Weekly Moment With the Rebbe

“In the Face of Terrorists”

(The following has been edited.)

As told by Chana Citron, who heard it from her grandmother, Rochel Pinson:

It was Erev Yom Kippur, 5744/1983, in the capital of Tunisia, and the shluchim [Chabad emissaries] Rabbi and Mrs. Nissan Pinson were frantic. Congregants had told them they would not come to the shul to daven on Yom Kippur. In all their years of shlichut, in all their years under the anti-Semitic Soviet Union, and during the terrible World War II years, the Pinsons had never missed davening with a minyan on Yom Kippur. It was not an option they were willing to consider.

Although upset, the Pinsons could hardly blame their co-religionists for wanting to keep to the safety of their homes. That Arab country, which had always been anti-Israel and hostile to Jews, now offered new terror to the small but vital Jewish community there. The shluchim themselves could not help but feeling a bit nervous.

Still, Yom Kippur?

Unwelcome Guests

What was keeping the traditional Sephardic Jews of Tunis away from their synagogue that year?

It was the recent arrival of Yassir Arafat and his band of Palestinian terrorists. Arafat had been unceremoniously expelled from Lebanon and denied political asylum by one country after another, until he had finally been invited by Tunisia to come and set up PLO headquarters there. Arafat and his cronies had accepted the invitation, but they were angry – angry at Israel for throwing them out, and angry at the world for not taking them in. The terrorists rioted in the streets, looted shops, and yelled anti-Zionist slogans.

The Jewish community felt extremely vulnerable. After all, when everyone else had turned the Arab terrorists away, Tunisia had been the only country in the world to welcome them. And not a lukewarm welcome, either. President Bourghiba had received them with open arms. To make his guests feel even more comfortable, Bourghiba had promised them the synagogues would be closed on Yom Kippur. After all, he wouldn’t want to antagonize his guests, would he?

In fact, the Jewish Agency themselves, the official community leaders who liaised with the government, advised the Jews of Tunis to stay home – “for security reasons,” they said. The synagogues should be closed on Yom Kippur, they declared, as it would be too dangerous for a Jew to venture out on the street in the face of terrorists. With a stroke of their pen, the Agency made it illegal for a synagogue to be open for the holiday.

Not that the Jews needed to hear it. They had locked themselves in their homes and barred their doors long before they heard the decision of the Agency.

But Reb Nissan and his wife Rochel were used to adversity. They had weathered out many displays of hatred in this anti-Jewish country. They were there because the Rebbe sent them over thirty-five years ago, and no one, including Yassir Arafat, were going to stop them from accomplishing their shlichus there. They lived by the Torach dictum: “Thou shalt not fear any man” and “Trust in Hashem, be strong, and let your heart be valiant.”

Many Challenges

While the Pinsons were prepared to meet danger, what could they tell their congregants? It is one thing to be brave for oneself and quite another to reassure someone else that nothing would happen to them. Could they take the responsibility for the welfare of others upon their shoulders? And what should they do about the fact that having their shul open on Yomtov was illegal?

They turned to the person they had always turned to when in trouble: the Rebbe. The Pinsons had asked the Rebbe many times for blessings, for guidance, for reassurance, for help. Mrs. Pinson, especially, often turned to the Rebbe for encouragement. Surprisingly, the Rebbe always answered her immediately, sometimes within minutes, whereas many others had to wait much longer for their answers.

Why did the Rebbe show them special favor? There are many possible answers, any of which would provide sufficient reason. The Pinsons had spent their lives in a place far removed from Jewish centers. A place where no cholov Yisroel [milk-supervised] products were available; for years already the Pinsons had not eaten dairy food. As glatt [extra] kosher meat was also unavailable, they had learned to do without meat, too. There were few luxuries, if any.

Then too, friends and family, children and grandchildren, lived far away – in Crown Heights, Paris, Nice, Antwerp, Israel, California. There was no one with whom the learned Rav Pinson could exchange words of Torah, no one with whom Mrs. Pinson could share her worries and accomplishments. The Jews of Tunisia, each of them a precious soul of course, had their Sephardic customs, culture, and history – all very different from those of the Russian-Lubavitcher Jews.

And then there was the danger, ever present, from hostile Arab neighbors and an unfriendly, openly anti-Israel government. Even during the daily shopping and the routine errands, danger always lurked. It was a life that required constant self-sacrifice, and the Rebbe’s special attentiveness was an acknowledgement. Possibly the Rebbe also acknowledged the tragedies they had lived through as children during the war, but one could never know for sure.

Fateful Decision

Rav Pinson asked the Rebbe for a blessing to have the shul open on Yom Kippur. But as the holiday grew closer, still no permit arrived. The Pinsons had to make a decision: yes, the shul would be open on yomtov, with or without a permit. The only problem was how to persuade the people to come.

Nonplussed, Rochel picked up the phone.

“It’s Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year,” she told one member after another. “You must come to shul. So what if it’s illegal and the shul has no permit? How can you daven without a minyan on such a day?”

She continued, “And if Arafat and his band are roaming the streets and looking for trouble, so what? Does the Al-mighty not guard all those who set out to do a mitzvah? Have you no trust?”

By turns softly persuasive, by turns coldly logical, Rochel persuaded a few of the hardier souls to some.

Strange Sundown

It was sundown, Yom Kippur. The Pinsons waited anxiously at the shul. Each minute that ticked by seemed like forever. Would their efforts pay off? Would they have a minyan?

Ah, thanks to G-d, there came the first brave man! Then came another, and then another.

The congregants were very careful to come separately, so as not to arouse the suspicions of the police, who were of course sympathetic to the terrorist cause.

At last there was a minyan. Reb Nissan and Rochel breathed a sigh of relief.

They chanted Kol Nidrei, Vidui, Shma Koleinu. No one had to work hard to feel the right emotions. Everyone was frightened, anxious.

The davening over, a few people decided to spend the night there. Others nervously set out for home. Rabbi and Mrs. Pinson encouraged them to return in the morning. They say they would try, but . . . .

Change of Heart

On Yom Kippur morning, the Pinsons watched astonished as soldiers and policemen arrived and proceeded to guard the shul. “The President gave orders that all shuls be protected,” they were told.

Strange, but wonderful. The same police and soldier who had beforehand been so hostile were solicitous now. The astonishment of the shluchim grew as they saw one congregant after another arrive with a police escort. Yesterday an atmosphere of terror had prevailed, and today – safety and security.

Inside the shul elation filled the air, as if a great victory had taken place. Good had triumphed over evil, peace over terrorism, the Jewish people over their foes. G-d, Who never sleeps and never slumbers, had wrought a miracle for them. There was no question in the Pinsons’ minds that the Rebbe had pulled strings (on more than one plane) to accomplish this complete turnaround.

And, in fact, after Yomtov, their assumption was confirmed. The Rebbe had indeed used his influence to contact the Department of State in Washington DC and persuade them to take the necessary steps to effect the change.

Unbeknownst to the Pinsons and the Tunisian Jewish community, people had been working on their behalf all of Erev Yom Kippur. The Department of State, once notified, tried to reach President Bourghiba, who was out of the country. When at last he was found, he was told that he must guard the synagogue and protect those who wanted to come and pray.

Immediately Bourghiba sent a message to the police and army of Tunisia. The synagogues were to remain open and guarded, and the people who prayed there protected.

It turned out that the Chabad shul was the only shul in Tunis to receive police protection, as it was the only one that had remained open. The other shuls, which had followed the recommendations of the Jewish Agency and officially closed their doors for the holiday, could not reap the benefits of Bourghiba’s change of heart.

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