Today, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, we were forced to hear the sad news of the murder of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka Holtzberg as well as the other victims HY"D of the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Being friends with a bocher who is from Mumbai and learns in my yeshiva during the year, this does hurt me and affect me a bit deeper. He knew the Holtzbergs and Chabad provides the frum Indian families with Jewish necessities as he has told me.
Less than a year ago, on Rosh Chodesh Adar, a terrorist emptied rounds and rounds of bullets in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook, killing 8 of the bochurim learning there HY"D. Now on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, our enemies have attacked us again and killed Jews are maintained a Jewish House of Torah and Mitzvot in a place where such things are scarce. Adar and Kislev contain within them two of the most joyous holidays of the when we celebrated victory over our enemies because we cried out and turned to Hashem; Purim and Chanuka. We learn that Rosh Chodesh contains within it the essence of the month to come. These are both months of joy and celebration. Now the beginnings of both are marked with bloodshed and tears.
WAKE UP! This is what Hashem is crying out to us! We know have 2 rallying calls to return to HaKadosh Boruch Hu! How much longer will we keep ourselves in this galut? How much longer will we ignore the plight of our neshamot? At a time when we should be preparing for the simcha of Purim when Hashem saved us from Haman and annihilation we will always remeber the 8 kedoshim who were murdered. Now, at a time when we should be preparing for an occasion of simcha, learning Hilchot Chanuka and getting ready to publicize the nes which occured, we must mourn a loss and realize that we must do something. We had one wake up call already? We didn't respond. We know have a 2nd. Are we going to need a 3rd chas v'shalom? All Jews are one body. If a limb is infected or damaged, we can't ignore it, it affects the whole body. The source of the problem must be fixed. The cure is right in front of us, we just need to take it. We will soon recall the cry of Matityahu Kohen Gadol to the Jewish People "Mi L'Hashem Alei!" We should be hearing this in our minds now as well.
2 comments:
A great, moving post. What would you suggest as a tangible move?
Certainly every individual should think about this and how it should affect them personally. We live in a world were people are really just allowing themselves to be corrupted and influenced to the point of obliviousness and indifference. As my rebbe likes to call it, "The Moron Factor." this has to stop and many need to warm up their yiddishkeit and avodat Hashem. To be honest, I don't know if there a "tangible move" which I can suggest to everybody. there is a lot of work to be done and it will be very hard. Every Jew has a personal geulah which they can attain before the ultmate Redemption comes. This should be our goal, to be able to say to oursleves, "my purpose is to serve Hashem the best way I can" and then look at the world from that perspective. This can start with things like working on our kavana during davening, or setting aside extra time to learn. Halevai people would do just those 2 things! Such things can infuence and affect our entire day! As the Piaseczer Rebbe writes in Chovat haTalmidim, one should make a schedule for himslef for learning. He can start by doing this much time with Chumash/Rashi and that much time with Gemara. Eventually he will be adding on more and more learning. Or perhaps a person can work on the way he acts. Working on his anger, being kinder... such things might seem hard, but they are not impossible for anyone. If people would only take the time to start slowly, they could achieve so much. L'aniyut da'ati (I have not seen this written anyway) There is no standing still in Avodat Hashem, there is only growing or failing. If a person can keep up a routine of davening, learning, trying to go out of his way to do at least a few mitzvot, and then incorporating that into the rest of his day, he can achieve so much. When such a tzarah is brought upon us by Hashem, we shouldn't cry for a day and then go on with our lives. We should continue crying until we can realize how this is supposed to affect us personally and then act upon it with the realization that it comes from Hashem for a reason. Every Jew is a Sefer Torah, but sometimes in a S"T, a letter needs to be fixed. it can take a while to find the mistake, but when we keep using it to read from, eventually we will come across that which needs correction, and we are then able t return it to its former state of holiness.
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