Murder at Chabad of Poway -- A Bullet in the Soul of America

the yeshiva dotnet to be a rabbi is a great responsibility to be a leader is to have accountability but to be a friend to be a mentor and to be real there's a lot more difficult in life than a title rabbi Jacobsen rabbi YY Yosef Yitzchak Jacobsen it's a classmate and a different in fact rabbi Jacobsen for many years I wanted you to come for Shabbos and please God he will and I'm sorry that this is the first opportunity you have but rabbi Jacobsen is not just a mentor to millions through his online classes and lectures and great sense of humor and deep heart and deep soul he is one of the most roars real individuals you will ever meet I mean personally in my life he's been there helping guiding and mentoring me as well I could find nobody better tonight to give us words of inspiration and my dear esteemed colleague rabbi Jacobsen please give him a big warm round of applause thank you thank you so much for your very kind and gracious words so just a few moments before this event began I received a call from rabbi Easter al goldstein the rabbi of the congregation attacked just two days ago on the last day of Passover we chatted for a few moments and then I said rabbi goldstein how are you feeling how are you doing and he said to me rabbi Jacobsen I didn't have a chance yet to ask that question of myself so but you have been in surgery for hours lost one finger trying to save another finger he said my entire congregation is so shocked and shaken to its core the grief is so powerful I am about to go in to conduct the funeral for Laurie Kay in the very synagogue where she was gunned down less than 48 hours ago this is not the time I can afford to think how I am doing and it does that response I got a glimpse of what we would call the best of men the best of our people the best of our American people the best of our Jewish people the best of our Jewish leaders in contrast to the hate to the heinous venom of anti-semitism that came unleashing against the rabbi and his congregants and today tonight as the funeral is going on as we speak right now in California at Chabad of Poway or it's just concluding I share with you my dear friends brothers and sisters colleagues congregants and people from all different communities Jews and non-jews who are here with us in this evening of solidarity and peace three messages sadly anti-semitism is not new for the Jewish people we the Jewish people have been around 3331 years and that's the short version since we left Egypt we've been around some hundreds of years before that as well and as we say in the Hagaddah we just said a few days ago in every generation we encounter this senseless hate directed towards innocent women men and children save the United States of America and a few other countries you can count literally on one hand including Australia and New Zealand you will be hard-pressed to find a single country that at some point in history has not expelled the Jewish people from its myths fed by blood libels by heinous accusations like this anti-semite 19 years old who screamed and wrote in his manifesto the Jews want to destroy our race I will sacrifice my future not to allow them to fulfil their plan to take over the world in his manifesto or alleged manifesto he wrote that every Jew consciously or subconsciously wants to destroy the white European race consciously or subconsciously which is why every single Jew is a legitimate target because to quote him nobody even understands the depth of their crimes where does a 19 year old boy raised in a home a father as a science teacher in high school in California on the Dean's List in University of California 19 years old with the such bigotry and racism and hatred come from to be able to take out your rifle come into a synagogue and plan to Massacre dozens of people including 30-40 children and what could have been god forbid a frightening bloodbath but then pointing at one woman an innocent woman a kind-hearted angel and shooting her 3-4 times making sure her heart is perforated as she died in her husband's arms literally and when he realized there was his wife he fainted the hatred of anti-semitism is not new but there is something that is new Jews have been massacred for thousands of years in the millions 75 years ago we experienced the unfathomable Holocaust one and a half million children thrown into gas chambers their last breath was cyclone B what this novel what is frighteningly unique is the location our ancestors who have arrived there who have fled here from the gas chambers and from the gulags from the pogroms and for the massacres had a Hebrew title for the United States of America you know what the title was three words mouths shall Cassatt mouths who shall hazard means a country of grace a country of got kindness a country that its encounted in its constitution and in a daily life guaranteed the freedom the Burtie of men and women of all faiths to be able to live according to their conviction creating a country which allowed us and so many others to unleash our fullest potential materially and spiritually that's why our fathers and mothers aiders and Bubba's great-grandparents who have come here last generation or a few generations ago titled this country the great Empire