A few hours ago, the Israeli search and rescue teams in Turkey pulled out a 10 year old boy from the rubble, more than 100 hours after the deadly earthquake struck. The child was the 18th person rescued from under the rubble by the IDF search and rescue team.
In the face of this terrible tragedy in which the full scope of the damage is still far from known, and when the numbers we hear are in the tens of thousands, the saving of each individual child, or adult from under the rubble, is a miracle and fills us all with hope and elation.
Meanwhile hundreds of miles away in Jerusalem, a six year old child and a twenty year old young man were brutally murdered today in a ramming attack at a bus stop.
A senseless murder of a tiny young child, the age of one of my own young children.
As I protect my own little daughter and of course don't tell her a word about this, I gave her an extra hug, and thank G-d for the gift of life that he bestows upon us each and every day.
I did tell my daughter about all the coats, sleeping bags and humanitarian supplies that people have been dropping off at Chabad of Sudbury, to help the earthquake survivors, and how even if a tragedy happens thousands of miles away, we must do something to help them.
Man cannot begin to fathom and understand such terrible tragedies, but one thing is certain, we cannot simply just go on and pretend it didn't happen.
In fact, the name of this week's portion is Jethro, Yitro. He was the father in law of Moses, who chose to join the Jewish people after he heard about what they had been through.
He heard something and he didn't ignore it, he then took an action...
What the course of action might be is another discussion, yet certainly doing what we can to help those who are dealing with challenges, doing more on our end to make the world full of Mitzvos and good deeds and making our society a place of loving kindness and empathy, will certainly go a long way and bringing the blessings to the world that it certainly needs.
Lastly, this week, Shayna is in NY along with 5,000 other Chabad Shluchot from around the world, at the annual conference and gathering. Indeed thousands of women who are at the forefront of a movement bringing goodness, Mitzvot and light to all four corners of the globe.
As we light the Shabbat Candles today and usher in Shabbat, let us pray for the world and resolve to add even more goodness and kindness to the world around us to make it truly become the place that it needs to.
Shabbat Shalom
Yisroel
P.S If you would like to drop off Sleeping Bags, Tents, Coats and Hygiene Products at Chabad, we will be sending these over to a Turkish Group in Medford who are shipping these out.
You may drop off today before Shabbat or on Sunday.
To read a first hand report from the Chabad Rabbi in Turkey click here.