On Sunday night, October 15, Let’s Get Real With Coach Menachem featured a supportive virtual shiur featuring Rabbi YY Jacobson, well-known speaker, Dean of yeshiva.net and maggid shiur at Beis Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, Dr. Akiva Perlman, LCSW, PhD, and Clinical Director of Social work at ODA, and Mr. Eli Beer, founder of United Hatzalah of Israel.
Coach Menachem Bernsen shared first that we have to get together and uplift each other. “It’s hard to believe this can happen in the world today. We are all in pain. We need to strengthen our emunah and bitachon.”
Rabbi YY Jacobson shared that “there are moments in life when it is very difficult to speak, and one wants to remain silent. We just went through one of the most difficult weeks since the Holocaust. There have not been so many Jews murdered since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago. No one thought we’d have to live through this trauma and grief. More than one thousand families are sitting shiv’ah and are making funerals. Four thousand are wounded and more than one hundred were taken into captivity. We’re all touched to our very core this week.”
Hamas plans to strike fear into the Jewish people and to demoralize Israelis and the Jewish people. Iran was behind it. They want to break us.
It is essential now to lift the morale of the Jewish people.
He told a story that took place this past Thursday at the University of North Carolina. There was a protest going on against Israel, and a professor who is Jewish, but not at all religious, was outraged by what he heard the protestors screaming. He shouted at the protestors: “You are saying things like Nazis who celebrated and were overjoyed to burn Jewish babies.” He was escorted away by the police.
When he arrived in his classroom, one of his students approached him with a bouquet of flowers. She said, “I’m so proud of you. You stood up for decency and humanity. I wanted to show you my gratitude.”
He asked her if she was Jewish and she said no. She said, ”You are the chosen people. You may not believe it, but we all know it.”
During this week we saw the hatred towards us. This hate directed at us shows us who we are. We must be so good and holy. Evil despises us because we are the antithesis of those who hate us. You are the embodiment of the deepest goodness and divinity and morality in the world. This is a time of a lot of pain that needs to elevate us to become what we can be. Our calling is to lift up our morale as Jews.
“Last Shabbos, every Jew was summoned to battle. The question is not if you were drafted. The question is what is my mission today? How will I lift up my brothers and sisters with fortitude, resolve, and courage?
War can bring out clarity and decisiveness that is unparalleled. We can respond on a core level. We need to crystalize what we stand for and why Hamas wants to destroy us.”
He said that we shouldn’t allow fear and panic to overwhelm us. Instead, we need to open ourselves to our unique calling – our mission. It is a critical time for the Jewish people and for Israel.
Eli Beer shared his experience in Israel during this past week. “I’ve never seen such unity in Israel! I saw us all as one unit – one family. Things could have been ten times worse. Hamas planned to come to Yerushalayim.”
Thousands of Hatzalah volunteers rushed out to help. He shared that his wife Gitty, who is a paramedic, saved at least 40 people. She was treating people in Sderot while under fire. Jews were hiding in attics and calling Hatzalah for help. Am Yisrael came together. People ran out of shul in taleisim to rescue people. We saw 1,700 volunteers – all frum Jews – ran out from shul to help. Hatzalah responded to and treated 2,500 victims of terror and 1,900 emergencies. Baruch Hashem, United Hatzalah was ready. They are always practicing. He said, “I am so proud of everyone in am Yisrael. The only way to win is with achdus.”
He pointed out that goyim who hate us look for an opportunity when Jews hate Jews. At 6:30 a.m. on Shabbos, am Yisrael came together.
He shared how all different types of Jews rushed together to help. “It’s about time that we love each other.” Every family in Israel is affected. He shared some horrible heart-wrenching stories of Hamas cruelty. He also shared how a Bedouin Arab and a Muslim doctor who were trying to help were also tortured by Hamas. This is the biggest murder of Jews since the Holocaust. In one day, over 1,500 people were killed. “My hope is that we will get chizuk from the achdus and ahavas Yisrael that we are seeing.”
He said that when you see another Jew, no matter where you are, smile at him. We need this achdus. It is the only way we will survive.
Dr. Perlman shared that trauma is defined by an experience we cannot integrate. The best we can do is to share with one another and love one another. “Find a way to contribute. Say T’hilim, learn more Torah, and send money. “Mi k’amcha Yisrael?”
Rabbi Jacobson shared that the externality of the Jewish people is never a question.
Hashem should bring the y’shuah in the blink of an eye.
By Susie Garber
