Dear Friends,
Allow me to share with you a beautiful message which was written by my good friend and colleague Rabbi Zalman Wishedsky from Basel:
"Last Wednesday the Jews of Switzerland received a pleasant surprise.
The Federal Government of Switzerland (known as the Bundesrat) announced that starting from next Friday the synagogues will be open again.
In other words, this coming Shavuot we will be able to return to the synagogues.
It is important to note that for more than two hundred years there have been open and active synagogues in Basel. Even during the Holocaust synagogues did not close. And now they have been inactive for over ten weeks, including Pesach. So these are definitely important and good tidings.
Besides the limitations connected with hygiene, social distancing and the prohibition of group singing, we were asked to check how many people can fit into every open space, and every worshipper will have to register ahead of time and let us know that he is coming. We have to count all those who come to daven, and authorize them one by one.
There is something special about counting. The very counting of a specific item means that we are giving it a place and meaning, certainly when we are counting human beings. Without him we would be five, and with him we are six. Moreover, often we categorize people according to their wisdom, wealth, beauty, dress, good-heartedness etc. In every society there are people who supposedly are not important, and are therefore not counted. In Israel, when a person wants to say that he is not considered significant, he will say “they don’t count me.” When we want just the number, it makes no difference at all if the person is wise, or wealthy or respectable; when it comes to the numbers he is counted as one, just like everyone else...
This is not the first time we are dealing with the counting of Jews before Shavuot, the holiday of the Giving of the Torah.
Parashat Bamidbar, which we will read on Shabbat, deals with the counting of Bnei Yisrael, and every year it is read before Shavuot, to tell us precisely that: that the Torah belongs to everyone equally. When we come to receive the Torah we do not examine people according to their virtues or faults; the important point is their very existence...
“Due to His love for them, He counts them,” says the first Rashi in parashat Bamidbar, when he approaches the issue of the counting of Bnei Yisrael. How does counting express love? Simply, that counting tells the person being counted: You are important to me because of your very existence, regardless of your wisdom or achievements. This is an honest, clean, pure and real love."
After Shabbat, we will send out a detailed email about the Shavuot schedule at our Chabad Family Shul in Luzern, including all the safety measures and guidelines.
At the same time, we have complete understanding for any of you, who still feel safer to stay home at this point.
I'm grateful to Hashem that we are a in a much better place these days, and keep praying with trust for more and more good news to come!
Shabbat shalom to all of you :)
Rabbi Chaim
PS. do you know someone who needs special care? a challah for shabbos? someone who cant' go shopping? Just let us know, we are happy to help.
