5 of Menachem Av - 1956 Terrorists killed 4 students in the trade school in Kefar Chabad

00:00 Speaker 1 Well, this is in, this is in connection with the fifth day of, of the Hay Menachem Av in Yemei Chabad, in the days of Chabad. Um, you may know that, uh, the Chabad Hasidim, um, they originate from, from Russia, of course, and, uh, the seven generations of the Chabad Rebbes, uh, they all lived, um, you know, in, in, in that-- those areas. And the, uh, the main city where they settled was the city of Lubavitch, and they settled in the city of Lubavitch. And after the war, um... I mean, they didn't settle though. They were-- After a while, they moved to Leningrad. The, the, the, the previous Rebbe, they, they, they changed to Rostov. They changed, you know, the previ- the Rebbes, they changed the, the, the location, but I'm not going into now that exact history over there. But what I want to bring out, the whole Jewish world was devastated after the Holocaust and after, uh, you know, after Stalin. You know, this, these were, like, the worst period for Jewish people, and the mass, uh, slaughterings and suffering of all Jewish people and Judaism was almost wiped out. I mean, Jewish people were almost wiped out. Uh, so many people killed and et cetera, and many more left the religion. So it was, it was a really very, very dangerous time. Now, when they came out of Russia, when they came after the Holocaust, at that point, uh, the Rebbe, they established basically a center in Israel, which was the, uh, Kfar

01:35 Speaker 1 Chabad when they, uh, when they founded Israel. Okay? And, uh, uh, they s- they, they established the first, uh, Hasidic village. You know, it's called the village of Chabad. It's not too far from Tel Aviv and, uh, near the, uh, Ben Gurion Airport. The Lod Airport is near Lod and Tel Aviv. And, um, you know, it was very primitive in the beginning. You know, everything there was just... The people were working the land, and they were, uh, farmers, and, uh... But slowly but surely. But things went very, uh, very slowly. But of course, that became a very vibrant, you know, Jewish life and Hasidic life in, in, in Israel. And at the same time, of course, in America, in Brooklyn, uh, the center was at 770 Eastern Parkway, which is where the Rebbe was. Uh, you know, if you look now, you see Israel, it's-- Chabad is in every corner of the world, just like every corner of the country, and just like Chabad is all over the United States and in every country in the world. But those were the beginnings, and, um, unfortunately, there was, uh, a terrible tragedy in the beginning. This was in 1956. Um, there were terrorists that came into Kfar Chabad, and they killed four of the students in the special... They had a special yeshiva, uh, which was meant to teach a trade. And Chabad always was, uh, worried about, uh, inclus- including others. You know, not everybody can sit and study, uh, all the time, uh, study

03:15 Speaker 1 Talmud, et cetera. So Chabad provided also for many students the ability to give them, uh, an education so that they can learn a trade, and then later on when they grow up, they can have a way to sustain themselves and same time keep their Judaism and practice, you know, the, the laws and still be productive citizens in the sense they're making a living. And so Chabad, in Kfar Chabad, they had what's called, and they still have it today, it's a very successful program, it's called the Beit Sefer LeMelacha. That is the, uh, school for a trade. Uh, matter of fact, an uncle of mine, my mother's brother, who never had any formal, you know, training, uh, in this, but he was just naturally, um, just a, a brilliant man, and he was also very good with his hands. And, uh, so he ran, you know, one of their departments over there where they used to teach, you know, in, uh, machinery, different kinds. You know, he was one of the section... He headed one of the section for many, many years. I mean, he passed away. My, my son, Shmuel Isaac. Isaac is, is, is named after, after him also. Uh, so he's, so he's passed away, like, about fourteen years ago. Thirteen years ago, he passed away. Um, but he was one of the pillars over there too. But in any event, terrorists came in, and they basically shot four students plus their, um, plus their teacher. Now, under, uh, normal, uh, occurrences, things

