It is extremely difficult to write an editorial about these events that have shaken the entire world. Because it is not just a blow to the Chabad Lubavitch movement, nor a blow to Judaism in general, but a blow to the world and all of humanity.
In particular, these were people whose entire occupation was to help Israelis in distress in Mumbai's prisons, to have an open door for all visitors, to help the poor of the local community, in short, to practice and spread Judaism, like 4,000 other envoys of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to 73 different countries.
And they were murdered, along with four other Jews and more than a hundred other people. In situations like this, one wonders: Why? Where is God? And now, what happens next?.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught us that to deal with life in general we must observe what the Torah tells us and extract practical lessons.
One of the first instances of tragedy in the Torah is the death of the two eldest sons of Aaron, Moses' brother, in the Tabernacle, the portable Temple that accompanied the Jewish people on their journey through the desert. Nadav and Avihu were at a very high spiritual level, even higher than Moses and Aaron themselves, and yet, "when they approached before God, they died," as the verse states. The Torah tells us that Aaron's reaction was silence. Surely there were questions, surely there was bitterness, but Aaron did not question. This is the Divine Will that we cannot comprehend.
Another historical example is Rabbi Akiva, from whom the greatest sages of the Talmud learned, such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Rabbi Meir, and others. Virtually the entire Oral Torah depends on Rabbi Akiva. Our sages tell us that he was one of the ten saints who were killed by the Romans during their conquest of the Land of Israel.
Moreover, while his skin was being torn off with iron combs, Rabbi Akiva was reciting the Shema Yisrael, that cry from the depths of the soul declaring that God is one, meaning that this was His will and that God was present in the very act of Rabbi Akiva's torture and death. Rabbi Ishmael went to ask the angels why, and they replied, "Silence! This is the Will of God.".
Some two hundred years later, the Talmud tells us that Rabbi Yochanan, one of the most important sages of his time and author of the Jerusalem Talmud, whenever he was in a conversation about whether people's suffering was a sign of Divine love, would take a bone out of his pocket and say, "This is a bone from the tenth son I buried." Why? Silence.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Crusades were also used to wipe out entire Jewish communities, including acts like the death of Mordechai, a halakhic commentator in the Talmud, who was burned alive along with his community in the synagogue. Why? Silence.
Closer to home, the Holocaust, six million innocent saints who died for being Jewish.
So: Why? Silence.
However, silence in Judaism, as history itself proves, is not an empty silence. It is not a call to inaction, to give up, to abandonment. Quite the contrary. Each of these events, like that of Rabbi Gabi and Rivki (and the other four Jews), are wake-up calls, like buckets of cold water to rouse a sleeping people.
We live in the comfort of our homes, the tranquility of our jobs, families and familiar environments, even though the world is in crisis, we are calm, because we move within a framework that we know and manage, to a certain extent.
But the truth is, we are asleep. We didn't come into this world to be passive, we aren't here to sit at our desks and watch life pass us by. We are here to act, we are here to make this world a dwelling place for God, to bring forth the long-awaited Messiah.
But we forget and go through life disoriented, taking care of our own affairs, as if they were more important than God's.
There are those who do evil. There are those who speak of good but do nothing. And then there are those like Gabi and Rivky who, in silence, change the world. They act. They take action. The Jewish response is silence, but a silence that impels the person to action, to not be content with events as they unfold.
That's why I invite you to change the world, silently. Each of you in your own home, each of you according to your abilities and circumstances. But we must know that God placed us in this situation to change it! We must not be content with the way the world is. We must act.
How? One of the quiet actions already underway is to increase the observance of Torah and mitzvot in remembrance of all those killed in this terrible attack. By visiting www.chabad.com, you can participate in this incredible campaign, where everyone can choose what aspect of the world they would like to improve.
We don't have the answers. God has them, and unless one is a prophet and has been commanded to prophesy them, we simply don't have them. But we do have the Torah, which teaches us to deal with tragedies through active silence. A wave of good deeds draws us closer to the ultimate goal of all existence, the time when "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.".