English Blog

We Are All Eli Kay

Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 10:34 AM

This week the entire Jewish world was shaken to its core by the despicable cold-blooded murder of Eli Kay at the holiest place on earth – the Western Wall.

My favorite place in Israel is the Western Wall. The Western Wall is the last vestige of the entire Temple mount which belongs to the Jewish people. I know those alleyways intimately. Whenever I visit, I walk those narrow paths, like so many others. There’s something magical about being in the holiest place on earth.

And so when Eli Kay was murdered in cold blood by an evil terrorist on his way to pray at the Western Wall, prayer book in one hand, book of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Rebbe's sichot in the other, it shook every single Jew in the entire world. Not only because it could have happened to every one of us, but because it did happen to every one of us. We are all Eli Kay.

That terrorist, may his name be obliterated, was targeting every Jew in the world. He didn’t know Eli Kay. The hatred he taught his students and the venom he spewed was targeted at every single Jew, and had his AK47 been able to reach all of us, he would have done just that.

Eli Kay’s pain is our pain, his loss is our loss, his family’s suffering is our suffering. We are all in this together.

Like so many others, I find myself asking, “What now?”

Our sages teach that the power of goodness and kindness is infinitely stronger than the power of evil. “A small amount of light dispels much darkness” is not merely an adage—it is the starting point for illuminating our lives and ultimately transforming the entire world.

About the Jewish people, Song of Songs says, “I am sleeping, but my heart is awake.”

This tragedy has united Jews from across the spectrum of observance.

Eli's family has called for all of us to be better people, better jews and to spread more light in the world. So let's do just that!

With Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, beginning next week let's resolve to spread more light throughout the world.

Let's pay heed to the call of the Kay family to put on tefillin: https://www.facebook.com/TefillinAgainstTerror.

This is our responsibility now: to reach out to any Jew we come across and welcome him or her with open arms and an open heart. We cannot allow Eli Kay’s murder to scare us away. We must go to shul, wear our Judaism outwardly with pride, engage with the community, and remember that although our people have faced deep anti-Semitism since the beginning of time, we have not—and cannot now—allow it to prevent us from embracing our heritage.

Happy Chanukah!

Rabbi Uriel Vigler

The Greatest Real Estate Deal in NYC

Friday, November 12, 2021 - 9:23 AM

After 10 years, we are relocating. The building that has been our spiritual home, our shul, on the Upper East Side has been sold, and we’ve been asked to move out.

We have so many incredible memories from that space. We’ve prayed, laughed, danced, cried, and witnessed so many good deeds and budding relationships take off. People have found their spouses there, helped each other network, and made friends for life. But now it’s time to move on.

Ten years ago we were able to negotiate the best ever real estate deal in NYC.

We needed a space for our shul, and the owner did a tremendous mitzvah and gave us the space for the High Holidays. I came back again and asked him if we could use it for Chanukah, and then for Pesach, and then for Shavuot and for a Friday night dinner … you get the picture!

By the time we needed the space every weekend, we were already good friends, and the owner gladly offered it to us as needed, with one caveat: When he wants it back, we must evacuate immediately.

We understood and gratefully accepted. We didn’t sign a contract; just shook hands and the deal was made. Of all the real estate transactions made on a daily basis in this city, this has got to be one of the best! We got our 13,000sf shul, and the owner got the merit of thousands of mitzvot that we did there.

Our deal worked smoothly all these years, the only issue was that we had no security, never knowing if the following week would be our last in this space.

I once shared the details of our deal with a fellow rabbi and he said, “There’s no way I could live like that! I need the security. I need to know that I have a space and won’t have to leave. Only a Chabad rabbi can live with such faith and be confident that come Shabbos he will have a shul to daven in!”

But our faith in G-d A-mighty is unshakeable, and we felt confident each week that we would have a shul. And we did.

So, now what? What’s our next step?

Well, we are moving the shul into the same space that our preschool uses. It’s a little smaller, but it will be warm and intimate, and we know that the same G-d Who gave us a space for 10 years, will find us a bigger venue moving forward. In fact, we’ve already outgrown the preschool building, but who knows, maybe someone reading this article will dedicate the first million dollars to our capital campaign!

Smaller or larger, cozier or more spacious, we are here for the long haul. We love our community and we aren’t going anywhere!

At 2am Avigayil Needs Her Toys!

Thursday, November 4, 2021 - 10:46 AM

A few weeks ago I was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. It was that coffee I’d had at 8pm—I needed an extra jolt to stay awake, but hadn’t realized it would keep me up till dawn!

It must have been around 2am when I heard my three-year-old, Avigayil, come into our room and head straight for my wife’s bed. She was crying — hysterically — that she couldn’t find her toys.

Why does she need her toys at 2am?? I wondered.

I watched my wife get up groggily and follow her back to her room. The whole time Avigayil was crying hysterically that she needs her toys, and insisting that Shevy help her find them. You see, she likes to sleep with some dolls and other small toys next to her in bed, and they must’ve fallen out.

So Shevy got down on the floor to search for them, trying not to wake the rest of the kids. She found some of the toys and put them back in the bed next to Avigayil. But Avigayil noticed that one toy was still missing and started crying again, insisting she needs them all! Finally, with all the toys back in her bed, she lay down and fell asleep instantly. And my exhausted wife headed back to bed.

Watching all this, I first wondered: How on earth did she even notice her toys were missing at 2am? She was fast asleep. Why does she even need them at that time of night? I mean, she isn’t exactly playing with them! How did she notice that one small toy was still missing when all the others were there? Finally, how did she fall asleep again instantaneously?!

And I realized there is a tremendous lesson we can see in this encounter.

For my daughter, her toys are the most important thing in her life. She loves them, cherishes them, so much that it jolts her awake when they fall off her bed in the middle of the night.

When something is off balance in your life, you notice and it keeps you up.

King Solomon writes in Shir Hashirim, “I am sleeping but my heart is awake.” Even when we fall asleep spiritually, our heart is awake. Yes, we live in a physical world and have to involve ourselves with physical things. We have to make money, eat, etc. Nevertheless, we should realize that our most precious possessions are the Torah and mitzvot G-d has given us. Even in the middle of the night, when we are groggy and distracted, we should be aware that “My heart is awake” to Torah and mitzvot.

Let us all prioritize and cherish the most important items in our lives!