The terrorist attacks in Mumbai resulted in my doing something I haven’t done since I was a child –I fully observed Shabbat to the letter, with the exception of carrying the cat food to feed the outside cats on Friday night and I don’t think that counts as a breaking of the rule because it falls under the protection of preserving life. I didn’t start out the day intending to be “Shabbos” observant.
On Friday morning I got up early and really cleaned my house. I mean really cleaned. It took the lion’s share of the day. I hadn’t done a full cleaning, see, since before I’d had the operation and even then I hadn’t gotten it as clean as I’d have liked. It certainly didn’t last for these two weeks either. Around 3 p.m. I took a break from cleaning and put CNN on the computer. I came into the streaming broadcast just as a Lubavitcher Rebbe was being interviewed regarding the then on-going siege of the Chabad House in Mumbai. It was during this interview that the word came through that the Rabbi, his wife and the other hostages, had all been killed. The Rebbe that was being interviewed then asked two things. First, that if you are Jewish, that you light Shabbat (Shabbos) candles that night, even if you never do so, in their memory. The second thing he asked was that, since (well now yesterday) Saturday was the 2nd birthday of the now-orphaned little boy of this brave Rabbi and his wife, that people around the world and regardless of faith give him the birthday present of doing a mitzvah (good deed) –whether it is giving to the charity of your choice, helping out a neighbour, or even just smiling at a stranger, –anything you can think of to make the world a better, kinder, more loving place.
After the interview finished and I was sort of straightening up some more stuff around the house, I thought, “yes, why not? Why not light candles tonight?” And then I thought, “Why not do it properly? Do the whole shabang?” And I decided on the spot that I would. I don’t think (at least I don’t think I think) that it matters one whit whether one observes Shabbat (or whatever equivalent in other religions). But I do think that it would matter to Rivka and Gavriel Holtzman. It just really felt to me like the right thing to do, the best way to honour their memory and all the other lives lost, criminally lost. In large part because by celebrating Shabbat as a Jew I was carrying on one of the very things the terrorists were fighting to wipe out. By celebrating Shabbat, which is symbolically in essence the celebration of the miracle of life and love and goodness and commitment for a better future, it is absolute defiance and rejection and maybe a tiny countering of the evil that so obviously exists in this world. So I checked candle-lighting time and I threw together enough salad for Friday evening and Saturday and tossed a bunch of vegetables, water, and instant fake chicken soup into the seer bishul (newly purchased crock pot) and got ready to celebrate Shabbat the traditional way. I’m really glad I did for, whether it did anything for the world or not, it certainly did a lot for me in terms of real physical and mental rest. When Shabbat was over, I made a donation to Chabad of Mumbai Relief which has been started to help rebuild the Chabad center in Mumbai and to raise funds for the care of little 2 year old Moshe Holtzman and his brother who is here in Israel undergoing treatment for an illness (their oldest child died a few years ago at age 3 from a genetic disease). I am also looking for a reliable charity to donate to that will directly help the citizens of Mumbai to recover from this horrific and really incomprehensible attack on life and civilization and humanity. If you know of one, please let me know!!!!
Way to go.
But
“I don’t think (at least I don’t think I think) that it matters one whit whether one observes Shabbat (or whatever equivalent in other religions)”
on the one hand, and
“By celebrating Shabbat, which is in essence the celebration and the miracle of life and love and goodness and commitment for a better future, it is absolute defiance and rejection and maybe a tiny countering of the evil that so obviously exists in this world”
and
“I’m really glad I did for, whether it did anything for the world or not, it certainly did a lot for me in terms of real physical and mental rest”
on the other hand does not compute. Please check your inputs and try again.
Yehuda
Hi dear…just so you know, you can carry all the catfood you want outside and not break shabbat…pretty much every city in Israel has an eruv and certainly Tel Aviv has one. You cannot carry it onto the sand at the beach as the eruv ends before that, but it goes on all the major sidewalks and you only get into trouble as you hit things like the beach and maybe parts of park hayarkon (you would have to look for the chut on the poles to make sure you are not crossing it). It is possible that chabadnikim would not love to go by the eruv, but most orthodox jews (dati leumi, etc.) go by it. You should not carry something that is muksah like money or a radio, and there is some question one could ask about the allowance of feeding stray cats, but quite frankly I think an argument could be made that they are all your cats and you have the obligation to feed them even on shabbat given the amount of food you give them and that you take them to the vet and pay for them out of your own pocket, etc…
How are you otherwise? I am home sick today and hence the reason why I am reading blogs in the middle of the day.
