"We Will Not Deter"

(AP)

I received the following e-mail from a co-worker (who wrote it.)

Although I don't usually send out these types of emails, I would like to share the following with all of you.

Every morning I take the 35 bus line to work. It's a quick ride and usually takes no more than 12 minutes. The third stop after I get on by the shuk is directly in front of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav. This morning I found myself a bit anxious, unsure of what I was going to see as we passed by. As I looked around, I saw death notices pasted all over the street and flowers that had been brought lined the entrance to the Yeshiva.

When the bus pulled up to the stop, the driver shut off the engine and stood. With tears in his eyes he told everyone sitting on the bus that one of the boys killed on Thursday night was his nephew. He asked if everyone on the bus would mind if he spoke for a few minutes in memory of his nephew and the other boys that were killed.

After seeing head nods all over the bus he began to speak. With a clear and proud voice, he spoke beautifully about his nephew and said that he was a person who was constantly on the lookout for how to help out anyone in need. He was always searching for a way to make things better. He loved learning, and had a passion for working out the intricacies of the Gemara. He was excited to join the army in a few years, and wanted to eventually work in informal education.
(Reuters)

As he continued to speak, I noticed that the elderly woman sitting next to me was crying. I looked into my bag, reached for a tissue and passed it to her. She looked at me and told me that she too had lost someone she knew in the attack. Her neighbors child was another one of the boys killed. As she held my hand tightly, she stood up and asked if she too could say a few words in memory of her neighbor.

She spoke of a young man filled with a zest for life. Every friday he would visit her with a few flowers for shabbat and a short dvar torah that he had learned that week in Yeshiva. This past shabbat, she had no flowers.

When I got to work, one of my colleagues who lives in Efrat told me that her son was friends with 2 of the boys who had been killed. One of those boys was the stepson of a man who used to teach in Brovenders and comes to my shul in Riverdale every Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to be a chazan for one of the minyanim.

We are all affected by what goes on in Israel. Whether you know someone who was killed or know someone who knows someone or even if you don't know anyone at all, you are affected. The 8 boys who were killed will continue to impact us all individually and as a nation. Each one of us has the ability to make a profound impact on our world.(AP)

This coming wednesday morning, I will be at Ben Gurion airport at 7 am with Nefesh B'Nefesh welcoming 40 new olim to Israel. We will not deter. We can not give up. We will continue to live our lives and hope and work for change, understanding and peace.

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JPost: Now Those Nutcase Righties Will Attack!

(AFP)

Here’s the spin the self-hating, murder-loving, religious-hating, Arab-loving, G-d-hating, grossly irresponsible – and frankly downright dangerous - extreme left wing media. Oh, they also happen to be exceptionally clueless. That or they just are malicious liars but I’m trying to be optimistic.

Take Amir Mizroch, news editor for the Jerusalem Post. He still just doesn’t get it!

Let me sum up his article entitled: Attack will be seen in Messianic terms

In a nutshell Mizroch claims that those “Nutcase Religious Zionists” are going to be so “seething with anger” that they are going to run into the streets shooting wildly blowing up anything that moves!

Moron! (I’m not name calling – it’s a scientific term.)

(Parenthetically, more evidence of his sheer stupidity is demonstrated in this flatly false assertion: “Very few people outside the religious Zionist population have even heard of Mercaz Harav, let alone know somebody who studies there.”)

Mizroch continues, “There may even be some on the fringes of the settlement movement who will want to take the law into their own hands and carry out a revenge attack, maybe even against targets in East Jerusalem, where it looks like the killer came from.”

Let me give you a clue Mr. Mizroch. Have you ever looked inside the Torah? Do you even know what a Torah is? Or should we say “Very few people outside the religious Zionist population have even heard of a Torah, let alone looked inside one?”

Sir, since we know very few people outside the religious Zionist population even own a Bible I’ll just have to fill you in here.

