Mrs. Miriam Swerdlov, Grandmother of Shula of Blessed Memory

You know usually when I get up to speak I say "Thank you so much, I'm so happy to be here" I'm not. I'd love to come at another time But this is not my moment of happiness I'd like to thank this incredible neighborhood for everything they've done for my children Your food was fantastic I gained 10 pounds Thank you very much, Shaarei Chesed Your attention was unreal People came in that don't know Hindel or Yossi And they said, "We're here because we want them to know that this was a tragedy that hit the entire neighborhood, not just them" I thank them you in the name of my children and my family for being there And for those who weren't, you can still take me out to lunch. "G-d came down to his garden to pick roses" That's the only way that we can answer it. That G-d came down to take the flower My son, Yossi, was sitting shiva, and I want to tell you and the whole world I sat shiva at age 15 for my mother, This pain, to see your son sit shiva, is... So as he was sitting shiva, many people told many stories And he told me one thing that I wanted to share with you He said in the name of the Holy Rizhiner Rebbe That when a child is that young then obviously it's the rectification (tikkun) for a soul That's obvious. But when a child is that young I don't know until what age it means that that soul agreed to do this In other words, the soul was asked "Do you want to go down and atone for this holy person, the great person..." And the soul says, "Yes" So Yossi said, "Nobody asked me!" But the soul said, "Yes" So this was done with the agreement of the soul of Alta Shula the daughter of Yosef Yitzhak Her soul agreed. And I know it must have been somebody incredible, because she was incredible And she was a very assertive little girl. She got what she wanted When she wanted it So I know she is going to go before the Throne of Glory and Say "Moshiach now!" She's going to cry and scream And G-d's going to have to give in The same way as we gave in to everything she wanted So He's going to have to give in because she means business I want to share with you something that Hindel said. Hindel is my daughter in law. My very brave and beautiful daughter in law. Avrema, there little boy, 8 years old who was holding Shula's hand when Shula ran out of his hands said to Hindl, "Mommy, If you would have been there, Shula would still be here." And Hindl said...Open your hearts, your heads, your minds... And Hindl said, "No Avrema, even if Daddy had been there, this would have happened, because this was part of G-d's plan." "Who is like Your people, the Jewish people?" Who is as great as we are? I kept thinking, G-d just gave my son Yossi such a slap in the face And still he gets up and he says in the Kaddish: "May His Great Name be exalted and sanctified" You understand that? That's incredible! "Who is like Your people, the Jewish people?" That no matter what, we exalt Him and thank Him At our worst and most incredible moments A few years ago I went to Prague, and while I was in Prague I was told that I could go to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp And that at Theresienstadt There is the secret synagogue of the Jews of Theresienstadt And if the farmer who lives in that house today If you give him a few dollars, he'll let us see the secret synagogue So my sister-in-law and I booked a trip to Theresienstadt 12 people got onto a van, disconnected Some observant, some not We went to Theresienstadt When we got to Theresienstadt We went to that house. The farmer was home, we gave him a few dollars And we went into the synagogue Then inside the synagogue... He left it exactly the way it was It was the barn, and on the wall was written a Biblical Verse We were singing this verse the whole Shabbos at Yossi and Hindel's house, and I will tell you the Biblical Verse that it says "And despite everything, we haven't forgotten Your name" And after everything that You've done to us, we haven't forgotten Your name We haven't forgotten Your name, no matter what You do to us Explain to me, Sweet Father... Moshiach, now "Despite everything, we haven't forgotten Your name"- no matter what? No matter what The accident happened during the week of the Torah portion of Noah To come to the Gates of Lovingkindness you have to go through the flood of Noah To come to Lovingkindness You have to go through a flood You have to understand the bad in order to see the good My children, both Hindel and Yossi, are people of lovingkindness I guess they live in the Shaarei Chesed (literally "Gates of Lovingkindness") neighborhood for a reason. There home is open like the tent of our Father Abraham Yossi is an emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe So he does things all over the world He does Jewish outreach everywhere The people that came to the shiva were from people with Rastafarian hair to streimels. Because those are the people that Yossi has touched. They are people are lovingkindness They will get through their cloud They will get through their flood I'll end with a thought...two thoughts The Baal Shem Tov says that when somebody passes away, you do three things You cry, you are quiet, and you sing Someone asked the Baal Shem... They understand the crying, and they understand the silence, But what's the song? And the Baal Shem Tov answered That every soul has their song Every person has their song And when that person is gone You have to perpetuate that person's song And so I asked Hindel, I said "What is Shula's song?" And Hindel said, "Well, she was in Crown Heights for all of the month of Tishrei" We had the most incredible month of Tishrei. I live right near where street dancing is And the whole month, she kept on hearing the melody of the Simchat Torah dancing And the whole month she kept singing it. So she said, "If you want to know Shula's song, Shula's song is the song of the Simchat Torah dancing." The Simchat Torah dancing is joy It's us women who are going to bring Moshiach It's definitely the women The first redemption was brought by women The first redemption was the redemption of Aaron and Moses What's the first letter of Aaron? Aleph What's the first letter or Moses? Mem Together, EM (Hebrew for Mother) The second redemption was brought by another 2 people Esther and Mordechai Together, EM The full and true redemption which should be immediately now will be by Elijah and Moshiach Together, EM So it's going to be us that's going to do it May all of you be blessed with good health May we all see the light through the flood May we all be able to get through our Noah so that we can get to our Gates of Lovingkindness Thank you very much