Our Heros in India

B"H

"And Jacob left Be'ersheva, and he set out for Charan" (Genesis 28:10)

This week marks the One year anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks that occurred in Mumbai, India.
One of the targets was the Chabad house, where, together with 4 other innocent Jews, Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg & his wife Rivki died al kidush Hashem - for the sake of G-d, for being Jewish.

Late this Thursday morning, many gathered on the streets below my Yeshiva in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem.
We sang and danced, gathering there to celebrate the inauguration of a newly built office building.
This office for Mayanot (my yeshiva) was named & dedicated in loving memory of the Holtzbergs.

One of the speakers was Rivki's brother, who runs his own "Chabad House" in Northern Israel.
He based his words on a verse found in this week's Torah portion:
"And Jacob left Be'ersheva and he set out for Charan."
He mentioned the explanation of our Rabbis, that Be'ersheva was a place where Jacob had been living serenely for the last 14 years, learning Torah and basking in the spirituality of his serene environment.
Charan, however, where he was headed to work for his uncle and start his family, was an extremely lowly and immoral place.

His sister Rivki, and brother-in-law Gabi, he explained, did the same thing.
They left Israel, where they lived and enjoyed all the physical and spiritual comforts a Jew could ever want, in order to go
to a place where every four steps a new "god" is being worshiped and poverty is rampant. No comforts. No serenity.
But they went nonetheless, in order to build a home of warmth and love for any Jew who found him/her self in Mumbai.
They suffered much hardship (losing 2 children from Tay-sachs disease) and yet always hosted loads of guests every night of the week with great warmth and friendship. They were like Abraham & Sarah of old, a tent of warmth and holiness for any hungry soul that happened to pass their way.

Since I felt I couldn't do justice to their amazing lives of self-sacrifice, I'm posting 1 story here to give a tiny glimpse into the lives of these holy "shluchim" - Chabad emissaries. May their memories inspire us to emulate their beautiful ways.
To learn more about them, check out: Chabad.org

They Had No "Personal Space" or "Down Time"

by Hillary Lewin

Many of you first heard of the Holtzberg family three days ago when news of the Mumbai hostage situation emerged. I feel compelled to write this letter, because I want the world to know who Rivky and Gabi Holtzberg were in life and to tell you what I witnessed of their accomplishments in their brief 27 and 29 years on earth. While I am devastated by their death, I am thankful that my life and so many others were touched by their purity, friendship and spirit.

Before I entered the Chabad house in Mumbai, I thought, "What kind of people would leave a comfortable and secure life in a religious community to live in the middle of Mumbai; a dirty, difficult, crowded city?" As I got to know Rivky and Gabi over the course of this past summer, I understood that G-d creates some truly special people willing to devote their lives to bettering the world.

I was first welcomed by Rivky, who had a big smile on her face and her baby Moishie in her arms. She ushered me and my fellow travelers into the Chabad house and immediately offered us something to eat and a sofa to rest on. We quickly became good friends. We bonded with the Holtzberg family and the staff at Chabad, including Sandra, the heroine who saved baby Moishie's life.

Like his parents, Moishe is a sweet, loving, happy baby. He was so attached to Rivky and Gabi. He got so excited to sing Shabbat Z'mirot (songs) every Friday night with his father, and I could tell by the light on Gabi's face when they were singing together, that he looked forward to it too. It breaks my heart that I can still hear Moishie's voice calling, "Ima, Ima, Ima", and she will no longer be able to hold him or rock him in her arms.

On my second Shabbat at Chabad, Rivky told me there were two Israeli men staying at the house who were just released from an Indian prison. When I saw these men sitting at the dinner table, I was startled. One man had only a front tooth and a raggedy pony tail, and the other looked like an Israeli version of Rambo. I observed the way that Gabi interacted with them and how they were welcomed at the Shabbat table the same way everyone else was, and my fears melted away. Over the course of the night, I learned that these men were not the only prisoners or ex-convicts the Holtzberg's helped. Gabi frequently brought Kosher meals to Israelis in prison, spent time with them, listened to their life stories, and took them in after their release.

I realized that Gabi and Rivky's job was not only to run a Chabad house and provide warm meals and beds for weary Jewish travelers, it was much greater. The Holtzbergs were running a remarkable operation.

