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Israel - Luzern - Israel, one day trip.

Fri, 10 Jul 2015 11:31:00 AM

Dear friends,

This week I merited to do a special Mitzvah and help another Jew whom I never met.

N. called me from Israel with an unusual request: "My father is ver sick and there is a chance that a certain medicine which can only be obtained from the hospital in Luzern, will help him. They are willing to give it only to an immediate family member. So I'm coming tomorrow, I will be landing in Basel and flying back to Israel just a couple of hours later.

Would you be able to help me get to the hospital from the airport, the quickest possible way? We unfortunately don't have that much money, so a taxi is not an option."

I immediately contacted my colleague, Rabbi Wishedsky, the Chabad Rabbi in Basel, We were able to organize a good hearted friend, who volunteered to drive N. back and forth.

Thank G-d everything worked out well, we are here to help in every way possible.

We wish N.'s father a speedy recovery! May we hear good news.

Shabbat shalom to all of you!

Rabbi Chaim

Just moments before his trip back to the airport, N. stopped by at our home and we managed to take a picture. In the middle: N. on the left: Shlomi, the dedicated volunteer

Mazal Tov During a Funeral

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 6:45:00 AM

Yesterday I had a Mazal Tov, a tragic Levaya (funeral), and then another Mazal Tov. How? Here is the story: On Wednesday afternoon I traveled to Israel to officiate at the Bar Mitzvah ceremony of my dear Bar Mitzvah-student, just as was planned close to a year and half ago.

I was looking forward to the following day, as a joyous and happy one, and indeed it was. The Bar Mitzvah boy did an outstanding job. He led some parts of the service as the Chazzan, he read from the Torah like a real pro, and said a wonderful speech about the weekly Torah portion.

During the preparations for the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, I received a very sad message, which made me quite sad, personally as well as on a communal level.

Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazy, the chief Rabbi of the Chabad ‘Capital’ in Israel had passed away suddenly, at the age of only 70 years. He was the revered Rabbi of Kfar Chabad for 40 years.

It happens to be that his oldest son, Meir, is the husband of my oldest sister. This therefore touched me personally, and I felt great pain. Immediately after the Bar Mitzvah celebration I quickly made myself on the way, and managed to take part at the Levaya (funeral).
In between all the weeping and pain, a community representative stood up, and as is the custom in Israel, read out loud the decision which was made by the community heads before the funeral, that the eldest son of the Rabbi is appointed to fill the place of his great father, and is now the new Rabbi of Kfar Chabad. The audience, with tears in their eyes, declared “Mazal Tov, Mazal Tov”.

This morning I returned home to Luzern with a great pain and with joy at the same time. This reminded me once again, that we are not in charge of our lives, and that it is G-d who runs the world.
“ A mensh tracht, un G-tt lacht” (man makes plans and G-d laughs)

I wish my dear brother in law, Rabbi Meir Ashkenazy and my sister Rebbetzin Paya, much success in your new position in serving the community. May you be comforted through your public work and great responsibility.

Shabbat Shalom from Luzern

Chaim

"One Mitzvah brings to the next Mitzvah"

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 12:04:00 PM

Dear friends,

"One Mitzvah brings to the next Mitzvah", is what our sages have taught. Last Friday, I literally experienced that.

Last Friday afternoon I was on my daily visit at the Luzern hospital, just about an hour before Shabbat. After I finished my visit and was ready to leave the building, I met another Jew, who was just passing by that moment. He told me that in the maternity ward, there is a young Jewish woman, who was visiting Switzerland from Israel, and was about seven months pregnant. During her trip she was rushed to the hospital with pains and gave birth to her little baby girl.

I immediately went over to the maternity ward to wish her Shabbat Shalom and to see if I can help with anything. Her mother, who had already managed to come from New York that morning, was the one who needed some support and a place to sleep. She was very happy to accept our invitation for her to sleep at our home for Shabbat the days following.
Sometimes it may be difficult to help over and over again, but the Nachas and the fulfillment one gets from a Mitzva, make it all worth it.

The baby, who was born very small, is thank G-d getting stronger every day. Although she will be staying at the hospital for another few weeks, tomorrow morning, her father will name her at the Torah reading.

Rivky and the children join in me in wishing you a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Chaim

Its time to help

Fri, 8 Aug 2014 4:25:00 PM

You surely heard about the terrible accident, which happened near Luzern at the bginning of this week. In the past few days I've been busy with this, helping and supportin the injured and their families. I received a lot of warm feedback and thank yous.