The angel of G-d said to her, “You are pregnant, and will give birth to a son. You must name him Ishmael, for G-d has heard your prayer. He will be a wild-ass of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him.” (Genesis 16:11 – 12)

Wild-ass men shoot rockets at innocent civilians. Wild-ass men blow up public buses in the middle of cities. Wild-ass men brutally murder defenseless teenage Yeshiva students in cold blood. Wild-ass men fire their weapons into the air at funerals demanding revenge and then hand candy out to their children when it transpires.

The Jews - even those “right-wing nut-job Jews” are not wild-ass men. (Wise-guy leftists are itching to yell out “Baruch Goldstein” – very good. The fact that you remember his name proves how unique he is. Now can you name even one Arab terrorist that blew himself up on a bus? What’s that? No? Why not? Oh, I see. There are just too many?)

The way Mizroch writes you would think that at the funerals on Friday all the Jews were firing their weapons into the air. Guess what? They didn’t. Jews aren’t the wild-ass men. So stop your shameful, hateful, attacks – incitement even - that claim that the Jews are something they are not!

Amir Mizroch – Wow, what a dork! (Now I’m name calling!)

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Horrific And Depressing Photos Of The Attack (Graphic)

I did not take the following photos. They are a collection of various media photos and government press office photos which I found posted on a messageboard. I debated if there is any purpose in posting these here. I concluded that they are important for the sole purpose of gaining an understanding of the situation - to see it with our own eyes. To see it and to feel more connected with our holy brothers so that we could daven with the proper kavanah for a speedy redemption and an end once an for all to these atrocities. Tonight our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and indeed all of kal yisrael - since we are all the very same family.

Be warned the photos below are rather graphic and do contain blood. If you do not want to see them - don't scroll down.
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Israeli police deployed inside the 'yeshiva,' or Jewish seminary, in Jerusalem on 06 March 2008 after two Palestinians dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jewish yeshiva students entered and shot and killed at least eight Jewish students, wounding another 15, according to Israeli police. The two Palestinians were killed and one was wearing a suicide bomber's belt, which did not explode. [Later reports said 7 students were murdered, and fewer were wounded - two seriously and that there was only one terrorist. Later reports also said the belt turned out to be for more ammo.-P]

Israeli police detain a suspect as he is led down stairs with a sweatshirt pulled over his head inside the 'yeshiva,' or Jewish seminary, in Jerusalem on 06 March 2008 [I do not know who this "suspect" is or was since later reports said there was only one terrorist who was killed. -P]


Israeli medics rush a seriously wounded young Israeli to an ambulance outside The Wohl Torah Center, a 'yeshiva,' or Jewish seminary, in Jerusalem on 06 March 2008 [Please say tehillim for the wounded. As soon as we have a list of names we will post it. -P]





A handout photograph supplied by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) showsIsraeli medics hold up a prayer shawl soaked in blood that has a bullet hole as they clean up inside the 'yeshiva,' or Jewish seminary, in Jerusalem on 06 March 2008

A handout photograph supplied by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) shows bullet holes and blood stains inside and what appears to be the body of one of the two Palestinian gunmen inside the 'yeshiva,' or Jewish seminary, in Jerusalem on 06 March 2008

More Photos Here...

UPDATE2: Please say Tehillim for Naftali ben Gila from Sderot, Yonatan ben Avital, Shimon ben Tirza, Nadav ben Hadas, Reuven ben Naomi and Elchanan ben Zehava

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Killing In the Name Of...

I woke up this morning, and as usual, asked my husband, who always gets up early to hear the news, what was going on in the world. He told me that America had suffered another shooting attack at a school, this time at an Illinois university.

So I went online to check out the story, which is still unravelling. Some alumnus came into a science class, shot up the teacher and some random students, and then killed himself. Six are dead, including the killer, and over a dozen are hospitalized. Wow.

Then came the shocker, which I will quote verbatim from the Associated Press:

The shooting was the fourth at a U.S. school within a week.

On Feb. 8, a woman shot two fellow students to death before committing suicide at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. In Memphis, Tenn., a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounding a fellow student Monday during a high school gym class, and the 15-year-old victim of a shooting at an Oxnard, Calif., junior high school has been declared brain dead.