They took their jobs as shlichim (emissaries) very seriously. Their lives never stopped. There was no such thing as "personal space" or "down time". The phones rang constantly, people came in and out like a subway station, and all the while Rivky and Gabi were calm, smiling, warm, and welcomed everyone like family.

Rivky spent each day cooking dinner with the chefs for 20-40 people, while Gabi made sure to provide meat for everyone by going to the local markets and schechting (slaughtering) them himself. They also provided travelers with computers for internet access, so that they wouldn't have to pay for internet cafes. They even took care of our laundry. Having spent much time abroad, it was clear to me that Rivky and Gabi were unusual tzadikkim (righteous people).

On my last Shabbat in India, Their apartment was dilapidated and bare but the guest quarters were decorated exquisitely. I slept in Rivky and Gabi's home, the 5th floor of the Chabad house. I noticed that their apartment was dilapidated and bare. They had only a sofa, a bookshelf, a bedroom for Moishie, and a bedroom to sleep in. The paint peeled from the walls, and there were hardly any decorations. Yet, the guest quarters on the two floors below were decorated exquisitely, with American-style beds, expansive bathrooms, air conditioning (a luxury in India) and marble floors. We called these rooms our "healing rooms" because life was so difficult in Mumbai during the week. We knew that when we came to Chabad, Rivky and Gabi would take care of us just like our parents, and their openness and kindness would rejuvenate us for the week to come.

The juxtaposition of their home to the guest rooms was just another example of what selfless, humble people Rivky and Gabi were. They were more concerned about the comfort of their guests than their own.

The Holtzberg's Shabbat table was a new experience each week. Backpackers, businessmen, diplomats and diamond dealers gathered together to connect with their heritage. We always knew we were in for a surprise where an amazing story would be told, either by Gabi or a guest at the table. For each meal, Gabi prepared about seven different divrei torah (words of torah) to share. Though most of them were delivered in Hebrew (and I caught about 25%), his wisdom, knowledge and ability to inspire amazed me. Rivky and Gabi were accepting of everyone who walked through their doors, and they had no hidden agendas. Rivky once told me that there was one holiday where they had no guests. It was just herself, Gabi and Moishie. I expected her to say how relieved she was not to have guests, but she told me it was, in fact, the only lonely holiday they ever spent in India.

I remember asking Gabi if he was afraid of potential terror threats. Although his demeanor was so sweet and gentle, Gabi was also very strong-minded and determined. He told me simply and sharply that if the terrorists were to come, "be my guest, because I'm not leaving this place." Both he and Rivky believed that their mission in Mumbai was far greater than any potential terror threats.

Everything Rivky and Gabi did came from their dedication, love and commitment to the Jewish people and to G-d. I cannot portray in words how remarkable this couple was. If there is anything practical that I can suggest in order to elevate their souls, please try to light candles this Friday night for Shabbat, improve relationships with family members and friends, try to connect to others the way that Rivky and Gabi did: with love, acceptance and open arms. There is so much to learn from them. May their names and influence live on, and inspire us in acts of kindness and love.

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May we all take to heart the inspiration of these spirit driven, selfless, holy souls into our own hearts, and direct our strengths to the good. To add in one positive deed in their memory,
click here:

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel
Jerusalem

P.S. To view either an:
8 min. very powerful video (might want to skip the beginning) see:
http://www.chabad.org/1043611
or
a 2 min. video of Rivki speaking about her life in India:Click here

When Wearing clothes means Staying True

B"H

~I hope this e-mail finds you in good spirits - if not, may it bring you to them!

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In this week's Torah portion, Toldot, we read about the birth and early years of Jacob & Esau. Born to righteous parents Issac & Rivkah, Jacob & Esau end up going separate paths, as the Torah says:"And the youths grew up, and Esau was a man who understood hunting, a man of the field, whereas Jacob was an innocent man, dwelling in tents." While Jacob lived preoccupied in learning and character refinement, Esau went out into the world, ready to conquer.

