good look in the mirror we would see that under
that tough exterior we are all really Ohevi Yisrael - lovers of Jews.

My Rav spoke about Mumbai yesterday. He quoted an excerpt from the sefer
Amud HaAvodah. This is a quote from the sefer:

"It is a fact that when Yidden in one city hear that tzaddikim in another
city have been tortured and killed by gentile murderers, the Yidden in the
first city are certain to be terribly pained and anguished. Even if they had
never known them. Even if they had never seen them. Their hearts ache upon
hearing of Jews killed with cruelty.

This phenomenon is rooted in the unity of the souls of the Jewish people.
This is indeed a proof to the existence of this unity.

And so now the horrific truth of what happened in India has become revealed
to the world. My brother died in that Chabad house as did yours.

.and the immense Ahavas Yisrael that we Jews have for each other was
revealed - to the world, and more importantly to ourselves!

But we must not let this event slip by like a ship in the night!

Let's each make a kabalah - a personal resolution - that starting right now
we and our family will take something on that shows we care about every
single Jew.

Not just lip service - but a real goal. One that we write down and post in
our house, tell our friends about, and monitor weekly to see how we're
doing.

For instance:

.Maybe we should work on the way we greet tzedakah collectors at our door -
you know, put ourselves in their position of having to knock on a stranger's
door.

How we would we like people to greet us?

.Or maybe to really daven for specific people from our shul for their
childrens shidduchim or livelihood. And certainly to work on not speaking
loshon hora about individuals and certainly not sections of Klal Yisrael.

Hashem thrust the kedoshim who died in India on the stage of Jewish history
for a few days last week. But their impact can last a lifetime I f w e a c
t!

The last few months have seen major calamities befall the world at large.
They are affecting - and could further affect - Klal Yisrael very
profoundly.

Let each Jew as an individual and as a family take on one resolution - a
single kabbalah - of Ahavas Yisrael, so that in these trying times Hashem
will look down at us and see the love we have for each other. The love that
proves we're a family. His family. And with that impetus may Hashem redeem
His children from all the tzoros and bring us, as the one family that we
are, to our home in Yerushalayim.

Let's just do it NOW! Please pass on this letter to as many people as
possible so together we can keep the flame of Ahavas Yisrael burning.

With a sad but hopeful heart,

Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation

P.S. just some practical ideas.

To work on tefilah-write down a list of people you know need shidduchim,
parnassah, refuahs and keep in your siddur.

Shmiras Haloshon needs daily learning. Sign-up for a free daily email at
editorial@chofetzchaimusa.org or call in to a daily shiur 718-258-2008 ext.
5 then 1.

The Gedolim have asked of President Bush to pardon Jonathan Pollard before
he leaves office in afew weeks--we should too! Call the White House between
9 am and 5 pm EST at 202-456-1111 and request the release of Jonathan
Pollard!

octopus

Tue, Dec 02 2008, 10:38 pm

thank you for posting.

chaylizi

Tue, Dec 02 2008, 11:23 pm

wow!

grin ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:56 am

how true! if only we could always feel this way.

Blossom

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 1:20 am

grin wrote:

how true! if only we could always feel this way.

This is going to be my resolution (one of them). To always bl"n try to feel this way. A connection to every single Jew no matter what.

↑ grin ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 1:26 am

Blossom wrote:

grin wrote:

how true! if only we could always feel this way.

This is going to be my resolution (one of them). To always bl"n try to feel this way. A connection to every single Jew no matter what.

amen. I think that's what Gabi and Rivka would have suggested, also. It seems to be the way they lived.

freidasima ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 11:25 am

This is so beautiful...and so naive...
Not naive to think that it is possible, of course it is and of course we should ALL try to institute the things that are written in this beautiful letter.

But division and separatism is the "Jewish way" and it has been for all time...and it's never going to change as long as there are a lot of Yidden in the world and ken yirbu.

Started with the shvotim who wouldn't marry into each other at the beginning because of losing territory. Then it went on with the various factions from tzdukim, prushim, issiyim, etc. and on to chassidim and misnagdim and DL and MO and whatever you want.

And I'm only talking frum Yidden, let's not even mention what people think about their conservative, reform, liberal and reconstructionist brethren.

Ahavas yisroel there? Fuggedaboutdit.

It ain't gonna happen.
Hate to be the party pooper here but time for some cold water. When you are as old as I am you have seen many many many tragedies in Am Yisroel all over the world. The only time we get together is at a time of tragedy. But guess what, even when it comes to being buried together you won't find yidden who are willing often to bury a frum Yid next to a frei one...meaning they can be killed together in one horrible thing like Mumbai, but the idea of burying all the kedoshim together? Doesn't usually happen.

And that should teach us something too...

As I wrote, it is a wonderful thing in practice and yes, there is tremendous yetzer horo in us that we are so divided...but who is about to give up that division? Everything is always "us" and "them" which is how a group confirms its own identity. Because if that group doesn't beleive that it is right, that it's the best, and that the others just aren't as good...very often that group disappears.

It's rare to find people who ascribe to the separate but equal doctrine, particularly in Yiddishkeit....

So where does that leave us?

frumluv

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 11:57 am

Thanks for posting...

gryp ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:11 pm

freidasima wrote:

Freidasima, and perhaps this is why Hashem planned that the kdoshim had to leave this world. So that we can learn Ahavas Yisroel, once and for all.

Tanya Perek Lamed Beis (Lev/heart) gives us a simple sentence that makes Ahavas Yisroel actually very easy: We are all made of one Neshama, but divided into physical bodies.
What counts more- our physical bodies or our soul?