the great molecules the great government and land of love of generosity of benevolence of kindness and here in this country in a synagogue and some remote location that most of you would have probably not heard of Chabad of Poway my Goldstein tells me in a few hours suddenly he says he never dreamt that suddenly from a local rabbi of a beautiful Habad house a loving non-judgmental house of worship he suddenly turned into an international personality every 3 seconds another network and another reporter and another journalist and another leader wants to hear more and more as a murderer enters six months to the day of another massacre the city where my wife comes from Pittsburgh and the tree of life synagogue which claimed the lives of eleven innocent Americans innocent Jews including a Holocaust survivor I don't know if you know two of the wounded are anis and her uncle eight-year-old Noah Don and her uncle parrots are mug they weren't raised in California they lived in a little city the name of that city is stay rot in Israel it sits on the border of Gaza and it's been the target not a5 not of ten of tens of thousands of missiles since Israel evacuated Gaza in the summer of 2005 tens of thousands of missiles targeted on innocent civilians by Hamas and the children who grow up there are traumatized sometimes every day or once a week they're running into shelters that serenity that sense of serenity that we all cherish and we crave and we hope to be able to give it to our children and our grandchildren and our communities they have been deprived of people often in the West don't understand what that people that nations especially those living in is they rot all over is no but specialties they road go through so they decided to seek paradise so where do you go from they rot you go to Poway you go to pare away doesn't that make sense comes they rot you closed that lanta you get to the west coast and you move into Poway and it's hard to find a friendly arab boy than rabbi goldstein of Chabad of Poway that i can tell you firsthand the center of paradise community love non-judgmental ISM a few months after they moved in he finds a swastika on his home in power and the last day of Passover he's shot and his niece is wounded as well these two Jews who escaped the rackets and they wrote to come to power and let's say something which has to be said let none of us think that this has to do with Jews alone that this is a problem facing us the Eden the EDA lock the Jewish community because if there is one lesson from history it's this anti-semitism starts with Jews but it never ever ends with Jews when God tells Abraham in the beginning of Genesis Vivar become America I will bless those who bless you it's not only a prophetic prediction or blessing or promise it's a historic truth you ask me tell me about the quality of any nation in the world and I will ask you for one little must tell me how they treat Jews today empires which persecuted Jews and that are persecuting all minorities cultures regimes lands governments today who spew hatred to Israel and the Jewish people begin with the Jewish people but they persecute so many other minorities there are places of abuse of human rights of genocide of the torture of innocent depriving women and so many others of their natural inherent human rights because to understand history is to understand that for whatever reason Jews are the miners Canaries of human civilization those of you are into mining know before you go down to the mines you send the Canaries the birds because they are sensitive to noxious gases and fumes of the Canaries come out alive you're good to go but if the Canaries don't come back from those mines you be careful we are the miners Canaries of history where there is hate and venom and persecution and a lack of respect for other lives Jews will be the first targets that's how it was that's how it is which is why the anti-semitism that has erupted in the United States of America it's not a bad omen for the Jewish people alone it's horrific for every decent citizen of this great country in America we know is a land filled with good people decent people loving people kind people it's been this way for such a long time they are all in danger if we do not have the courage to nip in the bud this most ancient hatred in human society I'm always moved by that line of that German citizen Martin niemöller who said in Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Jewish then they came for the trade unionist but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist then they came for the Catholics I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant then they came from me and by that time no one was left to speak up throughout history it's been the inaction of those who could have acted the indifference of those who should have known better the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made possible for evil to triumph II never triumphs only because evil people choose to do evil behavior evil triumphs because good people sit back on their recliners and go from channel to channel and give a sigh and say oh yeah this is horrible and then they go to bed that's what allows that allows evil to triumph that good people are silent that good people say it has nothing to do