By COLlive reporter
Rabbi Yosef Braun, member of the Crown Heights Beis Din, released a public appeal to local residents to refocus themselves this Shabbos and not talk about the war of Hamas terrorists against Israel.
Here are excerpts of his message:
“We have a special Shabbos coming upon us, Shabbos Bereishis. I have a personal request for all those who wish to listen.
“Our children have been surrounded this week by things they shouldn’t be surrounded with. Even if we firmly believe that our kids have zero access to social media, it’s impossible for them to miss what they’re hearing from the adults all around them. It’s not only our children; it’s us too. Our entire environment has been saturated with horrible stuff.
“Shabbos is our island of serenity, of tranquility, of peace. Let us make this Shabbos a true Shabbos of peace and tranquility. Let us not talk about the war at all. We have so much that we can focus on the positive.
“We can talk about the quality of Am Yisroel that we have seen during this week. The fact that Jewish people are Rahmanim, Baishanim, compassionate, sensitive, kind, and caring. We’ve seen an outpouring of chesed.
“Please, for this Shabbos, for your sake, for your kids’ sake, there are so many people that unfortunately will not be able to keep Shabbos this week. There are soldiers that are on the battlefield this Shabbos. They will not be able to observe Shabbos the way we can observe Shabbos. We can come to shul, sing in shul, dance in shul, and get together at home at our Shabbos table.
“It’s going to be a year of bracha and simcha, a year of menucha, a year of peace, a year of no agmas nefesh, and that is dependent on us and our Shabbos Breishis. Prepare something to speak about at your Shabbos table. Ask your children to prepare something, a beautiful story, a nice vort, a nice Dvar Torah.
“Go out and splurge for this Shabbos. The halacha is that whatever we spend on Shabbos and Yom Tov is not counted in our annual budget that Hashem gives us. You could spend as much as you want, and Hashem will repay you for it. If you don’t normally buy flowers, buy flowers, buy more flowers, buy some good food, make an extra kugel, say an extra l’chaim (and I’m not suggesting to drink more).
“Use fancy silverware. Make it a nice beautiful Shabbos – b’gashmius. Make the Shabbos a Shabbos to be remembered. Let the Shabbos be our island of peace, an island of positivity, an island of optimism, an island of simcha. Simcha breaks all barriers. Positivity breaks all barriers.
“Baruch Hashem, Hashem gave us an opportunity. We don’t have to be glued to the news. We can be away from the news for 24 hours. Some people are 24-7 in that quagmire. We have no choice and we’re lucky that we have no choice. There’s one day we can set aside, close our phones, close our computers, close our radios. We can now just be just us with Hashem and there’s no greater simcha than being together with Hashem in a world of keddusha and menucha and peace.”
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Thank you!
Love Rabbi Braun! Thank you.
Thank you, and good Shabbos!!
Rabbi Braun always speaks with common sense !
I will forward this message to Chabad and non Chabad friends.