I finally moved to my own apartment…you will have to come visit!!!
xo,
S
Wow….very nice. What a fitting tribute your Shabbat was!
Yael, I am humbled by your act of keeping Shabbat in the Holtzbergs’ memory. What a mitzvah you did. Shabbat does matter. And what you did, matters a great deal.
Thank you.
In doing this, maybe you rediscovered something. I’ve never seen the importance of the little rules i.e. to carry cat food or not as it doesn’t impact the spiritual relevence of the day. But taking time to rest mind, body and soul, and give yourself a chance to nuture that side of yourself is the important.
On Shabbat it is not only permissible but required to feed any animal that would normally be fed by you on a weekday. However, you are not supposed to pat or pick up an animal on Shabbat unless it is sick. Animals that are not normally fed by you should be fed by a non-Jew if one is available. If no goyim are around, you can feed stray animals also.
Yehuda -
I forgot the word symbolically in that sentence. And it definitely did a lot for me in terms of rest because, since there was no one who could teach my classes and the classes had to be taught, I’d had to go back to work just 2 days after I’d had an operation and I was supposed to do bed-rest for the whole week. I was pretty frazzled and frayed and that was definitely lovely much-needed rest.
Sarah –sweet! Can’t wait to see the new pad! Can’t wait to see you. lol, yeah I guess they do sort of all belong me to since I’ve been caring for them for 3 years now but yikes, we are talking about more than 100 cats! Hrm, ok, they only belong to me on Shabbat
There, I’m only a crazy cat lady one day of the week!
Gila —
Hey, I didn’t by any chance leave a white sweater in your car like 3 months ago, did I? Can’t find that darn thing anywhere!
Lady-Light –aw geez, thank you.
Jett — yep, it definitely did!
Miki –I like your rules.
“However, you are not supposed to pat or pick up an animal on Shabbat unless it is sick” — er, does shoving one off the table when it is trying to share my Shabbat dinner count? lol.
Thanks for the link to the Chabad of mumbai relief fund!
Tiger Mike
Can you observe this coming Shabbat - just one more? Pretty please?!
I can’t tell you how touched I am. It’s acts like this that rekindle hope in mankind and show that not only did the terrorists not accomplish what they set out to do but quite the opposite, an explosion of goodness came about from their despicable actions.
Way to go!! Keep up the amazing work.
[...] Oleh Girl, a long member of our little Jewish Blogosphere and someone who has been on my reading list for ages, has written a heart warming post. I came into the streaming broadcast just as a Lubavitcher Rebbe was being interviewed regarding the then on-going siege of the Chabad House in Mumbai. It was during this interview that the word came through that the Rabbi, his wife and the other hostages, had all been killed. The Rebbe that was being interviewed then asked two things. First, that if you are Jewish, that you light Shabbat (Shabbos) candles that night, even if you never do so, in their memory. The second thing he asked was that, since (well now yesterday) Saturday was the 2nd birthday of the now-orphaned little boy of this brave Rabbi and his wife, that people around the world and regardless of faith give him the birthday present of doing a mitzvah (good deed) –whether it is giving to the charity of your choice, helping out a neighbour, or even just smiling at a stranger, –anything you can think of to make the world a better, kinder, more loving place. After the interview finished and I was sort of straightening up some more stuff around the house, I thought, “yes, why not? Why not light candles tonight?” And then I thought, “Why not do it properly? Do the whole shabang?” And I decided on the spot that I would. [...]
Your article was so warm and heartfelt. Thank you for sharing.
Wow!
You are a truly amazing individual!
With people like you, we CAN beat our attackers!
[...] secular Jewish blogger was moved by the attack to observe [...]
[...] of Aliyah! Step-By-Step reflects that for the first time since she was a child, the terror in Mumbai stirred her to fully celebrate [...]
What a fabulous mitzvah and a wonderful blog post.
