| Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois and it's 49 Centers invite you to a community wide evening of
Jewish Unity, Solidarity and Prayer
in response to yesterday's tragic event at Chabad of Poway
in cooperation with the JUF/Jewish Federation
the Chicago Rabbinical Council and local Jewish organizations Monday, Nissan 24, April 29, 6:00 pm at the Holiday Inn North Shore 5300 West Touhy Ave. Skokie, IL (Just west of the Edens Expressway) *** Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois and its 49 centers are heartbroken at the cold-blooded attack on our brothers and sisters—Jews of all walks of life gathered yesterday at Chabad of Poway in celebration and prayer to the Almighty for Shabbos and final day of Passover. While commemorating the Jewish people's miraculous liberation from bondage and persecution more than 3,300 years ago, and preparing to remember their departed loved ones at the Yizkor service, these beautiful people were heinously attacked for no reason other than the fact that they were Jewish. We offer our immense gratitude to G-d that the full scope of the murderer's evil intent to commit mass murder was miraculously unrealized when his rifle inexplicably jammed, though tragically not before snuffing out the life of a most beautiful human being, and injuring others. Indeed, we mourn the holy soul of community trailblazer and activist Lori Gilbert-Kaye—Leah bat Reuven—who was so cruelly torn from our midst, and pray that G-d provide strength to her family and that they find solace in the many people she touched and the myriad activities she set in motion. The fruits of the immense good she planted on this earth will serve forever as an extension of her very life. We pray for the healing of all the injured, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein—Yisroel ben Chana Priva—who lost his index finger while being shot at from point-blank range and yet instantly ran to protect the children, 8-year-old Noya bat Eden (Dahan) and her uncle, Almog ben Ruti (Peretz) visiting from Sderot, Israel, and no stranger to terrorist attacks. We pray for the healing and comfort of their families, the entire Poway community, the Jewish people worldwide, and the entire world community—men, women and children of every type, each created in the image of the benevolent G-d whose hearts ache from senseless tragedies like these. * At the onset of the Passover holiday only one week ago, at familial and communal seders held worldwide millions of Jews proclaimed that "[though] in every generation they rise to destroy us… the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand," due to the unbreakable bond of His everlasting covenant with the Jewish people. In light of this covenant, the Rebbe taught that we may not hide or cower even in the face of pure evil. To the contrary, we must drive it away. How? 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, and by teaching that to all our children, in our schools and our homes. Today more than ever, the Rebbe taught, we must spread love and unity; positivity and light. We must fulfill our covenant to spread the light of G-d, to act upon the urgent responsibility we all share to recognize and nurture within each other the loving handiwork of the Creator of all things. Even as we grieve and mourn, we must increase exponentially our acts of goodness and kindness. As Jews it surely behooves us also to increase our adherence to our special mitzvot, like donning tefillin (for men) and lighting Shabbat candles (for women), and to help others do the same. While performing our increased mitzvot let us keep in mind that in so doing we are extending the life of Leah bat Reuven. * To contribute to Chabad of Poway and help a traumatized Jewish community move forward click here. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment