* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
"Shalom, This is from Miriam Moskovitz, a Chabad emissary in Kharkov. Last week I wrote you about the emotional Shabbat that we experienced in Kharkov. They say it's forbidden to cry on Shabbat but today, just like last Shabbat, I failed in this respect several times. But this Shabbat was still different.
This week we had to leave. The explosions in our city did not stop. A missile landed on our Jewish school, and people kept streaming into our synagogue in order to get a little food, medicine, and shelter. The danger to all of our lives increased. So we packed up 32 years of kiruv into three suitcases, and set out on a perilous journey of several days to Kishinev, the capital of Moldova.
All our lives we only hosted others and now, suddenly, we are compelled to be hosted. The community here is amazing. I lit Shabbat candles and felt that I was connected to all the Jewish women in the world who have been praying for peace in Ukraine. On Shabbat morning, we all prayed 'Hagomel' on our successful escape from a dangerous situation. We were accompanied by a bride-to-be whose wedding was postponed, but we tried to give her a 'Shabbat kallah' all the same. And when we finished reading Shemot (the book of Exodus) we cried out fervently: Chazak, chazak, ve'nitchazek (Be strong, be strong, and we will be strengthened). How much the world needs strengthening and reasurance.
Throughout Shabbat our thoughts wandered to the synagogue that we had left behind. The building had survived under Communism as a sports arena. In the course of several decades, we restored and transformed it into the heart of the Jewish community. What is going on there now? What will happen with it in the future?
They say a little light pushes away much darkness, but there is at present an overwhelming darkness. On Shabbat it occurred to me that in the face of so much wickedness and evil, we must bomb in return. We need to bomb the world with good deeds, with light, with tzedakah, with chesed, with loving-kindness.
Shabbat is now over and I am writing you as we are boarding a plane to Israel.
Shavua tov, wishing good news for everyone".
To receive Sivan Rahav-Meir's daily WhatsApp: http://tiny.cc/DailyPortion
