The Beginning of a Great Endeavour

Hashem's Light is officially online and out there for the public. May Hashem help this to grow and affect Klal Yisrael in a great and positive manner.

I would just like to document, in this first post, how this website came to be which involves many great Yiddim that I have had the pleasure to be close to:

My wife invited me to partake in a wonderfully inspiring weekend that was the Aish Partner's Conference. I saw so many projects and organizations who had become very effective and successful in having a positive impact on the Jewish people and world as a whole. Although I came only as the husband to an Aish employee my question soon became "What is my impact going to be?"

Throughout the weekend Rabbi Yaakov Solomon and Rabbi Yissocher Frand had given wonderful speaches on the importance of being a kiddush Hashem. I had just finished the Chofetz Chaim Foundation's Lesson A Day and thought that there should be something out there that is similar but reminds us all how many small actions can amount to a hugely positive impact on the image of frum Jews. So I began to ponder and get lots of input from my tzedekis of a wife and decided to put together this website.

There are two functions of the site. The first, which is already in place, is for this to be a forum for sharing stories as well as studies regarding kiddushei Hashem. We have already received and are hoping to receive many simple positive experiences either where a person was a kiddush Hashem or where they witnessed an act of kiddish Hashem. In terms of studies, I am quite limited in my knowledge on the topic and am continually searching for clarification of what a kiddush Hashem really is, what the rewards are for acting as one, what the consequences are for being a chilul Hashem, sources where the Torah specifically speaks on this topic etc.

The second function, which I hope to put in place, will be as a journal for our members. In my yeshiva in Israel I studied Alei Shor with two close friends and we did an exercise that had a profound effect on me. My topic was Hakaras Hatov. Every day I would write all of the Hakaras Hatov that I had expressed and not expressed but should have as well as any instances of Hashgacha Pratis that we had witnessed. After only a few weeks my attitude, clarity and tefillah all changed significantly. When I could review all of the good that was going on and see what good I could have added it was very hard to stay the same. I hope that this journal functionality will do the same for our users. It will be a place to post ones own experiences where they pushed themselves to be a kiddush Hashem or may have missed an opportunity so they will know for next time. It will be a place to note ones own experience of Hashgacha Pratis as well as Hakaras Hatov that they may have had. And it will be a place to log acts of Chessed whether done by or to the person.

I look forward to hearing from all of you. Please do not hesitate to send me an email or share a story. If requested I will keep your personal information anonymous. Have an amazing week!

Omri

Israel in Haiti

An excerpt from an email my mom sent me:

"With Great Pride"

I call it positive. Incredibly so. Not happy -- in fact, unspeakably painful. But a Kiddush HaShem: a blessing on G-d's name.

In the midst of the overwhelming death and destruction that is Haiti right now, there are Israelis who have come to save lives and offer succor.

On Friday, El Al and IDF planes came into Haiti, carrying 250 medical personnel -- doctors, nurses, lab and x-ray technicians and even a psychiatrist -- and supplies for the first mobile hospital, including a pharmacy, a surgical unit, and a maternity ward. A young Haitian mother who was the first to deliver in this ward, early this morning, named her baby Israel.


Members of ZAKA, the Israeli ultra-Orthodox volunteer rescue organization, were on the scene as well. Yesterday, on Shabbat, they labored, digging in the rubble of a collapsed multi-story university building, where cries were heard. After hours of effort, they succeeded in pulling eight students from that rubble, alive.

These ZAKA members then took time, in the midst of the chaos, to wrap themselves in their tallitot(prayer shawls) and recite their Shabbat prayers. Undoubtedly most if not all of the Haitians on the scene had never seen such a sight.

When the men had finished praying, a crowd of people gathered around them and kissed their tallitot.
According to one report, head of the ZAKA mission, Mati Goldstein said:

"With all the hell going on outside, even when things get bad Judaism says we must take a deep breath and go on to save more people."

"We did everything to save lives, despite Shabbat. People asked, 'Why are you here? There are no Jews here', but we are here because the Torah orders us to save lives…"

At one point, when things were very grim, Goldstein reported that one mission member started to sing, Heveinu Shalom Aleichem (We bring peace to you.) "I had tears in my eyes," he said.

The ZAKA mission will be staying in Haiti a couple more days, even though beyond a certain point it is highly unlikely that anyone else will be found alive under the rubble.

What is exceedingly important to the mission is making their Israeli identity very clear. And so, in this regard, you can help Israel by sharing this broadly and letting the world know what we are all about.

Jeff Wander