And that is how the generation of Moshiach is different than the past generations.

amother

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:25 pm

Kineret is going to dedicate her December 7 concert for the Mumbai gedoilim who perished al kidim hashem. I heard it on the nachum segal show and the zev brenner show. They are gona be lighting candles, saying Tehilim Ect.

↑ freidasima ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:33 pm

GR you are right and halevai that people would realize it and act accordingly...

daamom ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:35 pm

So, Freidasima, is that it? Is this the way it's doomed to always be?
There is no possible way for the Beis Hamikdash to stand if sinas chinam exists among the Jews. So are we never to merit the geulah?
What exactly are we supposed to do now, with this kind of attitude?
Very disheartening, so say the least.
I believe there is a way to overcome this. There has got to be or we wouldn't be charged with this task.
I refuse to believe that we are destined to an existence of tragedy until the end of days because we can't EVER learn to get along.
I also think that we are sitting on a tool (this site) that is so potentially powerful, and we're wasting it.
We are such a large group of Jewish women of every stripe. Imagine the good that we can do if we only got rid of the divisiveness.
I have fantasies of an Ahavas Chinam organization as large, and even larger, than the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation (which is, in essence, that).
To get this attitude started in schools, with campaigns for the kids, "A Lesson A Day"-type program, etc...
To sweep the entire Jewish world with a whole mentality of love of a fellow Jew.
Aah, dreams.

↑ freidasima ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:39 pm

daamom, exactly. Dreams. Or as my grandmother would have said in Yiddish "chaloymes"...until Moshiach comes it aint gonna happen.

That's the nature of people. Just look at the divisions on this site. You can't have the Lubavitch write openly so they get their own forum because they were rightfull sick of being bashed.
You can't have the litvish write openly so they get their own forum because they were righfully sick of being bashed. And the other chassidim, and the MO and the gerim and all the rest.

So let's be realistic.
Each one of us can try. But when push comes to shove would you be willing to be buried next to a frei Yid just to make a point of ahavas yisroel?

TheBeinoni ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:49 pm

Freidasima - no one, including the author, is advocating that we all start agreeing on one right way of Judaism, start marrying out of our groups, etc etc...

The author (I think) was trying to say that we need to just love each other because we are ALL ONE NATION. You don't have to agree with someone to love them. I don't always agree with my husband. I don't always agree with my parents. I don't always agree with a lot of people. Do you think that the Holtzbergs AGREED with the ways of some of the people they counseled? Probably not, at least on a religious level. But did they love them? OF COURSE!

One line I will never forget is that when asked how he could stand hours upon hours handing out dollars, even in his old age, the Lubavitcher Rebbe answered something to the effect of, "Each person is a diamond. How can one tire of counting diamonds?" Of course, I'm sure he didn't encourage the ways of the frei, but he still LOVED them because they were Jews, connected to our nation, our G-d, as we all are.

↑ gryp ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:54 pm

Besides, it doesn't matter what people have done in the past. It's up to us.
We did it for quite a few days, we can do it for more.

↑ TheBeinoni ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 12:59 pm

It's incredible. On the Chabad India website they have a page where you can add a mitzvah, something you are taking upon yourself in honor of the victims. On Monday, they were up to 1400+ entries. Tuesday, 3000+. Now, 3600+. And I'd say most of the entries are not by frum Jews. Plus, these are just the mitzvot that people actually are writing down! Imagine all the people who have taken something on but haven't put it on the website.

When I was reading some entries, I had tears in my eyes. Jews who wrote they were not religious, Orthodox, or affiliated were committing to acts of goodness and kindness, lighting shabbat candles, putting tefillin, reading tehillim, etc etc. There were even non Jews posting! It was so amazing to see all these different people coming together in the name of one thing: Hashem and His Torah. Ultimately when we come together like this, we are glorifying Hashem, and that is exactly what is happening.

I hope that everyone will join in these efforts. I think we can really make it happen. If people stop trying to be "realistic" and "not naive" I think we have a much better shot.

↑ freidasima ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 1:26 pm

It is lovely and I would want to believe that it will continue...but for how long? For how long will most of the people who "took something on themselves" on this website continue to do it? Halevai, again that it will be for the rest of their lives...

But here I turn to those who aren't Lubavitch, because Lubavitch are incredible when it comes to practicing kiruv and even if someone doesn't want to be made korov, to practicing ahavas yisroel towards any other Yid...how many of the non Lubavitch can say that they honestly "LOVE" their conservative, reform or even athiest Yidden brethren? With a hand on their heart? And what does this love entail? To just say in their hearts "we love all yidden"? There has to be a practical aspect.

I accept that if someone says that in their love for all yidden they will take on an extra mitzva of let's say, being medakdek more about something in tznius or loshon horo or whatever. But I am yet to see them take on something that directly affects or has contact with that frei yid...not obliquely like adding a mitzva to the world will influence the Ribono shel olam to do more good, but something a bit more direct and less in the totally spiritually associative world...

↑ TheBeinoni ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 1:34 pm

Freidasima - I totally get what you're saying. But I think that when a person is "realistic" they are perpetuating status quo. And I don't want the status quo - I want CHANGE! The first step to change is to really believe and feel that it CAN happen.

No one said it would be easy, but I think it is certainly worth working on ourselves to BELIEVE we can do it.

↑ daamom ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 1:44 pm

hotmama wrote:

I hope that everyone will join in these efforts. I think we can really make it happen. If people stop trying to be "realistic" and "not naive" I think we have a much better shot.

Exactly.

↑ daamom ↓

Wed, Dec 03 2008, 1:46 pm

[quote="freidasima"]until Moshiach comes it aint gonna happen.

quote]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that we aren't worthy of moshiach until it happens.