As time passes, Issac realizes that his life could be nearing a close, and therefore calls his son Esau to fetch for him food,where upon his return, he will be blessed by his father.When Rivkah overhears this (believing that Jacob is more deserving of blessing), she immediately commands her son Jacob to enter his father's tent with food she will prepare, and receive Issac's blessings instead of Esau.Since Esau happened to be very hairy, Rivkah dresses Jacob in a hairy animal's clothing, and Jacob enters his father's tent (Issac was blind and could only feel the difference in skin).

And Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come closer, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
So Jacob drew near to Isaac his father, and he felt him, and he said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
And he came closer, and he kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his garments, and he blessed him, and he said, "Behold, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field, which G-d has blessed!"

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Now the discussion as to what was really going on here; why Issac wanted to bless the wicked Esau, why Rivkah decided to intervene and "trick" Issac, etc. has many insightful explanations.

I would like to focus primarily on 1 part of the story: Jacob's need to disguise himself in Esau's clothing, in order to receive his father's blessings. If the blessings were meant for him by G-d, why was it set up in such a way that he had to go with a disguise in order to receive them?

Our Chassidic Masters explain the inner meaning behind this fascinating story of our forefathers. Jacob, the blemishless one, is a symbol for a Jew's G-dly soul. Esau, the hunter, the worldly one, is a symbol for a Jew's body.
Now in order for the soul (Jacob) to receive G-d's Blessing, in order to succeed in it's 'raison d'etre' - its reason for being, the soul cannot remain in the spiritual realms, but must rather descend into a coarse, physical body (Esau) - and into a physical world. For in order to affect the physical world, the soul alone is just not gonna cut it. It needs a body to work with. A soul cannot put on tefillin or light Shabbos candles or put up a mezuzah, but hands can.
The body is the vehicle in which the soul can succeed in its mission on earth.

But there's something more. There's an integral message here that we must make sure to never forget while riding in this vehicle called a body, during this stay in the physical world. And that is: Jacob must never forget that he is Jacob.
No matter how long he's wearing Esau's clothes, he must never forget who he truly is, who he must identify with. The soul, us, must never forget that we are souls on a mission. Yes, we're in bodies that need food, showers and pampering.And yes, we have to work in the world and succeed in it as best we can, leaving the 'tents of Jacob' and going out to conquer. But we mustn't forget who we really are, and what the purpose is of this excursion into the world.
As it says: "G-d Desired a Dwelling Place in the lower realms." - (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 16)

Our soul's perpetual mission is to infuse Jacob's pureness into Esau's "clothes" - the physical world. Treating others with kindness and doing favors, doing business honestly and fairly, doing Mitzvot and learning Torah, and keeping a focus on our spiritual side in order to never forget who we are, all brings the world closer to the home G-d Wishes to have.
When the twins Jacob & Esau were born, the Torah says Esau went out 1st, and Jacob's "hand was grasping Esau's heel."
The soul must have a hold on the physical, in order to uplift it. But we musn't get consumed by the world's flashy "appeal."We are Jacob underneath the clothes of Esau. We must remain true to our essence.

As Issac put it best:
"The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
Through the voice of Jacob, Torah and prayer, we can succeed in enriching our hands' work in this world to be the way it should be. And then we will receive all of the blessings possible, both materially and spiritually, in all that we need.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

-Daniel
Jerusalem

A marriage of 2 Extremes

B"H

In this week's Torah Portion, Chayei Sarah, we come across a very perplexing thing.
The portion's content centers around the events leading to the marriage of our great grand-parents, Yitzchak (Issac) and Rivkah (Rebecca).
We are told in great detail and at great length, how Avraham's servant Eliezer travels to Rivkah's town and finds her. Then Rivkah shows great kindness in watering his camels and shows the sterling character necessary as a mate
for the holy Yitzchak.
Then, when he reaches the home of Rivkah's family, the ENTIRE episode is re-told to us in the Torah, as Eliezer explains the miraculous events that led to his finding Rivkah. This saga ends as Rivkah agrees to marry Yitzchak and comes with Eliezer. Rivkah and Yitzchak then embark on their special lives of purity and spreading of good, and in the ultimate creation of the beginnings of the Jewish people. Why is this so strange? It's strange because the Torah never wastes words. Every word is learned from & pored over by our sages. To teach us critical laws and Mitzvot about how we are to live our lives for all generations,
the Torah generally suffices with very few words. Sometimes it suffices with mere hints! Yet we find with Yitzchak and Rivkah's match and subsequent marriage, pages and pages of information, with the event told to us a 2nd time! Why was this so necessary and important to write at such length? The Torah could have just written: "And Yitzchak married Rivkah" - or at least something shorter then what we have.
The inner dimension of the Torah explains to us what's really going on here.
Before his marriage, Yitzchak had reached an amazing degree of spiritual perfection. He was the 1st Jew to have a circumcision at 8 days, was then guided & educated by his father Avraham. He later showed an eagerness to sacrifice his Life for G-d, from which point he attained an extremely elevated level and was considered as a blemish less being.

Rivkah, on the other hand, is called in the mystical writings: "A rose among the thorns."
She was born in a wicked, idolatrous family, far removed from Issac's pure upbringing.


THUS, the union of Yitzchak & Rivkah was a meeting of extremes. It is for this very reason that the Torah goes to such lengths to focus on and expound the events leading to their coming together. For Torah is a guide to uniting extremes. Whenever a mitzvah is fulfilled, a mundane physical object becomes infused with G-dliness. The marriage of Yitzchak & Rivkah thus represents the marriage of the physical and the spiritual.

May well have a great Shabbat, and continue to try and learn from Yitzchak and Rivkah, to infuse all that we come in contact with, with holiness and good. From saying a blessing on food, to smiling and complimenting a postal worker, we can all change the world and transform it into heaven on earth, uniting the two extremes into a beautiful harmony.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel
Jerusalem, Israel

Lessons from a Near Death Experience

B"H

With SO many various important themes being mentioned in this week's Torah portion; The destruction of Sodom & Gemorah, Issac's birth and circumcision, the near-sacrifice of Issac, among many others - I felt overwhelmed to choose from them. I'll leave it up to you to research a bit ;)
So instead, I'm going to write about a fascinating subject I've been reading about lately in a book entitled: G-d, Rationality and Mysticism.
The subject centers on what Dr. Raymond A. Moody, Jr. calls: 'NDEs' - near-death experiences.

The last 2 chapters of the book which deal with this subject, include many amazing 1st-hand accounts by various people who,
after being considered clinically dead, recount everything they saw and experienced before returning to their bodies alive again.

The author of the book, Yitzchak (Irving) Block, describes how he 1st got involved in researching NDE's:

"(After reading Raymond A. Moody's book on the subject) I wondered if it was really as common as Moody claimed.
He had said that in any random group of 30 people, there will be at least 1 person who has had such an experience.
I found this hard to believe and decided to test it.
I was at that time teaching a course in philosophy of religion near London, Ontario...
(and) asked if anyone in the class had ever heard of such a thing. No one raised a hand. After the class was over, one of the young ladies in the class confided to me that she, herself, had had such an experience, but was reticent to talk about it in public. This is the story she told:
'She was pregnant with here 2nd child and hemorrhaged. She fainted from loss of blood and the next thing she knew she was out of her body looking down at it, while her husband was slapping her wrists in an attempt to revive her. She could see an ambulance backing up in the driveway and watched as the two attendants prepared the ambulance to receive her. She even noticed the license plate of the ambulance. She felt herself moving upwards and then realized that she might be 'dead' and was leaving her family behind. She looked into the next room where her two-year old child was sleeping and felt a desire to return to her body to take care of him, and the next thing she knew she was back in her body looking up at her husband who was slapping her wrists.
She later told her husband the entire story, but he refused to believe her until she described how the ambulance was backed up into the driveway, and the license plate of the ambulance which she remembered. Her husband later checked with the ambulance company to see if the number tallied, and it did. That's when he began to believe the reality of what his wife was describing.'

Now, 20 years after my 1st encounter w/ NDEs & some 12 books I have read on the matter since then...in my mind it is not only rational to accept the truth of NDEs, but actually irrational not to accept them in light of all the evidence."