I echo the sentiment of Harry, how about trying one more and speeding Moshiach along?
Not “my” rules - Judaism’s rules.
There’s a lot of debate around feeding strays on Shabbat and I think I have to qualify my earlier comment by saying that if you really wanted to keep Shabbat, you would have to make a serious effort to find a non-Jew to feed any cats that you don’t normally feed yourself during the week.
You are not allowed to physically move an animal on Shabbat (unless it is sick). I’m pretty sure this includes pushing a cat off a table, since I know you are not allowed to push a cat off a sofa to make room for yourself.
Needless to say, you made my day, as i am the rabbi you saw on CNN. Your Shabbat is priceless! The fact that the request to light Shabbat cnadles brought you to the logical conclusion of keeping the entire Shabbat properly is a living example of the adage of our sages in the Talmud - Mitzvah goreret mitzvah, one mitzvah brings another…
Thank you!
Rabbi Paltiel
Chabad of Port Washington, NY
Chabad Lubavitch has been playing a very dangerous game for a long time.
This is a very interesting response to this tragedy.
Have you found the “reliable charity to donate to that will directly help the citizens of Mumbai to recover from this horrific and really incomprehensible attack on life and civilization and humanity”? If you have, I’d be interested too?
That was one of the most beautiful things i have read online in a long time. And trust me your observance of Shabbat made huge impact in this world. I know taking on Shabbat every week can be hard but lighting Shabbat candles is easy maybe you can light from now on.
A secular person? What does it mean?
It assumes that the religious practices of the Orthodox Jews are authentic and true! It also assumes that Orthodox Judaism is the only true Judaism currently existing! The truth is that Reform Jews are more likely to be closer to the way Biblical Judaism was practiced than Orthodox Jews.
Biblical Judaism is a Judaism inspired by the way the patriarchs of Israel practiced their own flavor of “Judaism” when they lived: Avraham, David, Shlomo, Moshe, etc. These patriarchs of Israel were Jews who practiced extremely few practices. That is the truth! Even during the main festivals, the practices of these Biblical figures were still very few compared to the numerous so-called Jewish practices that the Orthodox have invented (many for wrong reasons) on top of the original practices of these Biblical patriarchs of Israel!
Just to put your “guilt” of being a “secular” Jew to rest!
By calling yourself a secular Jew, you indirectly promotes Orthodox Judaism and give Orthodox Judaism the seal of approval as being a kind of benchmark on how Jews should measure how well they practice Judaism!
Therefore, call yourself a Jew. If asked what stream of Judaism you belong to (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Karaite, you name it!), just say that the only stream you belong to is simply being a Jew belonging to no particular stream
Even if you pray or think of the creator of this Universe two times a year and participate to two main Biblical Festivals from the Jewish calendar, if you do it sincerely and with a honest heart, you can call yourself a Jew.
If you do not believe in G.od as the creator of this Universe, to call yourself a Jew is completely meaningless and even stupid. I know seculars very often still want to be called Jews even when they are atheist. They believe that they are still Jews because they belong to the people of Israel. The problem is that the people of Israel is a people only because of its belief in a creator of this Universe. If you happen to be atheist, then this idea of a people of Israel is a nonsense.
Rest assured, even atheists can give G.od the benefit of doubt and therefore save the face and be able to call themselves Jews in a meaningful way. They can say to G.od: I have many doubts or I do not believe at all in you G.od BUT I give you G.od the benefit of doubt. To be faithful to my family heritage and in order to make sense of wanting to be called a Jew and be kind of atheist, I will believe in your existence as a good will gesture but I will not condition this belief to any particular belief such as thinking G.od gives punishments or rewards, or G.od does this or that, or anything else related to G.od.
Even Biblical patriarchs of Israel were far from being perfect in the way they practiced their Judaism (completely different compared to Orthodox Judaism) when they lived. Despite that, we would never deny them being called Jews. The same applies to you or to any other person belonging to the people of Israel and who does not practice much during the year.
Hi,
I am writing an article about several Shabbat Mumbais around the world–where Chabad centers are memorializing the Holtzbergs with community Shabbat meals and services. I would love to ask you some questions based on this post–can I email you some?
Thanks,
Dvora Lakein