On Tuesday night, October 31, community women streamed into the Young Israel of Queens Valley to hear a shiur by Jackie Bitton, well-known speaker, hosted by the Women’s League of the shul.
Jackie began by stating, “Who could have imagined what happened on a day when we are commanded to be happy? We experienced a tzaar of such magnitude!”
Klal Yisrael as a nation is experiencing pain, heart break, and devastation. She posed the question: How are we relating to our brothers and sisters in Israel? She stated, “Tonight is a night of achdus, strength, and awareness that there is so much we can do with Hashem’s help to win this war.”
Thousands of fighters were called up to fight in the Israel Defense Forces. There were never so many called in history, and there are so many divisions. Each of us is a part of Hashem’s army, and we have been called up to serve. We each have to discern what division we should join. Among others, there are the T’hilim, the t’filah, and the g’milas chasadim division.
She spoke of three forms of avodah that we can each think about and work with. The first one is “Ein od milvado.” There is only one power in this world and that is Hashem. It starts there and ends there. He allows communities to appear like they have power. Hashem hides his face a bit, but as Rav Elya Brudny taught, we are experiencing a very major test.
Jackie shared a famous teaching: “In this world we have no answers, and in the next world we have no questions.” We need to remember that Hashem is with us in our pain, and it is more painful for Him. There is a purpose in all of this.
A rav from Israel said that we were days away from civil war in Israel, so this was chesed Hashem. It reminds us in an extremely painful way where our heart really is. We have to work on ourselves to remind Hashem how much we love His children.
She shared a personal story that happened on Erev Sh’mini Atzeres. Her son was shopping for eggs for her in Flatbush, and he called to tell her that there was an active shooter and he was stuck in the store until the police came. Later, they discovered a bullet hole in the back of her van and a bullet lodged between the seats.
She said that this incident was a way of Hashem reminding her that you don’t have to be in Israel to see bullets flying. She said we have to be vigilant, and aware, and make the right choices, but we can’t live in fear. Every bullet has an address if Hashem wills it. We can’t sit in worry; instead, we must sit with emunah and growth.
The second avodah is that it is imperative to work on our ahavas Yisrael. There is an historic pattern of strife between Jews, and then Hashem has to show us how much we really love each other. The Second Temple was destroyed because of “baseless hatred.” Prior to the Shoah, there was strong divisiveness between Jews.
She added that she never saw such hate amongst our people until recently in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur. Hundreds had gathered to daven on Yom Kippur, and people who were anti-religious protested with signs; they kicked people, and they tore pages out of siddurim and machzorim. Hamas captives said that they saw the hatred in the eyes of Jews for Jews, and so they knew that this would be a propitious time to strike. She pointed out that, after October 7, there is so much ahavas Yisrael going on, and this is something we must take every seriously.
She shared a favorite story about her brother Bentzy zt”l, who had a genetic disease called FD. He had a good friend named Michael who also had this disease. Michael’s face was deformed, and he was a hunchback. One time, Jackie asked her brother if it was ever hard for him to look at his friend. Her brother replied with a statement that she said had a profound effect on her way of thinking from then on.
He said, “Michael can’t change the way he looks, so I change the way I see.”
She said that this is the secret to why he was always b’simchah and loved every Jew. He changed the way he looked and found the good. Ahavas Yisrael needs to happen nationally, and globally, and it needs to start in our homes. Sometimes, unintentionally, we can find ourselves in a cycle of negativity. A Shabbos table can become a war zone, chas v’shalom. We need to reclaim our simchah and our ahavas Yisrael.
We have to remember that we are in control of ourselves, and we can focus on the good points of our family members, etc.
The third avodah is the power of kol Yaakov. It was a prophecy for future generations when Yitzchak Avinu said that the hands are the hands of Eisav, but the voice is the voice of Yaakov. Eisav is a fighter and shooter. He destroys with his hands. Klal Yisrael’s koach is stronger because we have the kol Yaakov, which means we have davening, learning Torah, reciting T’hilim, and saying kind words. These are parts of the ticket to end this war!
She taught that we cannot let a day go by without telling every person in our homes – or our lives – one sincere, beautiful expression of love and appreciation. It opens your ayin tov to do this. This helps you see growth in ahavas Yisrael and it begins to bloom.
She shared how she cried when lighting Shabbos candles for all the hostages and wounded women who can’t light right now. The world is a darker place without all that light. We have to do the best we can to bring light into the world.
She ended with a brachah that we will win this war when Hashem sees what we are doing, and we will merit Mashiach!
Thank you to the Young Israel of Queens Valley for bringing this wonderful, inspiring shiur to our community.
By Susie Garber