04:55 Speaker 1 like this happen. Everybody, you know, gets scared, is petrified. You know, it was very, very scary, uh, to have... You know, what they did is they basically... Terrorists came in, and they basically, um, pulled out the plugs of, of the lights in the synagogue. They were in the middle of the services. They were actually davening Maariv at the time. So in the middle of the services, while they were davening Maariv, um, they, um, they unplugged the light, and they just were shooting indiscriminately. And, you know, and four of the students was killed, plus their, their, one of the, uh, counselors over there also was shot, was killed. So it was five of them. And it was a very, um, it was a very sad, uh, you know, very sad time. But people got, you know, afraid. They got scared. A lot of people were looking to run away, maybe from Kfar Chabad. The kids didn't wanna go back to school. You know, it was a scary time. You know, we have it in, in, in many instances, uh, you know, when things happen, bad things happen, the first, uh- People are inclined, we're gonna run away from it, you know. Like we see in neighborhoods, in Jewish neighborhoods, sometimes they start, something happens, "Oh, we're out of here," and they all run to the suburbs. And people don't, don't, don't stand up and, and try to, you know, overcome and, and strengthen themselves. But the Rebbe used this opportunity actually to, um, um, strengthen the,

06:29 Speaker 1 uh, the people of Israel and the people of, uh, Chabad. Uh, of course, the Rebbe advocated very strongly to stay and to remain and to increase and to respond. There was a lot of very powerful messages from the Rebbe at the time, and it was actually that-- from that tragedy, sort of a whole new rebirth and a whole new rebuilding of the Chabad and the Chabad and all of Israel sort of flourished after that incident. Um, the, uh, the Rebbe also sent, uh, the, uh... This took place-- This is all in nineteen fifty-six when this took place. So this took place-- The actual, uh, murder took place on the first day of Iyar, Z'man Shevut Iyar. Uh, that's when it took place. Uh, before that, they've already suffered, uh, from, from the terrorists, you know. Another, another young man was killed by them. You know, the Jewish people suffered a lot, you know, from the hands of the, of the Arabs and the terrorists. So, um, but at that time, uh, the Rebbe sent to Israel as his personal, uh, shluchim agents to comfort and to strengthen the people that were left in, in, the, the people that were in Israel. He sent twelve students. And, um, the Rebbe says that we should not have a gathering. Rebbe said we should not, uh, withdraw, or we should not, uh, go back, uh, because of we have a test whether they're big or small. Um, he sent them. They landed in Israel at the fifth day

08:15 Speaker 1 of Av. That's why it's connected. The fifth day of Av is when they came to, uh, Eretz Yisrael, these students, as the Rebbe's agent. And, um, and the Rebbe also said, "Look, people try to explana- explain tragedies." You know, people try to explain. Uh, even sometimes people explain that, uh, these must have been, uh, you know, great people, so, you know, it's like God takes those that are closest to him, uh, things like that. Even great explanations. Rebbe says it's not a time for explanation. But of course, you can't question, you know, you can't question God does what he does. But it's a time that you just, you know, you just accept. You can't... You know, you don't have to rationalize. You don't have to find reasons in that way. You just, just accept Hashem's judgment. But we gotta increase, and we gotta redouble our efforts. Rebbe was that very strongly. And, uh, that is when the Rebbe, on Shavuot, the Rebbe said to send these students over there, and the Rebbe gave a special, uh, discourse. And it was like an unbelievable, unbelievable gathering at the Lod Airport when the, uh, shluchim from the Rebbe came to Israel to comfort them. And it essentially, as I said, ignited a whole new scope level of activism and, uh, determination of the Chabad to, uh, go even stronger, which is another demonstration in which people and the Rebbe have led to take sort of a negative occurrence in our life and just use that as a

