An U R G E N T personal message!

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>"Zalman Shmotkin"

>feedback (AT) chabadonline (DOT) com >

>An U R G E N T personal message! >Mon, 17 Sep 2001 16:23:53

-0400 > > >By the Grace of G-d >Erev Rosh Hashana, 5762 > >Dear Friends, >

>Standing only a few hours before Rosh Hashanah, when we pray to G-d to

>demonstrate His mercy to the entire world, please allow me to share with you

>some reflections about the recent events that have so affected us. > >* > >We

all look for consolation and we seek to console. But the sheer enormity >of the

evil we just experienced is so hideous, so repellent, we're left with >no words.

> >Of course, we stand behind our military, our intelligence agencies and our

>elected leaders in their efforts to eradicate this evil. > >But we shy away

from personally looking this evil straight in the eye, we >shrink from taking

it on. Timidly, we prod and encourage each other to >"return to normal life." >

>For how could anyone of us purport to combat something so grotesque and so

>awesome? > >I¹d like to propose, though, that we can and need to do just that.

> >Much has been written about the motivation, the conditioning, the

>bloodcurdling ruthlessness, the precision of last week's crimes against

>humanity. > >All accounts and hypotheses point to the same simple truth: The

primary >motivation, the underlying force behind every action executed by last

week's >murderers was: Hatred. > >Pure, unbridled, blind, indiscriminate

Hatred. Hatred of freedom, Hatred of >democracy, Hatred of "infidels," Hatred

of Jews, Hatred of anything and >everything besides the murderers themselves.

Wanton, simple hatred. > >It is this that we must combat. It is this that we

must eradicate. > >What is the remedy to Wanton Hatred? The Lubavitcher Rebbe

of righteous >memory answered this many times, with clarity and certitude:

Wanton Love. > >Raw, cold-blooded, fanatical, baseless, relentless hatred can

be matched and >combated only with pure, undiscriminating, uninhibited,

unyielding, >baseless, unsolicited love and acts of kindness. > >But we need

not just plain love. We need love that costs us. Love that we >get nothing back

for. > >The barbarians willingly gave up their lives to sow their hatred. We

need to >be willing to lose sleep, to suffer losses, to be uncomfortable, to

>sacrifice our pleasures, in order to help another human being -- with at

>least the precision, determination and passion that Evil's compatriots of

>last week employed to fulfill their mission of hate. > >Every one of us can

make a difference. > >The Rebbe would always quote the Maimonidean adage: Each

person should see >himself as though the entire world is on a delicate balance

and with one >deed he or she can tip the scales. > >Only a few handfuls of

terrorists turned our world upside down. Let us not >underestimate the power of

each of us to turn it upright again. > >Every good act, every expression of

kindness and love, will be a thousand >antibodies to neutralize the viruses put

in place by the forces of evil. > >In response to darkness, we will fill the

earth with light. To defeat evil >we will saturate our globe with good. > >And

when we do our part G-d will surely do His part to protect us and >transform

our world to the one we all hope and yearn for, one that will be >filled with

His glory, like the waters fill the ocean. > >* > >On behalf of all of the

hardworking staff of Chabadonline, we wish you and >the entire world a happy,

healthy and sweet New Year. > >Please be sure to check out our High Holiday

site: www.JewishNewyear.com and >our weekly magazine:

www.chabadonline.com/magazine. > >To contribute to Chabadonline's activities

please visit: >www.chabadonline.com/donate . > >Again, L¹shana tova! >

>Sincerely, > >Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin >Director, Chabadonline > >* > >P.S. We

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