Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you well and you had a meaningful week. We continue to daven for peace and safety in Eretz Yisrael and around the world.
On Tisha b’Av, I had the privilege to share some insight, instruction, and inspiration gleaned from the life of Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Carlebach, HY”D, the last Orthodox Rav in Germany. Though he was a brilliant teacher, speaker, and spokesman for Torah and the Jewish people, he set a strong personal example in his personal care for individuals. He shared the following in his installation address upon assuming the role of Chief Rabbi of Hamburg in 1936:
“What I do pledge to you in this hour, and what is my heartfelt aspiration and longing, is that my house and my heart will be wide open to everyone. I will cry and laugh with you and bear all the anguish of your soul with you; I will regard the honor of having been called to this rabbinical position only as an obligation to relate toward everyone with simple mentschlichkeit (humanity). Zecharya too (Zecharya 8:22-23) does not predict that those seeking G-d will choose as their guide a prophet or a priest or a master of the Law, but that they will ‘hold on to an Ish Yehudi, a Jewish person.’ Similarly, I assure you that whoever hopes to find in me comfort and strength may be certain to find in me an Ish Yehudi, a Jewish brother.
Rav Carlebach understood that the meaning behind Hashem’s instruction to Yeshayahu (40:1), “nachamu nachamu ami, comfort, comfort my people,” is a mandate relevant for everyone and certainly for anyone who claims a mantle of leadership and responsibility. When people struggle or suffer, we must step forward to comfort them, to reassure them, and to strengthen them.
Please see below where this point is addressed in an article meant for those around us.
Comfort Our People
This weekend, the Jewish community formally concludes its annual 3-week period of national mourning with God’s instruction to Isaiah, “nachamu nachamu ami, comfort, comfort my people.” The timing is perfect as next week offers two golden opportunities for those ready to heed that call and bring some sense of comfort and security to American Jews.
In the face of rising antisemitism in the United States, local authorities and law enforcement have failed to protect Jews, whether on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, or on university campuses everywhere. U.S. Federal District Judge Mark Scarsi said it clearly in the opening paragraph of his injunctive ruling against UCLA:
“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. UCLA does not dispute this. Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters.”
The leadership of UCLA may not have been antisemitic, but they failed to effectively control the violent demonstrations threatening the safety and freedom of their Jewish students. The same scene is playing out this week in Chicago, where pro-Israel demonstrators have yet to be provided with the permits granted to the pro-Hamas crowds. Are the mayor and city council antisemitic? Are they discriminating against supporters of the one Jewish state in the world? Or are they not giving permits to rally on behalf of Israel because they cannot guarantee the safety of pro-Israel demonstrators?
In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of Illinois, in the City of Chicago, supporters of Israel may not raise their voices. Unimaginable, abhorrent, and true.
Comfort our people. American Jews would be reassured by the authorities stating clearly that they are not surrendering to the intimidating and violent celebrants of Hamas and are unequivocally committed to ensuring the freedom and safety of proud Jews and Zionists.
These demonstrations would be taking place around another massive opportunity to comfort our people. At the Democratic National Convention, it will be reassuring to hear from the nominee, from the stage, and from the assembled crowd of delegates, their strong and hearty support for Israel and the Jewish people. It will be encouraging for the party to state clearly that it will never make policy or choose candidates to please or placate those in its ranks who express antisemitism or the desire to see the end of the Jewish state.
In July 1933, as a profoundly anxious Jewish community prepared to enter the annual 3-week period of Jewish national mourning, Rabbi Joseph Carlebach – then chief rabbi of Altona – shared this message:
“Suffering is the great bond of humanity through which we discover the great power of brotherly love. At no time are we as capable of giving love and receiving it as when suffering knocks on our or our brother’s door….”
That is the meaning behind God’s instruction to Isaiah, “comfort, comfort my people.” That mandate is relevant for every caring human being and certainly for anyone who claims a mantle of leadership and responsibility. When people suffer hostility, others must step forward to comfort them, to reassure them, to strengthen them. Rabbi Carlebach would heroically dedicate the next nine years of his life to doing that, providing strength and comfort to his community until the Nazis murdered him along with them in March 1942.
This Shabbat, as American Jews will again read that biblical call for humanity, “comfort, comfort my people,” we will be looking to hear America’s response. It is time.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and may we be blessed with besoros tovos, much good news.
Moshe Hauer