Now I have to say, that sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the sense of violence in Israel, what with maniacal Muslims looking to murder me all the time and whatnot. But I'm starting to get the sense that America's not such a safe zone these days, either. And at least violence in Israel is related to some sort of meaning, a stated religio-cultural war, rather than the I-have-nothing-better-to-do glutted slayings which are ramping up in America.

So I'd like to wish the people of America, the people of Israel, and the people all over the world a holy, meaningful, and peaceful Shabbat. I hope we'll all do what we've got to do to end the victimization of good people.

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Rav Avraham Shapira, ZT"L

Rav Avraham Elkanah Kahanah Shapira, 94, one of the Gedolei HaDor (Torah giants of our generation), Rosh Yeshivah (Dean) of Merkaz HaRav (the Yeshivah Rav Kook started) for the last 25 years, former chief rabbi of Israel (1983-1993), passed away on Yom Tov (the only day in Israel - Thursday) and was buried on Friday (Chol HaMoed in Israel). Click here to read more about him. Here are 5 albums of 300 pictures I posted from the funeral, which started at his yeshivah in Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem and proceeded past Binyanei Ha'Umah (the International Convention Center), up Sarei Yisrael (Ministers of Israel) Street, turned on Malchei Yisrael (Kings of Israel) Street through the Chareidi/Chassidic Ge'ulah neighborhood, past the former location of the yeshivah (Beit HaRav Kook - Rav Kook's house), along Yafo, Shlomtzion HaMalkah, Agron Streets, around the walls of the Old City, and finally to Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives) for his final resting place, overlooking Har HaBayit (Temple Mount):
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4
Album 5

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Memorial A Year Later

On this date 1 year ago, 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hizbullah ambush. 1 of the 3 soldiers was an American whose dream was to serve in the IDF, and even cut short a family vacation back in his old home in Pennsylvania to join the army in last summer's war. Here are a few articles about Michael: JPost, YNet, a friend's memorial page, etc. I attended a memorial service at Har Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem this afternoon Yonatan Einhorn Z"L, but unfortunately had to leave before the one for Michael Levin Z"L started. Here are some pictures of Yonatan's memorial and Michael's grave:

 

 

 

 

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Yom HaZikaron, Golan Style

I'll admit it, I'm a crier. It's in my DNA. My mother is a crier. My Grandmother is a crier. I'm a crier. Lot's of things can set me off. Certainly saying goodbye to my crying grandmother, not knowing when I'll see her again makes me cry. A "realistic" Holocaust film portraying the Selection often makes me cry. Avinu Malkeinu during the Neilah service of Yom Kippur is one of the most powerful moments of the year for me. As I watch the Gates of Heaven closing for the last time of the year my heart is wrent in two as I beseech, beg really, Hashem for an ounce of His endless mercy to keep me and protect me one more year. I'm usually pretty certain He'll oblige, but the Grandness of the moment always overtakes me and leaves me sobbing in my Talit.

Yom HaZikaron can have the same effect on me. Last night's ceremony on Moshav Yonatan was one of the most moving Yom HaZikaron ceremonies I've been to since making Aliyah. Moshav Yonatan is named for Yonatan Rozenman, z"l who was killed on the Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur War and is the brother of one of the founders. The ceremony, like all Yom HaZikaron ceremonies began with the shrill siren, like a mechanical, monotone shofar. After a beautiful slide show of all the family and friends killed serving our country my son got a little tired, so I picked him up and held him the rest of the ceremony. Next everyone sang the seemingly simple request from Psalms: May there be peace within your wall, serenity within your palaces. That's when I lost it. A seemingly simple request, yet we're so far from it. As I sang that Psalm and nuzzled my nose into the sweet, musky, sweaty peyot of my three and a half year old boy, it finally hit home how badly we want peace within our wall and serenity within our palaces, but what it takes to achieve it. I felt pride at one day seeing my boy defend our Homeland but immediately was struck with the horrific, unspeakable sacrifice that could entail. I began sobbing into his little sweaty head. He let me sob for a few minutes, then took my wet cheeks in his little hands, kissed my lips, said, "Daddy, I love you" and put his head back on my shoulder.

