kosher bookworm: alan jay gerber

Tragedies during our season of joy

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This year’s Jewish season of joy has been marred by a series of ongoing tragedies.

In his recent book, “Judaism Alive,” Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn of the Yavneh Academy in Los Angeles, makes the following telling observation in his brief chapter on Chanukah, “Life is Like a Dreidel”:

“Life is a seemingly random spin of the wheel. Ray Billington, in his discussion of moral philosophy, compares this outlook with the image of a bag filled with nails. Shake up the bag and the result is random and chaotic. This is one perception of time. The shortsightedness of this perception is that it ignores that great Hand controlling the dreidel. The Dinover Rebbe distinguishes between the control of a Purim gragger where the handle is below and the Chanukah dreidel where the handle is above. G-d’s Hand in the Chanukah story is open and revealed.”

This teaching is most relevant to both what is happening in the world today and to the lessons of history as experienced by us in the observance of Chanukah. The next time you witness a game of dreidel, please remember the above teaching.

In “A Time To Heal: The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Response To Loss and Tragedy,” by Mendel Kalmenson, the author relates a relevant teaching in his chapter, “The Jewish Answer To Evil”:

“When tragedy occurs on a community level, the shock and sense of vulnerability can be paralyzing. Difficult questions are raised, such as, ‘What do we do now? Should we fold up or scale back on our efforts and presence? Is this a sign that we’re in the wrong place, that this will never work?’ ”

After the village of Kfar Chabad was attacked by terrorists in 1956, the Rebbe, zt”l, taught that “while Judaism does not provide explanations for tragedy, it does have a response. Do not diminish or detract from your noble activities but increase and expand them.”

What applied to Kfar Chabad applies all the more to Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and all of Israel in our time, considering the obscene motives and brutal actions of our adversaries.

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