Rabbi's weekly Blog - Chabad of Basel

We Will Not Stop Dancing

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 - 2:45 PM

When the cursed Gazans planned their attack on the people of Israel, the planning was precise, down to the exact hour and, in my opinion, especially the exact day. It's clear to everyone just how much the vile murderer Yahya Sinwar is a meticulous and calculated man. It increasingly seems that he knows very well what stirs the Israelis, what brings them to the streets, and he plays with these emotions of ours with the cold composure of a mass murderer.

It is not by chance that he chose Simchat Torah as the day of the massacre, just as the Nazis did not accidentally carry out the Babi Yar massacre in Kyiv on Yom Kippur. He, like them, sought a Jewish holiday to turn into mourning. He chose Simchat Torah because his goal is not only to kill Jews but also to kill Judaism. Like all our enemies before him, they never settled for harming our bodies but also aimed to hurt our souls. Their goal is not only to harm our flesh and blood but also our spirit, and in my opinion, it's not just "also," but primarily. Their main aim is to harm our spirit.

We Will Not Stop Dancing

We cried last year when the news came, but we did not stop dancing. We danced and cried. It was hard to keep dancing on the second day, on October 8th, when Simchat Torah was celebrated abroad, but we knew that if we stopped dancing, it would be as if we surrendered to the evil murderer, and he would have achieved his goal.

We Will Not Stop Dancing

A reservist who was on leave in Basel told me: "I’m from Ofakim, our synagogue was hit, several of our friends were murdered when they went out with their personal weapons to face the war machines of the murderous Gazans, but one thing is clear to me and all my friends: this year, we will dance not only in the synagogue but also in the streets of the city because no one and nothing will stop us from rejoicing with our Torah."

We will remember the fallen, we will remember the murdered, we will remember the wounded, and of course, we will remember and remind others of the dear captives. But we will not give Sinwar the satisfaction that Jews are not joyful on Simchat Torah. He did not kill or capture our souls because no one can break the spirit of this nation.

Happy holiday, Jews, and don't stop dancing.

Rabbi Zalman Wishedski

We Will Not Stop Dancing

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 - 2:45 PM

When the cursed Gazans planned their attack on the people of Israel, the planning was precise, down to the exact hour and, in my opinion, especially the exact day. It's clear to everyone just how much the vile murderer Yahya Sinwar is a meticulous and calculated man. It increasingly seems that he knows very well what stirs the Israelis, what brings them to the streets, and he plays with these emotions of ours with the cold composure of a mass murderer.

It is not by chance that he chose Simchat Torah as the day of the massacre, just as the Nazis did not accidentally carry out the Babi Yar massacre in Kyiv on Yom Kippur. He, like them, sought a Jewish holiday to turn into mourning. He chose Simchat Torah because his goal is not only to kill Jews but also to kill Judaism. Like all our enemies before him, they never settled for harming our bodies but also aimed to hurt our souls. Their goal is not only to harm our flesh and blood but also our spirit, and in my opinion, it's not just "also," but primarily. Their main aim is to harm our spirit.

We Will Not Stop Dancing

We cried last year when the news came, but we did not stop dancing. We danced and cried. It was hard to keep dancing on the second day, on October 8th, when Simchat Torah was celebrated abroad, but we knew that if we stopped dancing, it would be as if we surrendered to the evil murderer, and he would have achieved his goal.

We Will Not Stop Dancing

A reservist who was on leave in Basel told me: "I’m from Ofakim, our synagogue was hit, several of our friends were murdered when they went out with their personal weapons to face the war machines of the murderous Gazans, but one thing is clear to me and all my friends: this year, we will dance not only in the synagogue but also in the streets of the city because no one and nothing will stop us from rejoicing with our Torah."

We will remember the fallen, we will remember the murdered, we will remember the wounded, and of course, we will remember and remind others of the dear captives. But we will not give Sinwar the satisfaction that Jews are not joyful on Simchat Torah. He did not kill or capture our souls because no one can break the spirit of this nation.

Happy holiday, Jews, and don't stop dancing.

Rabbi Zalman Wishedski

My hidden inner treasure

Friday, October 11, 2024 - 5:16 AM

The Chassid Yitzchak Pinchas Wishedski of Vitebsk, may his memory be a blessing, my father’s grandfather, was in the synagogue with many other Jews of the city on Yom Kippur of 5702, 1941. I am certain that he was fasting and praying when the Nazis locked the synagogue doors and set it on fire with its occupants inside.

I am reminded of this today because I need strength before this Yom Kippur of the year 5784, the Yom Kippur following October 7th.

Whenever I face a challenge or great difficulty, I look inward and seem to draw strength from a hidden treasure that my ancestors and their ancestors stored up for me.

We are all immigrants or children of immigrants. Almost every Jew I know has either themselves or their parents immigrated from one country to another. They came from Russia, Poland, Georgia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, and Syria—almost all of them arriving with nothing, no material possessions, no assets, and many with few relatives. But they brought with them a powerful spiritual treasure chest, full of strength, full of hope, full of faith, full of passion and a desire to continue, and this treasure they bequeathed to us.

I imagine in those times that I have within me a hidden inner treasure chest that I can open and draw from the strength of my Boby Chayke, who lost her child while fleeing from the Germans, but continued on a long, arduous journey, and was eventually blessed to see her descendants—me, my brother, and my cousins. I imagine drawing from the strength of my Zaidy Moshe, who, upon hearing that his brothers and sisters, as well as his parents and uncles, were all murdered by the Nazis in Vitebsk, continued onward, holding my father, then a baby, in his hands. He began reciting Kaddish every Yom Kippur for his father who was martyred, but never projected misery to his son, and was ultimately blessed to see a flourishing family.

Neither the grandmother nor the grandfather mentioned left us material inheritance; they had nothing. They immigrated with nothing and built everything anew. But they most certainly passed on to us the powerful Jewish strength of the Pride of Jacob, a lifted head, a revival from the ashes—an inheritance that they, too, had received from their ancestors.

So when I approach this Yom Kippur after October 7th, I remember my great-grandfather, whom I never had the privilege of knowing. I am sure that, there, wearing his kittel and fasting, even as the flames rose, he stood with his head held high, confident that ‘it would be okay,’ believing that Am Yisrael Chai.

And I, too, believe that Am Yisrael Chai.

My dear brothers and sisters,

Gmar Chatima Tova and Am Yisrael Chai.

Rabbi Zalman Wishedski