Block goes on to sight cases he's heard from doctors that are quite impossible to doubt; a great read if you ever get the chance.
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Now many, if not all, of the NDErs describe hovering over their bodies & looking down from above, watching it lying lifeless on the ground below.
But what happens next is what is truly amazing and where we can gleam lessons to last us a lifetime.
What these souls experience while they are outside of their bodies, tends to instill in them a greater compassion, kindness,
appreciation of love and learning, an urgency and feeling of purpose in their lives.
Also, "The NDEers live the rest of their lives w/ the conviction that they saw & experienced a realm of reality far superior to the physical world and one to which they look forward to returning to when their time comes to really 'die.'"
What is it that they see?

Unfortunately, there isn't enough room to write all of the various descriptions mentioned.
But a consistent event mentioned by nearly every case is that of a "Life Review."
Similar to watching a movie, one watches a review of every event in one's life, except now you experience it from the point of view
of the other who was helped or hurt. "When I was there in that review there was no covering up. I was the very people that I hurt, and I was the very people I helped to feel good. I wish I could find some way to convey to everyone how good it feels to know that you are responsible & to go through something like this where it is impossible not to face it. It is the most liberating feeling in the world."

One part of Dannion Brinkley's account in his book about his NED is particularly powerful. "...As these visions ended, I had the amazing realization that these Beings were desperately trying to help us, not because we were such good guys, but because without us advancing spiritually here on earth, they could not become successful in their world. "You humans are truly the heroes," a Being told me. "Those who go to earth are heroes and heroines, because you are doing something that no other spiritual beings have the courage to do. You have gone to earth to co-create with G-d."
In 1973, Rachel Noam, a young Israeli woman who grew up on the secular Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzair, was struck on the head by an 18-ft. wooden beam from 5 stories up from a construction site. After describing her initial hovering, then ascent, and then "life review" movie, Rachel describes "...the magnificent stream of light was accompanied by a flow of sublime love, a kind of love I had never before experienced. It was unlike the love of parents toward their children, the love of friends and relatives or the love of Eretz Yisrael. Any love I had ever felt was nothing but a tiny speck compared to this exalted, powerful love. Even if all the sparks of love that abound in this world were to combine they could not equal the powerful, pure love I sensed. Faced with this overpowering love, I felt incapable of remaining an independent entity; I simple melted away...No words can describe the enchantment, the wonder, the incomparable, infinite goodness.
I discerned in it qualities of compassion, spiritual pleasure, strength, happiness and beauty, all in infinite profusion."
Seven years later, Rachel stumbled upon a Siddur (prayer book) at a friend's house in Jerusalem.
The opening words she read on the 1st page were: "Modeh ani lefanecha...I gratefully thank You, O Living and Eternal King, that you returned my soul within me with compassion - abundant is your faithfulness!"
Rachel describes her overwhelming emotions at finally reading what she knew to be true! (Remember that she had never seen a siddur in her life growing up on her kibbutz.) She spent the rest of the night reading it, and slowly grew in her connection to her Jewish observance, enjoying all of the Kabbalah and Chassidut, specifically Tanya, that actually described her soul and spiritual reality.
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In Judaism, emphasis on death and the life there-after, while important, is not focused on so much.
For, as Dannion Brinkley heard 1st-hand, the main mission and action is here on earth. While these special accounts of life-after-death can comfort us that the next world is amazing and full of peace and comfort, we must take from them inspiration to focus on our life here in this world, and the preciousness of every moment. Here is where we can fulfill our own unique mission and purpose for our existence.
And as Chassidut explains, the Ultimate intention is really to build this world into a dwelling place for G-d, where He will dwell together with us here on Earth. Why not in heaven?! For, as the mystical techings explain, G-d's Essence, beyond any revelation in the spiritual realms, is found and expressed in this world, and will be revealed with the final Redemption with Moshiach. May it happen now!

I want to end off with one more beautiful account by a woman who's life-review enforced in her the preciousness of life and the importance of the little things done in life, as much as the bigger things:
"For instance, one of the incidents that came across very powerfully in her review was a time when she found a little girl lost in a department store. The girl was crying, and the woman set her up on a counter and talked to her until her mother arrived.
It was those kind of things - the little things you do while not even thinking - that come up most importantly in the review."

I wish you all long life :)
And may we all use out our lives to get in touch with our souls, and to imbue those around us and ourselves with warmth, kindness, and compassion - all in a joyful manner!

Shabbat Shalom!

Daniel
Jerusalem, Israel