Kidush Hashem in Brooklyn!

 

"The learned in a dark, frigid cellar...

Alone, just a small group of kids...

when in came policemen, and led them all away

the flame of Torah flickered on that day." 

Sad song, isn't it?

No, I wasn't referring to the Communist Russia of the 1920s.

I was talking about Brooklyn, NY in the 2020s.

Antisemite De Blasio gloats over his recent bust of an 'illegal' yeshiva operating in Williamsburg in which seventy Jewish children were learning Torah.

He tweeted: "“Earlier today the NYPD shut down a Yeshiva conducting classes with as many as 70 children. I can’t stress how dangerous this is for our young people. We’re issuing a Cease and Desist Order and will make sure we keep our communities and our kids safe.”

[Parenthetically, the Communists shut down yeshivos in the name of keeping communities safe too. "We can't stress enough how dangerous group Torah learning is for our young people," they said.]

Oddly, the coronavirus poses negligible risk for young people, so it's unclear what De Blasio was even talking about, but let's leave that aside for now.

Jews throughout NY shake their head in shame, bemoaning the situation: "Oy, what a chilul Hashem" is heard throughout Brooklyn.

Let's dissect that: 

Who made the "chilul Hashem?"

Those Jews who reopened a cheder to teach Torah to children as we are obliged to do by our holy Torah? As our ancestors risked their lives to do in Stalinist Russia and throughout our history?

No,those Jews did NOT make a chilul Hashem.

Instead, they made a kidush Hashem.

Halevai everyone would follow suit. The city and its antisemite mayor would invariably back down.

The ones who are guilty of making a chilul Hashem are the obsequious Jewish communities whose chadorim, yeshivos, and shuls are still closed in deference to anti-Torah state policy.

The ones who are guilty of making a chilul Hashem are the Jews who are shaking their heads ashamed of the Jews who boldly opened that 'illegal' cheder.

If you are accusing those Jews who opened the cheder of causing a "chilul Hashem," then YOU are the chillul Hashem, sadly.

Become a kidush Hashem by reopening your schools, yeshivos, and shuls, without fear or cowardice.

Show your Gaon Yaakov.

Speaking of 70 children and gaon "Yaakov," our patriarch Yaakov descended to Egyptian Exile with 70 souls, with newborn Yocheved being mashlim the minyan. These 70 souls were empowered to resist the pressure and influence to succumb to the hostile 70 nations.

Yasher Koach to those brave Yidden in Brooklyn who reopened their cheder for those precious 70 young Jewish souls. A promising sign in these dark times of Golus America. [1]


Let's finish the song:
 

"Someday we'll learn Torah together...

Someday we'll be brave and go to shul...

Never will we have to express any fear...

Our shame and our angst will disappear...

Avrohom and Yitzchok, will be so proud of us

Kedoshim of the past will watch us and kvel...

Competent rabbis will lead us once again...

in New York City, b'ezras Hashem!" 

And may we go to Yerushalayim and build the Beis Hamikdash NOW.

Notes:

[1] Speaking of 70, this year 5780 is the seventieth year of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's leadership. If only the Rebbe's own chasidim in Crown Heights could muster up the courage and moral fortitude to teach Torah to their children with the same conviction as those bold yidden in Williamsburg.