On Monday night, October 7, the community gathered at Congregation Ahavas Yisrael for an Aseres Y’mei T’shuvah Kinus Hisorerus, which included three inspirational speakers and a siyum Shishah Sidrei Mishnah in memory of the k’doshim murdered on Sh’mini Atzeres/Simchas Torah 5784.
First, Rav Herschel Welcher, Rav of Congregation Ahavas Yisrael, welcomed everyone. He noted how the Yom Kippur War was extremely dangerous for three days, while in the situation today, the citizenry are in constant danger with sirens all over Israel today.
Last year, the mindset of the Yamim Nora’im began on Simchas Torah.
The people who were killed on October 7 were murdered by the haters of Israel. It is important that we honor their memory.
Then, Rabbi Moshe Bilitzky led everyone in reciting T’hilim.
Following this, Rabbi Shaya Cohen, Rosh Yeshivas Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh, shared that, in S’lichos, we said, “Hashem, heal your people from all brokenness.” This past year, most of us had no precedent for the pain and suffering endured by klal Yisrael. We’ve endured so much tragedy, bloodshed, sadness, and a sense of endlessness. Yet, there are so many unusual sidebars and unusual occurrences. These give us some means of coping with the magnitude of these tragedies.
An event early in the hostage-taking was documented in a video that went viral. It was about a woman named Margolit. For a z’chus for her daughter to be freed, she baked challah, and you see her saying the brachah on hafrashas challah. She holds up the challah and, in the middle, she yells from the depths of her heart, “Hashem, I love you. I’m dying over you!” The good news was that her daughter was released a few days later. Also, her uncle had accepted upon himself to keep Shabbos as a merit for her release.
We have no idea what awakening and reconnecting to Hashem took place in the midst of the depths of suffering. This says something about who every Jew is. Soldiers were requesting t’filin and tzitzis. “The fire from within exploded with desire to connect to Hashem.”
A lesson in history is that a difficulty wakes us up. There was a girl who was “anti” everything religious. After October 7, she decided to go learn Torah in seminary.
He quoted from Shir HaShirim and explains that there is a mashal of a husband banging on the door of his estranged wife. He begs her to please open the door and let him in. She responds coldly; she doesn’t want to dirty her feet. She rejects his love. She sees his hand in the window and then her essence churns with love. She jumps up to open the door for him. This cold person changed. Rashi says that the suffering of klal Yisrael causes us to respond to Hashem. When He begs us to come back, tragedy happens and that wakes us up. This is testimony to the depth of love of Hashem that is inside every Jew. This is who we are and what klal Yisrael is made of.
None of the events on October 7 were random. These people who were murdered merited to die al kiddush Hashem and they were elevated to Olam HaBa. They also merited all the influence they had on all the people who were awakened to their Yiddishkeit. We feel an awakening to contemplate how short our life is and how we can improve ourselves and our communities. These are all their merits.
Before a soul comes into the world, it is shown what will be from the moment of birth to the time it leaves the world and the soul signs off on it. We agree to it. This world is the vestibule to the real world.
When Iyov (Job) questioned Hashem about his suffering, Hashem’s response was: Were you here when I created the world? You don’t see the full picture. Hashem hinted to him that he would have children, health, and wealth again. This helped him to recover.
We look at the magnitude of suffering and tragedy, and it’s very hard. We have to remember that all Hashem does is for the good. To accept this, we need a hint of optimism that things will be all right.
The Yamim Nora’im are days of fear and trepidation – so much so that we want to run away from Hashem. We run into His embrace. We realize that there is no place to run. We know that He is the only address that can save us. We’ve experienced a year of fear and threats to Jews worldwide. Deep down, we know Hashem loves us and we love Him.
Sh’mini Atzeres is a special Yom Tov. It’s the ultimate expression of Hashem’s love for us. He says: Give me one more day. He can’t bear to be without us.
The question is: How could such tragedies take place on that day? Maybe those events elevated the victims to infinite states beyond our comprehension and elevated so many others and families to come back to Hashem. We have to see Hashem’s love even in the most tragic times.
The midah necessary for Yamim Nora’im is to see Hashem’s chesed. David HaMelech said that His trust is infinite. Everything You do is chesed. We want to connect to Hashem.
In Hashem, our heart will rejoice because we have bitachon in Him. We need to realize that Hashem wants to help us in everything in life. He is the one who shields us and helps us. We experience joy in our relationship because of our trust in Hashem. We rejoice in that relationship because of our trust. We know that klal Yisrael will survive and come out stronger.
Following this, Rabbi Ariel Cohen, OU-JLIC Rabbi at Brandeis University, who served several months in Gaza, shared stories about his experience on the college campus in Boston and serving in the IDF in Gaza.
He was 37, so he was no longer on active reserve duty but when he heard what happened last year on October 7, he enlisted and headed back to Israel, leaving his wife and children and a new baby behind in Boston.
He shared how Brandeis University did not have a bad situation in terms of anti-Semitism, but he had a friend who came from Israel to do research at MIT, and his friend was unable to do it for a whole year because Jews couldn’t go into the buildings he needed to enter for research. At Harvard University, there’s a huge sign that says, “Free Palestine.” He has a friend at Rutgers University who is afraid to go to work. Somerville, a city near Boston, sponsored a pro-Palestinian parade.
He shared his admiration and gratitude for all the donations that poured into Israel. He noted how 62,000 pairs of boots were donated to the army. When he enlisted, he was sent a list of items needed, and he put the list on a WhatsApp group. Everything was brought within ten hours. When he left for Israel, he brought eight duffle bags of items for the army.
He shared how, in Gaza, every house had a big picture of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and a map of Gaza without Israel. Mothers and babies were near terrorists. The mothers didn’t care to protect their babies or children.
He shared how he felt the achdus of klal Yisrael. Everyone offered to help the army. Someone gave him a house to stay in, in one of the kibbutzim. They said: Use it like it’s yours. People sent so much food for Shabbos. A family came and barbecued hamburgers for the soldiers in Gaza.
He shared a miraculous story of how he was in a tank and one of the people in his tank was shot in the neck. A helicopter was sent for, but they didn’t want to land in Gaza. They finally did, and they rescued the injured soldier. Baruch Hashem, he survived.
Following this, Rabbi Welcher shared that we see tremendous din and also tremendous rachamim. It’s been a very difficult year, and we hope this year of din is behind us.
After this, Rabbi Ruby Ginsberg conducted a siyum Shishah Sidrei Mishnah in memory of the k’doshim murdered on Simchas Torah 5784.
Then, Rabbi Uri Becker chanted the Keil Malei Rachamim.
By Susie Garber
