Yesterday, I virtually participated in a Chuppah Wedding Ceremony in Israel for a wedding that was supposed to take place two weeks ago. The groom was a combat officer in a reservist unit, and had been called to the front so the wedding was postponed. Yet when I spoke to them two days ago, they had just received word that the groom was being given off 48 hours to get married.
Watching the ceremony which included many moving songs, tears and prayers, and watching the bride enjoy her Chatan, who is now already back at the front, was extremely moving and powerful, and it was a bright light in the middle of a challenging moment.
It is now, when the darkness and hatred are in the streets, universities and cities of our country, and of course when the battle rages on the borders of the Holy Land, when we must continue to find the beacons of light, which remind us of who we are, why we are here, and what we know we will G-d willing accomplish.
This morning, a soldier on the front lines called me while he was on the way home for the weekend. I said hello and he broke down crying, as he pulled to the side of the road, and we spoke about everything he and his friends are facing, and what they are fighting for.
Here I was thousands of miles away, but my heart and emotions were with him, on the side of a road in the south of Israel. He asked me for a message and some words and we spoke for a while.
We discussed the portion of the week, Lech Lecha, in which G-d tells Abraham, "go for yourself, and leave behind your birthplace and land, and go to the place I will show you". Abraham began a journey and a commitment that defied logic, the numbers didn't add up, it was a journey to the unknown, and he was taking an extremely unpopular position, yet he was strong in his determination, even though the challenges only kept growing, because he knew he was onto something bigger, something that would change the destiny of mankind for the good for generations to come.
We spoke of the events of today, and how they are not just another event, but a part of the history of the Jewish people and humanity that is unfolding before us. It is a part of the past, present and future, all at the same time, and we are the ones who have have to respond in the right way on so many levels.
Lastly, I shared, how G-d told Abraham, go for yourself, or go to yourself. Meaning, in the process of this journey, with all of it's challenges, you will discover your inner self, and an inner strength, that you may have not even known you had, and it is this strength, which will help us, not only navigate the challenges and the responsibilities which we have been given by G-d to do for ourselves, and humanity at large, but also, to succeed even more than we could have ever imagined.
We ended off the conversation, and I thought about the many conversations I have had this week, with local people, or with people in Israel, which have been full of a whole range of emotions, but also, with the underlying knowledge and sentiment that we have been endowed by G-d though our faith, hope and history, with the ability to overcome all the darkness and hatred out there.
עם הנצח לא מפחד מדרך ארוכה
The Eternal Nation, is not afraid of the Long Journey!
In 1973, shortly after the Yom Kippur War, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel and a child survivor of Buchenwald, came to meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In pain and with emotion he said to the Rebbe, "Mah Yiheyeh, or Voz Vet Zein" (What will be?).
The Rebbe turned to him, with an equally emotional filled face and said to him, as Jews, we respond not with Mah Yihehyeh, What Will be, but with Mah Naaseh, What will we do?
The Tzav Hashaah, the Call of the Hour, is for us to never give in to the pain, hatred, bias, but rather to be strong, to live Am Yisrael Chai with pride, to do extra Mitzvot, to do extra acts of kindness, put up more Mezuzot on our doors, to lay Tefillin, to wear a Kippah, Light Shabbat Candles, and Pray, and yes, do everything we can to help Israel and our brethren from wherever we are and pray for peace and security for everyone caught up in this.
Candle Lighting Time in Sudbury today is at 5:28pm and it is a special time to pray for peace and pray for Israel and everyone we know and don't know who is caught up in this.
Shabbat Shalom & Am Yisrael Chai
Yisroel