Holocaust Memorial Day: Personal family history, thrive not just survive, Eli Weisel- R Chaim Dalfin

Today is known as Yom HaShoah V'HaGevurah, Holocaust Memorial Day. For me, it's very personal. I'm a second-generation Holocaust survivor. I'm named after my grandfather who was murdered by the Nazis in Maków Mazowiecki in September of 1939, very early, almost the beginning of the war, two two two and a half weeks into the war. My great-grandfather was murdered September 5th in the Krasnosielc shul, where the rav was a very special Jew, the son-in-law of the Kretshnifer Rebbe, and my he married my he he officiated my grandparents' wedding, and that night was the first time that the SS, without receiving orders, burnt uh murdered the Jews in the shul, rounded them up, my great-grandfather was one of them, and then took them outside and burnt them and put them into a pit. So, my dear friends, I'm not talking only from books. I'm not all talking just from philosophies. I'm talking from actual real-life experience. And the issues still haunt me, even though I was born after the Holocaust, but growing up in a Holocaust family, trauma, the the the the trauma, the the the feelings, the issues are very real. So, what do we do about it now, 80 years later? 80 plus years later. And that's the message. When we talk about Yom HaZikaron, a day of remembrance, sure we have to remember never again, especially now after October 7th and now with the the Iran war. It's all true. And that Eretz Yisrael is is being strong and not giving in and fighting. It's all true, all necessary. But the greater message is as Elie Wiesel once said, "If someone tells me that there's no God because of what God did during the Holocaust, the answer is not to stop your religious commitment because that's that's even worse. You can only kill the body. You can only murder the body. You can't murder the soul. The neshama is everlasting, is eternal. What we need to do on a day like this is reflect on our soul, our inner shama. How are we not just keeping the soul surviving, how are we getting the soul to thrive? If If that question is not asked and thought about daily, we become slowly stale, boring, and we go into other pastures, other fields, and we lose we lose sight of what's important in life. So, Yom HaZikaron, definitely Yom HaZikaron, a day of remembrance, a day of remembrance that there is a God in the world, and God knows what he's doing. I don't understand him always, never will I understand him always. But I know that he's good. And I know that he means my best. And I know that he means the best for the nation of of of Jews of Israel. Am Israel. Am Israel Chai is it just a slogan? Am Israel Chai means the nation OF ISRAEL CHAI LIVE. BE A live nation. How are you a live nation? By doing what God wants. By doing more mitzvahs. By having more love for another person. By not being judgmental. By giving more charity. And yes, BY PUTTING ON TEFILLIN. AND KEEPING SHABBOS. And family purity. And learning Torah. And visiting people in a nursing home. AND GIVING SOMEONE A RIDE TO A SUPERMARKET. My dear friends, it's easy to make a celebration, lighting a torch, and saying prayers, and making speeches. That's relatively easy. It's hard to look INSIDE AND SAY, "WHAT AM I DOING ABOUT Yom HaZikaron?" How am I keeping the memory of Judaism, of Am Israel thriving? What am I doing about that? What am I doing that about it that in my personal family life, my personal life, my family life? Hashem will revive all the dead, all those that were murdered, the 6 million, all the soldiers that fell. Hashem will bring the Mashiach. And that is the final thought. We must beg God to send the Mashiach. And really mean it. Without any strings attached. The Rebbe always said, "IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT MASHIACH, this or that, you'll ask HIM WHEN HE COMES. LET him first come." So, I ask you to please on day like this, take a few moments of thought, make a resolution, give some charity, learn some Torah, and and pray. Beg Hashem to bring Mashiach already. In a real way. And then we'll have the resurrection of the dead. We'll have the rebuilding of the Temple, the Beis Hamikdash, happiness, and we'll have world peace. Everything that's happening now, I have to negotiate. You all know it's all orchestrated by God Almighty. HE CALLS THE SHOTS. NOT TRUMP, not Vance, not Netanyahu. Hashem. May it be so. Do this with joy, happiness. Remember, don't only look to survive, look to thrive. I'm Yisrael Campbell. Have a great day. Mashiach now. Thank you.