09:53 Speaker 1 springboard to actually increase and not to, uh, retract, not to go back, but rather to go forward and with much strength. I mean, this has been, you know, the job of a leader who really can go beyond the very simple level to be very strong and to lead the people and to show them how we must, you know, continue in face of sometimes real hardship and just go further. I, you know, experienced it in a way also. Uh, I grew up together in the Rebbe's neighborhood in Brooklyn. Now, unlike many other neighborhoods around us, you know, as soon as sometimes when the, the blacks moved in, you know, so then the Jews started to run away. And then you had, um, you know, uh, shuls turn into churches. You had people invested, you know, lots of money in their homes and their neighborhoods and the stores and the upkeeps. There was flourishing, flourishing neighborhoods. And you know, you just see now the shul in, uh, in Randolph just turned into a church over there. You know, I mean, it's, it's, it's like very, very sad when you see a place where you, you know, people have spent so much energy and so much money and so much prayers and worked so hard, and then you see it all just go away and just, uh, people they leave. And now in many neighborhoods and where I grew up, you know, like a neighborhood would go like overnight. What happened is, is there's one or two Black

11:31 Speaker 1 people moved into the block, then the prices of the houses started falling down. Everybody was just selling out. Everybody was trying to sell out before the other one because the price, the price will fall down even more. And you know, they're out of there. They moved to different neighborhoods. They went to suburbia. And this is probably also a reason why so many, uh, you know, Jewish people also became Sort of separated from their usual, from their regular houses of worship and their regular, uh, places of community, and then they began to assimilate because in the new areas where they lived, they didn't have, uh, you know, a kosher, uh, bakery right down the street. So if there's no kosher bakery, you go to another bakery. And then unfortunately, the, the Jewish life became sort of scattered and fragmented all over the place so that it no longer had that cohesiveness that kept people together. And you didn't have to be super religious to be there, but just being in the neighborhood, sort of, you know, Shabbos was Shabbos and, you know, it was, it was sort of recognizable. It just happened because you were there, you lived there. So, uh, it's very bad for neighborhoods to be dismantled like that and to, and to really, uh, disappear sort of as a... Th-those were, those were, you know, places of, of worship. There was places of, of, of, of, of, of memories, people getting together. And-- But this is just the way it happened. People just

13:02 Speaker 1 ran, you know. That's what happened in Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan. Everybody just ran.

13:08 Speaker 2 Me too.

13:09 Speaker 1 Yeah.

13:09 Speaker 2 Right? Yeah.

13:09 Speaker 1 And the Rebbe in-- The same thing was happening in Brooklyn, in Crown Heights, where the Rebbe lived. And this, again, when we talk about the Rebbe's leadership, he says, "We don't run." Now, just to prove the Rebbe's point, if you go now and try to buy a piece of real estate in Crown Heights, which is the Rebbe's neighborhood, it's probably one of the most expensive places in Brooklyn- -to buy a piece of real estate over there, because the Rebbe said, "We're not moving." It was a time when women were afraid to go into their own apartments because they were followed by Schwarz, by blacks, and who, who would, who would mug them, who would attack them. It was, it was a very... In the neighborhood over there, again, I have nothing against blacks, but I'm saying it's-- there was, the reality was that there was a lot of thugs out there, and people were scared.

14:02 Speaker 2 Right.

14:02 Speaker 1 And people were running.

14:03 Speaker 2 That's what happened.

14:04 Speaker 1 And there were people running. But Rebbe said, "No, we're not running." But this is what it takes leadership in order to not to defy the natural inclination, what you wanna do. You wanna run, you wanna go, to stand up and say no. Sometimes this tragedy, like it happened in Chabad, people would run and give up what they have. Rebbe said, "No, we're gonna increase." Why? Questions we don't know why, but this is what we have to do. And I think that same thing is we have to learn in our own lives to a certain extent. You know, a lot of times, you know, we come across something, you know, we, which we find it very hard, sometimes even something devastating in our lives, or we perceive it as devastating, you know. So the easy way is to succumb to that and say, "Okay, you know what? I'm no good. I'm devastated. I'm there, and that's it. Forget it. I'm gone. I'm doomed." The whole day. That's, that's the easy way, and that's the wrong way, but that's, that's not the right way. What we need to do is we need to take things that are challenging to us in our lives, and we gotta actually find within ourselves, dig deeper, to take that negativity and use that as a springboard to actually jump even higher, to be able to go on a higher level, and to sort of, uh, make that tragedy and take that negativity, transform it to something positive in our lives. And