with me it doesn't threaten my family doesn't threaten my community I turn to my fellow Americans today and I say my dear fellow Americans the soul of our country is in danger a country that has done so much to preserve the dignity of every individual Jew or non-jew alike the country that has done so much for people who suffered so much elsewhere the soul of that country is jeopardized when a 19 year old kids could somehow find the greatest of plans and the greatest of achievements to come and Massacre Jews on the Sabbath on the Passover in their house of worship in Poway California silence under such circumstances is not an option this is a time to act and I for one call to my fellow Americans both leaders and laymen for more stripes in all colors and all backgrounds and all faiths and no faiths and all affiliations politicians and journalists and academics and business men and women scholars and laymen and all of us I believe every home in the United States every school in the United States every community in the United States must begin inculcating in every one of our children moral and ethical values of decency the value of life the value of kindness the value of love the value of living a decent life filled with kindness to other people we have to revive within our youth the powerful values our great country was built on that every human life is sacred that each of us was carved out in the divine image that we are responsible to each other and to our Creator that we have not only rights but also duties we must act decisively before it's too late because it always starts with things that we can dismiss as small and irrelevant and inconsequential and it didn't happen here that's what some people said after Pittsburgh that's what some people say after this lecture this article this essay this cartoon this despicable portrayal an expression of Jew hatred or another murder in Jabara Poway and this must be completely transcendent of politics and denominations it must unite us all Americans people of all faiths no faiths we must put our differences aside and fight this new evil the oldest venom in the history of civilization which claimed six million of us just 75 years ago our nation needs to reclaim its soul its moral and spiritual raison d'être and purpose I look at our children and I see here a 19 year old child each of our child must be given not only an education for knowledge and information and data but an education about character development about values about what it means to be a mensch our children have to understand the world is not a jungle we're accountable and the creator of our universe wants one thing above all else that we treat one another kind Li so I plead with all of you fellow Americans and especially people of influence leaders from all camps parties groups as they escort the coffin of lori k to its eternal rest and i hear from rabbi goldstein about her smile moments before she was gunned down i plead with you do it for her do it for endless love and kindness do it for all the innocent slain in the name of hate jews or non jews do it for our children do it for your children let our homes community schools become havens where our kids are taught our duties as human beings to one another and to our Creator but my dear friends there is another message I think we must share today to one more group and that is to all those in America and around the world who despise Jews who loathe Jews sometimes countries large populations or individuals we will not Duck we will not buckle under we will be vigilant against every manifestation of hatred of innocent people Jews or non-jews who will protect ourselves with absolute determination and resolve we will speak up we will speak out we will fight this hatred and we will prevail we will not now go undercover become frightened and live lives with a sense of inferiority and fear allowing hate to prevail we will not coward we will not be deterred by anybody or anything we will support our people we will support their people Jewish nation and all good people all innocent people with every fiber of our being we must speak to individuals and nations filled with Jew hatred candidly hate destroys the hated but it destroys even more the haters it is no accident that anti-semitism is the weapon of choice of tyrants and totalitarian regimes it deflects moral internal criticism away by projecting it it by projecting it onto an external scapegoat called the Jews when you are unhappy when you are miserable instead of looking into your own soul and saying how can I live a better life how can I be happier how can I be more at peace how can I be more successful what does the anti-semite learn to do blame the scapegoats what an impoverished future not only for those who are hated but even more for those who hate and finally there's a third message to our fellow Jews those of you are gathered here and those of you many gatherings and solidarity events the world over in Israel in Europe in America and of course in the west coast my dear Jews despite all odds we have been around for four millennia our secret of resilience was this we saw every crisis as an opportunity we saw every challenge as a catalyst for rejuvenation spell je W and for the record some of our best Jewish unhealthiest foods