Obviously everyone has heard about the shooting at the Chabad synagogue in San Diego. I just want to say that I heard an audio about what really happened.... the gunman shot a woman Lori Gilbert Kaye HY''D and then shot at Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was operated on to save the fingers of one hand, and a young child Noya Dahan was hit with shrapnel. The gunman then ran out of ammunition.
After all of this, believe it or not, the congregation carried on with their Seudah Moshiach.
In the merit of this incredible act of faith Moshiach should come immediately !
8 comments:
I read that the woman jumped in front of the Rabbi to save him. That’s why they are speaking so highly of Lori Gilbert Kaye a”h
So many Korbanos lately. So many children also.
Now let me tell you the REAL story, as I just heard first-hand from the Rabbi's sister.
Rabbi Goldstein excused himself from services briefly to wash his hands etc in the foyer immediately prior to the Yizkor service. It was while he was in the foyer area when the shots rang out and he saw the fatality: Lori Gilbert-Kaye fall to the ground. He noticed the shooter with his gun and managed to get his hand on it attempting to wrestle it out to protect his congregation. It was at that moment that the gun discharged blowing off two of Rabbi Goldstein's fingers. No more bullets exited the barrel as the gun jammed following the scuffle.
Meanwhile an off duty law enforcement officer joined the efforts and pursued the shooter who ran to his car and fled the scene. He lost his opportunity to enter the sanctuary and perpetrate an untold amount of carnage.
Rabbi Goldstein underwent 8 hours of operation on his hand, but they were unable to save two of his fingers.
Rabbi Goldstein is obviously an incredible man, and this event is nothing short of miraculous.
That, my friends, is the true story, transcribed verbatim from the Rabbi's sister who lives in Australia. You will not read it in the media, but you will read it here.
A miracle, thanks to the Rabbi, who saved his congregation.
An email from the JNF gave further details about the other two injured. The girl's family had moved from Sderot to California. Along with the girl, her uncle, also from Sderot, was visiting them for Pesach. He was also injured (shrapnel).
No escaping terror anywhere but we can see the Hand of God here - what a miracle it was that no one else was killed when it could have been so many!
Devorah, this is the inflation of terror. "Only" one person was murdered, and therefore this was not a tragedy. Where is the cut-off point for the number of dead to become a tragedy?. And there are solutions to terror. The question is what is the message? If you are outside of Israel, imho, the message is that you must leave the exile. And in the meantime get a weapon. In Israel, Be"D, we must implement solutions to terror, stop giving them money, legitimacy, electricity, and impose draconian penalties on terrorists, their organisations and supporters.
After Pittsburgh, I wrote on your site that it would embolden all the antisemites to come crawling out of the woodwork. This latest attack is only part of the bigger trend. With all the challenges involved everyone must start planning their aliya. This includes people with difficult circumstances. Start, do something, take action however small, and ask Hashem to help.
I feel like a broken record. The murder of "just" one Jew should be enough to wake us up. Let's not wait until the toll rises chalila.
Elisheva
Elisheva, I will give you the same response I gave Orna in the post above:
I hear what you're saying, of course it is one Jew too many. There is nothing I can say to change your mind on this, but I will explain the thinking of Rabbi Goldstein. Chabad Shulichim will never leave the diaspora until Moshiach comes. They will not leave because their mission is to collect every Jewish neshama and bring them back to yiddishkeit. THey cannot do this from Israel. Of course everyone would ideally love to be in Israel, but that is not their mission. Chabad is the front line of the army of Hashem, in a spiritual sense, having been charged with that mission from their Rebbe. When Moshiach comes, the entire world will be Israel, and Israel itself will be Yerushalayim. That is all I can say to you. THank you for your thoughts Elisheva, I hear you loud and clear but it will not change the situation. I see the miracle that happened here, with the jamming of the gun. One dead, not dozens.
The army veteran who chased the gunman away:
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-synagogue-shooting-hero-20190428-story.html
Devorah, in response, the shluchim and community leaders apart, are a very tiny percentage of American Jewry. It is the other 99.9% I am addressing, who must start planning their aliya, including those in less than ideal circumstances, even very difficult circumstances. "It is not for you to complete the work nor for you to desist from it". Start the planning of everything that needs to be done, and take even small steps, and beg Hashem to help you. This is Am Yisrael standing before Yam Suf, accosted on all sides. I see this attack not as a miracle but as yet another warning in an increasingly toxic antisemitic environment. Sugar coating the truth will not help. It's best to face up to the harsh reality.
Regarding the arrival of Moshiach, Be"D bekarov mamash, my understanding from what I've read and heard in shiurim, is that for the first forty years the world will continue to operate as it does now, and the only difference is that we will have the Beit Hamikdash and everyone will be healthy, and only later on will the entire nature of the world change.
German and Austrian Jews were just as, if not more, heavily entrenched in their respective societies, than Jews in America. Half of all doctors in Berlin and Vienna were Jews, 12000 Jews died for the Fatherland in WW1, Berlin was the new Jerusalem. In the early 1930s President von Hindenburg, by all accounts, was a Jew-friendly president. Long story short, in November 1933 he publically endorsed yimach shmo and callled on all citizens to vote for him.
Worth reading:
https://www.jta.org/1934/08/03/archive/jews-placed-trust-in-von-hindenburg
Every day I pray for geula shleima berachamim and for Hashem to protect all the Jews, but as Rabbi Alon Anava says we don't know how it is going to happen. American Jews have to wake up from their reverie and start repeating, "it can happen here". That is the true lesson of the Shoah.
It gives me no pleasure to write all of this, the opposite, I feel sick to my stomach. I don't want you to agree to disagree with me, or to agree with me for me to be right. I want you to agree with me, so that you will make aliya and encourage other Jews to do so too. Hashem can heal a sick relative, give you the money you need, open the heart of a relative you won't leave without, and solve any other problem anyone has. I don't know cheshbonot shamaim, but I do know that Hashem is sending stronger and stronger warning signs for His children to wake up and turn to Him. Why wait until it gets worse chalila? At least start.
Elisheva
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