Dear readers, I wanted to write before about this, but I could not concentrate. My heart is broken, there are no words, it is hard for me to formulate my thoughts. I hate the way this sounds like a cliché, but I felt like I lost sisters and brothers, literally. I felt like sitting Shiva (the seven day mourning period observed by families of the deceased). Finally, I am able to write something and I have to.
The Mumbai attacks have sent the world reeling. What did the Holtzbergs do? Did they stockpile weapons against their enemies? Did they teach their child to hate? Did they fight their war with grenades, bombs and guns?
Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were soldiers and they were fighting a war. But the war they were fighting was the war of light over darkness. Of kindness against cruelty. Like Abraham and Sarah, they opened their homes to those who needed food, company, words of inspiration. They asked in return not a “thank you” for them, but that their guests thank Hashem who gave them their lives. They had nothing that was just theirs, as the Rabbis said at the funeral, their home was an open home, open for their brothers and sisters and anyone who wanted to be strengthened by the light of their kindness.
Chassidic philosophy teaches us that darkness is nothing. These terrorists, whose names should be erased, did not blow out the candle of kindness lit by the Holtzbergs. They did not win the battle. Do we know their names? If we do, who cares? Are we talking about them or the Holtzbergs and the other victims who came from far away to add to the light. Darkness will always lose in the end, because it is without substance. There is nothing real about darkness. Just add a candle, a small flame, and the darkness is gone. And a very small candle can banish much darkness, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe has said.
The attack happened on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the month we celebrate Chanukah, the month we celebrate both the military victory over the Syrian Greeks who wanted to destroy Judaism and the miracle in the Holy Temple when one vial of oil burned for eight days. We can win the battle against darkness in the world with our good deeds and influencing others, in the example of Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. And within the Temple of our own hearts, the light can burn continuously.
Readers, stop reading this now and do something. One small thing in honor of the Holtzbergs. Read your child a story. Tell a friend you love them. Give a coin for charity. Resolve to learn something about Judaism or light Shabbat candles. Or smile at someone who is sad.
Just one thing. Now let’s go!