with the most calories and delicious but deadly carbs come from our enemies the villain of Chanukah Antiochus has given us latkes the villain of Persia ancient day Iran Haman has given us hamantaschen and Pharaoh of Egypt has given us the matzo ball now you know why these foods are so deadly they have been created by our enemies who sought to kill us physically through hunger and then they realize it's not gonna work they decided they'll employ food hamantaschen can idler latkes but far from being just a humorous anecdote it represents something so special about our people we learned how to take our greatest adversity and turn it into a springboard for extraordinary renewal and rejuvenation and unprecedented growth our hearts are broken our hearts are wounded it was hard not to sob watching the rabbi speak from his hospital bed right after a surgery about the scenes he encountered so I ask you my fellow Jews the one thing we always know to do in the face of anti-semitism was to become more Jewish to stand more proud to get more involved to stand more to to all and to utilize the very darkness of hatred as a springboard for deep renewal for deep commitment and for our unwavering mission to be a light unto the nations chosen to be the ambassadors of love of light and hope to transform the landscape of civilization as we say three times a day in our Alena prayer Lusaka in alarm the Malthusian valued to repair the world under the leadership of God I ask you get more evolved in your synagogues get more involved in your communities embrace your Jewishness with more love with more commitment with warm more passion and with more gusto and as you go home this evening consider if you don't have a mezuzah on your door consider putting them as those on your door and if you're not lighting Shabbat candles consider lights about candles or share it with somebody else and if you're not doing the kiddush Friday night or Shabbos Day in honor of Laurie who the best challah baker in the West Coast's big holler that's Shabbos or every Shabbos and enjoy the day of rest with your family if you're not learning Torah considering consider start learning if you're not wrapping fill and consider to start wrapping tefillin to celebrate Jewish life to make it part of your life one of the greatest writers Leo Tolstoy wrote these words this is not coming from a Jew coming from one of the greatest Russian novelists this is what Tolstoy wrote what is it Jew let us see what kind of peculiar creature the Jew is peculiar creature which all the rulers and all the nations have separately abused and molested oppressed and persecuted trampled and butchered burnt and hanged and in spite of all of this the Jew is alive what is a Jew who has never allowed himself to be led astray by all their earthly possessions which his oppressors and persecutors constantly offered in order that he should change his faith and forsake his own Jewish religion Tolstoy answers the Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire and has illuminated with it the entire world he is the religious source spring and fountain of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs in their faiths the Jew is the pioneer of Liberty even in those olden days when the people were divided into two distinct classes slaves and masters even so long ago they had a law of Moses prohibiting the practice of keeping a person in bondage for more than six years the true is the pioneer of civilization ignorance was condemned in oldest Palestine even more than it is today in civilized Europe the Jew is the emblem of civil and religious toleration love the stranger and the surger nur Moses commands because you have been strangers in the land of Egypt and this was said in those remote and savage times when the principal ambition of the races and nations consisted in crushing and enslaving one another in the week the Jew is the emblem of eternity he whom neither slaughter or torture of thousands of years can destroy he whom neither fire nor sword nor Inquisition was able to wipe off the face of the earth he who was the first to produce the Oracles of God he who has been for so long the guardian of prophecy and who transmitted it to the rest of the world such a nation cannot be destroyed the Jew concludes Tolstoy is as everlasting as is eternity itself moments before Laurie K was gunned down in cold blood Peretz Almog was wounded 8 year-old Noah de Haan was wounded Rabbi Israel Goldstein was wounded a man died in Israel he was 96 years old his name was rabbi talbe he was a Reber a Hasidic master of a Hasidic dynasty originating in Hungary known as the dynasty of caliphs a city in Hungary was known as the Calavera BER he was taken to Auschwitz as a young man his entire family perished a few years ago he was interviewed and they asked him a question why is it that at every event that you speak and you always open up the event singing these words Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad hear o Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is one and the Calavera by Rabbi talbe explained that he has seen sights which cannot be repeated or described by the human tongue or by the quill in fact he was one of those who endured the generic the genetic experiments of dr. Josef Mengele and ash woods