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  • #1237380
    YW463
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    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

    [email protected] 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!

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