After that it was difficult to regain composure, but I tried. We then sang one of Rambam's Thirteen Priciples of Faith: I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Mashiach, and even though eh may delay, nevertheless I anticipate every day that he will come. Here is a community that does believe with complete faith in our final Redemption, but that inevitability hasn't left them paralyzed in the Diaspora. In fact, it is the opposite; this is their, our, my, true inspiration that motivates us every second of the day to make this Home of ours better, holier and ever more prepared for our destiny.

There is no doubt the future is uncertain, but the memory of my boy taking my wet cheeks, kissing me and telling me that he loves me as I cry for our difficult past and dangerous future on Yom Hazikaron 5767 will be with me eternally.

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Yom HaZikaron Photo Essay

It has been a very meaningful Israeli Memorial Day. I was hoping to have time to put all my pictures on the blog, but unfortunately I only had time to add them to a Facebook album. Very worthwhile - many pictures from Har Herzl today. Read the comments for the pictures too. IY"H I'll do a more extensive photo essay here on the blog later. Click here for the pictures: Yom HaZikaron Photo Album

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Yom HaZikaron 5767

You can feel the heaviness of the day. It's nothing at all like Memorial Day in America - which to most Americans is simply about sales and the beginning of Summer. Here almost all Israelis know of one (or sadly more) soldier personally that fell so that Israel could be. Here it's personal.

The flag on the Knesset is lowered to half staff (above.) And the nation grinds to a halt to remember who made this all possible as the siren sounds (below.)

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A Yom Hashoah Thought, The Day After

As the siren blared yesterday and I stood still along with everyone else on Kanfei Nesharim Street in Givat Shaul reflecting on the immeasurable horrors that transpired upon our nation it occurred to me that I am standing on a busy street in Jerusalem looking around at hundreds of other Jews who are all also residents of the Jewish State also standing and reflecting on the immeasurable horrors that occurred to our nation while standing still on a busy street in Jerusalem.

Think about that.

I don’t know if there could be any thought that could begin to comfort the Jewish People from our loss. Still it is at least an uplifting feeling to actually be united as one nation sharing our sorrow together – if only for a minute… and something that could only be experienced one place in the world.

We must never forget our past even as we build a brighter future.

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Life-Altering Experience

Friday marks the 3rd Yahrtzeit of our beloved Jay Litvin zt"l - a very wise, sensitive and brave Jew, who shared his deepest thoughts, fears, struggles and hopes in dozens of beautiful essays on so many areas of life: spirituality, death, parenting, children, faith, doubt, joy , Israel & "indispensability"...

Jay Litvin zt'l made Aliyah in 1993 to serve as medical liaison for Chabad's Children of Chernobyl program...

and took a leading role in airlifting children from the areas contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster; he also founded and directed Chabad's Terror Victims program in Israel (see: "The Hidden Angel"). Jay passed away in April of 2004 after a valiant four-year battle with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Reading Jay's articles is inspiring and powerful - and can (should!!) be a life altering experience.

Zechuto Yagein Aleinu

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A Ride to the Cemetery

You read about traffic accidents almost daily in Israel. They kill more Israelis each year than Arabs do. Today alone there were 97 traffic accidents. This past weekend 15 Israelis were killed on the road, 21 in the past week.



Two especially unique Jews, killed in the car above were, have left me grieving heavily, along with the rest of the nation of Israel.

Yocheved Chein, of blessed memory, died well before her time. She was 44, a devoted wife and mother of six. Well, maybe mother of eight, if I would count my wife and I. Yocheved was like a second mother to us.



This was one of the truly genuine women of our time. She was selfless, and righteous. She gave every last resource she could scrape to help others. It didn't matter if Yocheved knew you or not. If you needed something, and she heard, she was going to help. Convenience was not one of her considerations.