I would like to forward the thank you's to the group of volunteers who have worked tirelessly together with me. Without them I would not have been able to organize all of the help we were able to offer. Thank you to Uri, Goren, Dana, Sagit, Naaman, Pnina, and to all of the others, who have offered and keep offering their help.

The media reporter of the Chabad headquarters in New York wanted to be updated on the story and summed it up in his own article, which you can read here.

Swiss TV was also interested in the fact, that we as Jews are helping the victims of a tragedy, who are not even Jewish. This is something, which for me, as a Jew, is so simple. If we can, we help. I used the opportunity to pass on a message of belief, love and hope through the TV medium. click here to watch.

I pray to G-d, that we should always have the strength to be able to help, and may it only be for happy occasions in the future.

Shabbat Shalom to you all,

Rabbi Chaim

Love, Love, and More Love

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:27:00 AM

Within all the bad news, the sufferings of the war in Israel, there are some beautiful moments of Ahavat Yisrael (loving your fellow) and amazing unity among all parts of our nation. Here are some interesting facts from this past week:

* 30 thousand people came to participate in the funeral of a "lone" soldier, (who had immigrated to Israel without his family,) whom they have never met nor did they know his family. An evening prior to this in Haifa, 20 thousand attended the funeral of a soldier with a similar background.

* A Jewish doctor from Luzern (yes, from our city) decided to fly to Israel to volunteer his help in treating the wounded. * The medical team at the Shiba hospital feels the need to ask the public to slow down the visits of citizens who are simply coming to strengthen the wounded soldiers.

*Even during a siren and being in a non sheltered operating room, didn't hold back the doctors of that same hospital from continuing the operation on a Palestinian baby who has been brought to Israel for treatment.

*A field hospital with the best IDF equipment was set up near the border with Gaza to help the wounded and woman who need to give birth from Gaza. Unfortunately, it is still empty as the Gaza residents are the last thing which the Hamas terror organization cares about.

All this reminds me of the famous saying by Golda Meir: "Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.".

May this Shabbat bring protection and safety to our brethren in Israel and around the world.

Light the Shabbat candle for the safety of our soldiers and our Holy Land. Candle lighting time in Luzern 20:52.

Rivky and the children join me in wishing A Shabbat Shalom To Everyone!

Rabbi Chaim

“Rabbi, you look like the Taliban”

Fri, 6 Jun 2014 11:34:00 AM

“You look like the Taliban,” one of my friends in Luzern once told me, “but you’re not.” I asked him; “how do you know?” So he answered, ”because I know you.”

I really don’t like to sit and discuss anti-Semitism. I prefer to think that even though it exists, and is hiding under the surface, we don’t need to wake it up. However, this simple assumption that many people (especially from smaller cities or villages, who don’t know any Jews,) have, that Jews are problematic unless they prove it otherwise, annoys me.

This week it happened again.

My fitness trainer whom I now know for about a year and half, told me very openly that he tells all his Swiss friends, that the Jews are not like they think they are. “They are not from Mars,” is what he said. He tells them, "I know a Jew who comes to me and he is completely normal". He went on to tell me what I already knew, the lack of knowledge that most people have about Judaism is very big.

I meet with students quite often, and always use these meetings to teach them and to change stigmas which they have in their minds. Officially the reasons for these meetings are usually various topics in Judasim, but when we get to the question and answers, the topic of anti-Semitism, and the stereotypes about Jews always comes up. It is quite scary to hear the stigmas which are upon us.

The responsibility is not only on rabbis or community leaders. It is the responsibility of every single Jew or non-Jew to use every opportunity to break these stigmas. Serious anti-Semitism which was once hatred of our religion, later on Racism, and today the hatred towards the State of Israel, under the guise of human rights, cannot be eradicated, but we can certainly work to minimize it here and there.

My fitness instructor, who is now an unofficial fighter against stigmas on Jews, asked me towards the end of our conversation: “Is it true that Migros and Coop (from the largest companies in Switzerland) belong to Jews?” I replied with a smile: "No (t yet)."

We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we have good chances.

Wishing you a Shabbat of freedom,

Rabbi Chaim

500 times Shabbat Shalom!

Fri, 9 May 2014 3:30:00 AM

The newsletter which you are reading right now, is number 500! For the past 500 weeks, I sat down every Thursday evenings to write the weekly newsletter, which is sent out the following day to hundreds of email addresses. Sometimes I thought to myself is it's worth the effort? Do people even read it? Although I do get feedback from time to time, I was thinking if it was still worth all the time and effort?

