Shabbat Shalom after Oct 7?

10/13/13

It feels difficult to write a "Shabbat Shalom" email today. Shabbat is the epitome of comfort, and Shalom means peace. I don't think we are experiencing any of that right now.

This week has been horrifying for all of us. In scenes reminiscent of Kishinev and Babi Yar, thirteen hundred of our people were brutally murdered in the most gruesome of ways. As much as I try not to, I can't stop myself from imagining the agonizing cries of the children and parents who witnessed each other being murdered or kidnapped.

I imagine, I cry, and I hug Mendel and Chaya even tighter.

What's equally frightening is that whereas following the Holocaust everyone shouted "Never Again," today, in campuses and cities across the country, rallies are held where people actually believe that the terrorist attacks were a legitimate resistance effort. I can only wonder: Are Jews in America and around the world also legitimate targets of resistance? I wonder and I shudder.

So it's difficult to welcome Shabbos this week.

But perhaps that's why--more than ever--we should embrace Shabbos tonight and tomorrow. G-d, with his masterful knowledge and loving kindness, knew that times would get difficult and put a day of calmness right there to keep us sane and grounded right in the middle of the most difficult of times.

I've often heard from friends that they find it difficult to observe Shabbos because they are busy and overwhelmed with work. But what they may have not realized is that the gift of Shabbos is specifically for them! Precisely because they are so consumed with their job and are swamped with work, that's why it's all the more necessary to take the pause. If you don't work there's little need for rest.

So if we feel we can't celebrate Shabbos this week, it only means that we ought to try even more.