Dear Friend,
Our hearts are shattered by the heinous and horrific attack on our brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh. We mourn the 11 holy souls who were so cruelly torn from our midst, and pray to G‑d to provide strength and comfort to their shocked and grieving families. Their unfathomable pain is shared by the entire Jewish people and all people worldwide.
We further pray for the complete and speedy healing of the injured, of the survivors and of the entire Pittsburgh community.
No words can possibly describe this pure evil. Jews who gathered to pray and celebrate Shabbat were killed for no reason other than the fact that they were Jewish. Again: While praying! On Shabbat! The killer's bullets we're aimed at us all. "All Jews must die," he yelled while opening fire.
What is the remedy to such senseless hatred?! What can we possibly do to eradicate it?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory, answered this a number of times, with clarity and conviction:
Boundless love.
Cold-blooded, fanatical, baseless, relentless hatred can be uprooted from its core only by saturating our world with pure, undiscriminating, uninhibited, unyielding love and acts of kindness.
Today more than ever, we need to spread love and unity; positivity and light.
We must continue to walk to our synagogues proudly. And, even as we grieve and mourn, we must increase exponentially our acts of goodness and kindness.
Some of the injured were law enforcement heroes who willingly chose to put their own lives in danger to help others. We stand in awe of their courage and dedication. And we are grateful to live in a country that protects our right to live openly and proudly as Jews. We value immensely the friendship and outpouring of support from so many of our fellow Americans.
* * *
To help illuminate this thick darkness and eradicate evil, let's join forces with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. Our brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh -- and the entire world! -- need our prayers and mitzvot (good deeds) now more than ever!
The rabbis, rebbetzins and staff of Chabad-Lubavitch in Pittsburgh are doing their utmost to support the grieving families and the entire community. They are also committed to increasing the sense of Jewish unity and Jewish pride.
In that light, they have called for a campaign to install (affix) 1,100 Mezuzot in the Pittsburgh region, a hundred Mezuzot in the memory of each victim that lost their lives in the attack.
We are all one family. Your loss is our loss. Together we mourn, together we cry.
Let's show them we care. Let's join them!
Regardless of where you live around the globe, you can join this campaign. If you don't have a Mezuzah at your door(s), please do so in honor of the victims. Even if you have a Mezuzah at your front door, you can fulfill this Mitzvah by adding a Mezuzah in other rooms inside your home.
If you already have Mezuzot on all doorposts of your home and office, please consider choosing another Mitzvah in their honor.
In addition, you can also add your very own condolences note that will be hand-delivered to the families of the victims.
May this global show of unity bring some solace to the families and bring healing to our fractured world.
Let us beseech G-d to send healing and comfort to the grieving families, and pray that He quickly eradicate all evil and hatred and usher in the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our days.
Let us pray fervently for the complete and speedy recovery of the injured!
In the merit of our collective mitzvot and prayers, may each of us -- and all of us as one! -- be comforted at this extraordinarily challenging time.
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