15:43 Speaker 1 this is really essentially the message also over the three weeks, you know, the nine days. Today is already, we're in the nine days. And when this, when these students came to Israel, the Fifth of Av was in the nine days. Uh, essentially, um, they, um, they took, uh, these nine days, the, the temple is destroyed. Of course we feel, of course we mourn, of course we're... But what do we do with our mourning? What do we do with our, uh, sadness? We don't dwell on that and let it bring us down. But rather we try to turn things around. We try to make things happen. We try to build the Beis Hamikdash. We try to do positive, and we try to do good, and we try to turn things around.

16:30 Speaker 2 Your wife did that af-after the, uh, after the Chabad, uh, killings in, uh, India. I remember-

16:37 Speaker 1 In Mumbai

16:37 Speaker 2 ... she started in, yeah, when she started to do the Friday night, uh, dinners.

16:41 Speaker 1 Dinner, then yeah.

16:41 Speaker 2 In her honor and everything.

16:42 Speaker 1 That's right, yeah. And I wanna say this also for the Yortsay, because this is the Yortsay of Moshe Ben Yaakov. I would say the same every time when you, uh, commemorate somebody who's passed on, especially this is a year, and, you know, as time goes on, sometimes it gets easier. But whenever a loved one passes away, um, you know, the first year, the soul is still hovering and still connected more to this world. Once a year is up, it sort of goes up into a higher level.

17:14 Speaker 2 Yeah.

17:14 Speaker 1 So sometimes, you know, uh, people mourn the death of somebody who they loved, and you know what? That's the end of it. They keep on mourning, and, uh, and that's what it remains, and... But I see, as Stuart has done and the other people here, they use that happening in their lives of a loved one passing on, they use that as a reason, as an encouragement to connect themselves more to Yiddishkeit, connect themselves more to the Torah, to more to our tradition, to become everybody at their own level, a little bit more observant, to, to do what they can, to be more to the shul, to be more involved in Jewish life. So then you're taking something which is sad, something which is, uh, you're mourning, and you are actually transforming this into something very positive in your life. And hopefully, that it doesn't stop once the year is up. You don't have to say Kaddish anymore, and you know, hopefully it doesn't stop. And that's just sort of-- that was the wake-up call. But then you continue to do that because there is nothing more pleasurable for the soul. There's nothing more you can do in this world to honor your parents, you know, and to remember them. We all, you know, we all would like to remember our parents, and like sometimes we missed out in the, uh, time in this world. We sometimes are running, running, running, and we don't have enough, uh, time. We didn't pay enough attention to give honor.

18:59 Speaker 1 But once they pass on, it's too late, uh, in the physical world. But yet there is-- you can still honor them. Because when you continue to do good stuff in their memory, you, uh, uh, do positive, uh, you enrich your lives, your family's life, and, uh, by tying yourself to the Jewish people, by tying yourself to Hashem, by studying Torah, doing mitzvahs, davening, learning, you know, doing all good things, giving charity. Those are ways that you actually are, uh, using that, uh, unfortunate situation of death that took place in the family, and utilizing it for making your life better. So the, the soul of Moshe Ben Yakov should have an Aliyah, and, um, to, uh, look down on his family over here, and, uh, they will get all the blessings for what they need. Health, happiness, uh, good fortune, success, and you know, and you know, we can all use a little more success. As successful we are, a blessing for success is always, always good and, you know, to have only goodness in our lives.