Birkenau which is why if you look at a picture of the Calavera you will see the only Hasidic Rebbe was long past long sidelocks no beard a sinem have beards what happened just was because of menglers experiments which was also the reason he never had children he died without children even if he was reunited with his wife he met her in Sweden after the war he discovered that she was alive and rabbi tab described one time the following scene that he experienced and he said there was an SS commander and in the morning they would get out from the barracks and this was the time for breakfast if you can call it breakfast they were emaciated they were skeletons they were starving and he says this SS commander with a smile on his lips got up and he said I cannot give any of you bread until I do not shoot ten people they said all of us stood there we did not know which one of us will be one of those ten after which he served us breakfast with a grand smile on his face and he said who could believe that human beings could do this to other human beings just because the propaganda fed to them by Goebbels Rosenberg iseman Himmler Hitler and the entire leadership of the Third Reich who the Jews are what the Jews are and American Belles and he said a few hours before liberation those were his words we were about to be liberated and they took Jews and threw them into a fire and it was almost my turn and I said shema yisrael hashem elokenu hashem echad and I turned to God and I said this is the last time I'm going to be able to proclaim your oneness soon I will be in flames but if you spear my life I will share this message with living people for the rest of my life my life was spirit in the woods when everyone forget to come ashore today chi-chan ohyeah te or meds his nature to leader for today's mass is my sweet watching party - Layla my yellow Holiday Food Mart and the area I'm asking my fields they have him with the world same thought in him the hood of whom he vomiting Ronnie Chan Chan in the shirts a name of Jesus she's not it's - woman crying through time she knew Janelle and he was a selfish Allah which of the causes she fasted little boy ha ha [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I don't know [Music] he died last Shabbos the last day of Passover the age of 96 in our homeland in Israel Laurie Kaye was gunned down for the same reason even if in a different country and a different climate and we're so grateful for the blessings of our generation but she was gunned down for one reason because she had Jewish blood flowing in her sinews that was her only crime that is the only crime of Rabbi Goldstein parents on Bognor de Haan and every potential target in that house of worship and I think about the Calavera BER who came out of the hell of out Schwarz and bergen-belsen without children without the ability to have children but rebuilt a beautiful community in Israel and he would sit with them and dance and celebrate and sing and say schmeyer all and that reminded me what our opportunity and obligation today as well to turn this crisis into the greatest force of revival and renewal my dearest friends I conclude with this image that always stays with me the first brother who ever lived the first set of brothers were Cain and Abel Cain murdered his brother and when God asked him where's your brother he said three words Hashomer up he an oath II am I my brother's keeper that was his question it's not me what do you want from me my brother is dead am I my brother's keeper that's the first story of the first brothers in history a few portions later there's another family also brothers they also don't like each other what else is new right Joseph and his brothers have a profound conflict he has his dreams and they despise him and lower them they ultimately sell him into slavery but as Joseph is sent by his father to go seek the welfare of his brothers and he gets lost and a man meets him and says ma pavakah sh what are you searching for and Joseph responds with four words s a kai on a theme of a cage I'm searching for my brothers and here lay the grand difference between two versions of history one time the first time a brother looks at a slain brother a dead brother and he says am I my brother's custodian am I my brother's keeper I have myself to worry about but the transformation of civilization can only begin when a brother says I'm searching for my brothers as I are no theme of a page I'm looking for my brothers where are my brothers I want to be close to my brothers this begins the Jewish family this is the genesis of the Jewish family because this is the genesis of a civilization that is built on responsibility I'm caring for each other and understanding our task at a moment in history I can go home and say am I my brother's keeper or I can go home and say as a high on a theme of a quiche I seek the welfare of my brothers and sisters it's the difference of these two statements upon which the future of civilization hangs thank you very much ladies gentlemen please before you leave if I can ask you to please rise we have a very something very special festival rabbi Yossi Robert Jackson thank you this class is brought to you by the achieve Annette please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot they ueshiba net / donate