As the wife of a Chabad Shaliach, Yocheved's home was open 24-7. Their door was open all the time. Literally, even if they weren't home. And in Queens, that's not always advisable. I entered through their door on hundreds of occasions.

The Rabbi and Rebbitzin worked non-stop with the community of Georgian immigrants they devoted their life to. They taught them Judaism from scratch. The Georgians always knew that they were Jewish. The Chein's taught them how to be Jewish.

The Cheins were literally readying the world for Moshiach, one mitzvah at a time, and believe me, that is not an easy task.

I cannot tell you how many times the Chein family came to our assistance. Handing us a car, and giving me a second income from their community for two years--which I later found out sometimes came from their own pockets--are just a few of the memorable kindnesses they offered. We were regulars at their Shabbos table.



The Rabbi survived the crash with several broken ribs. Rabbi Chein is a Rav, mentor, and friend, in addition to a father-figure to me. How he escaped the car alive is a miracle that is overlooked amidst tragedy. The Rebbitzen and her mother passed away.



The Rebbitzen's mother, Rachel Tzedek Schneerson, of blessed memory, was a true matriarch figure. Her husband had passed away many years ago, and she raised the family. I'm not sure how many grandchildren she had, but it is in the dozens. Rachel was known to me, and the rest of the family as Bebby, or grandma in Georgian.

Bebby had a comforting smile. A glance in her eye told you that she knew something you didn't. I didn't get the chance to find out what it was.

Yocheved was a fireball. I have never seen a woman with so much energy. She was a perpetual optimist. Even when the cards didn't seem to line up aces, the Rebbitzin had no fear. She put all her trust in G-d, and didn't worry about the rest.

She had a loud voice, and was not afraid to let anyone hear her opinion. Yet, since she really was righteous, she never really offended anyone.

She cooked up a storm, Georgian-style. I am going to miss her spicy sauces, despite the fact that I am an Ashkenazi Jew who prefers that sweet European-style cooking.

Yocheved was a great wife and mother, and was without a doubt the glue that kept her fast-moving family together.

Though they were living in New York, sent there on Shlichut by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, they were Israeli at their core, and loved the Holy Land. The Rabbi and Rebbitzen came to Israel at least a few times a year to visit their family, including the Rebbitzen's mother Rachel, who lived in Kiryat Malachi.

On this trip, as they did every year, the Rebbitzen came to honor the passing of her father. On the yahretzeit (memorial day), this past Friday, the Rabbi, Rebbitzen, and her mother were on route to the cemetery to pay their respects.

They eventually made it to the gravesite, but not in the condition they had envisioned.

You can read about the accident, and see pictures from the site.

My wife and I, and two friends were supposed to meet the Cheins for breakfast in Jerusalem Friday morning. An hour before the rendez-vous we got a call from their daughters saying that for some reason breakfast was off. An hour later, we got the news.

I was at Yocheved's funeral Sunday night at Har HaZeitim (Mt. of Olives) cemetery. That is a spooky place at night. It is perhaps the oldest Jewish cemetery in the World, and it shows. Her grave stares straight across to the Temple Mount. It has been a while since I was at the funeral of a loved one. It is an uncomfortable feeling.

The Rabbi made it to the funeral despite the severe pain in his ribs. I know his physical pain is nothing compared to his emotional suffering. Their children flew in from NY to attend their mother's funeral. I can't imagine what that plane ride was like.

Funerals in Israel are not the same as in the states, particularly in Jerusalem.

I had never been to a funeral at night, and here in Israel, bodies are brought to the grave in just a sheet. No coffin. A member of the Chevra Kadisha (burial society) literally jumps into the grave, and lays the body down to rest.

And then it is over. Yocheved and her mother were returned to the earth and returned to their maker.

We are left to grieve in their wake. May they merit all the rewards of the righteous in the world to come, and may their memories be a blessing for the Jewish people.

May the Chein and Schneerson families be comforted among mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

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