It was about at week 200 and something, I had a lot going on with work commitments, and as much as I tried, I did not manage to send the email newsletter that week... I was upset but I thought it wasn't that bad, anyways there are only few who actually read it. Maybe it is a sign that I need to stop it altogether.

Well, over the next few days, my inbox was filled with many messages such as "Rabbi Chaim, hope all is ok, your email didn't come", "Rabbi Chaim, I was waiting for the weekly Jewish joke...", "Rabbi Chaim, I was waiting for the Torah thought so I could share it at Shabbat dinner with my children...".

I didn't need any more encouragement than that.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your comments, it's always nice and encouraging to get feedback. And yes, it's ok if you read the joke before the Torah thought, no need to apologize:).

A special thank you to Rivky, for the final editing of the newsletter every single week, amidst the many Shabbat preparations.

On another note, this coming Tuesday evening we are starting the new and exciting JLI course. If you didn't sign up yet, you can still do so and join.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Chaim

A 60 Year Old Hagada

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 6:44:00 AM

I hope you had a nice Seder.

With thanks to G-d, we had a very successful Community Seder. A wonderful Pessach atmosphere in the air. And the amount of participants, which was close to 100 added a lot to the wonderful experience.

I would like to share with you two inspiring moments which I experienced during the Seder.

Before we started, a local Jew, who is a holocaust survivor, and with his family has spent many holidays together with us, showed me a very old Haggada which he received from the American soldiers after being freed from the camps in April 1945.

I asked him for permission to read from it during the seder, to which he agreed.

When we came to the paragraph where we start reading the answer to the Four Questions: “Avadim Hayinu Le’Pharo be’Mitzrayim – we were slaves to Pharao in Egypt…”, I held this special Hagada in my hands and read the paragraph from it out loud, and was filled with emotions. Suddenly, I didn’t have to just imagine how the Jewish people felt and looked like when they left Egypt more than 3000 years ago. I just looked at the Haggada in my hands and lifted my eyes to look at the special Jew who was sitting at our Seder together with his son, daughter in law and granddaughter, in a place which is true freedom for him. For me, this was a moment of truly internalizing what leaving Egypt means.

Another inspiring moment was when during the Seder a young woman shared with me her own explanation to the famous Four Sons who are mentioned in the Haggada: the Wise son, the Wicked son, the Simple son and the son who is unable to ask.

The following is her interpretation:

“My great grand parents who came to America from Europe, were the Wise son, the grew up in the Shtetel and lead a full Jewish life.

My grandparents who grew up in America unfortunately turned into the wicked son. They knew better, but decided to throw it all away and didn’t keep any traditions.

My parents are the “simple son”, they remembered some things from their grandparents but really just didn’t know much about Judaism and the beautiful tradition.

I was supposed to be the fourth son, who is unable to ask, the little bit that my parents still knew, even that I wasn’t supposed to have experienced.

But here Chabad came into the picture, they made sure that me and many others with similar background, Jews, who according to the chain of history were supposed to be so disconnected from Judasim, should have the opportunity to learn and experience, and today I consider myself back at the level of my great grand parents, “the wise son”.

Wishing you all a continuation of a true personal holiday of freedom,

Rabbi Chaim

My Jail Experience

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 9:55:00 AM

This week I was in prison. I was not forced to go in, but rather went in out of my own will. As part of my profession, I visit Jewish inmates in local prisons. It is not easy, but I do it. Each prisoner and his story.

There are some tough cases, in which it doesn’t seem like the prison sentence will help much. Meaning, the person is in jail in order to keep the outside society safe and not in order to help himself get better.
There are, however, those prisoners, where you can see that they are taking their imprisonment seriously and are trying to plan their new lives for when they will be released.

Such an example is Isaac (not his real name), whom I have been visiting quite often in the last year. He is obviously not sitting in jail for helping unfortunate people, but for deeds that should not be done. However, Isaac accepted his fate with love. He feels deeply pained for what he has done. He pays his dues to society every day, and the damage which he did to someone else, he has already paid back until the last penny.
At the same time he has also gotten closer to Judaism. No, he doesn’t wear a Kippa and also didn’t let his beard grow. But he found his G-d. He prays, studies Torah and is growing in spirituality.

When I visited him this week, I was astonished. He told me that he has come to the conclusion that he thanks G-d for bringing him to prison. “The freedom of spirit which I have been able to attain here, I never had in my whole life. When I was in the never ending race after money, honor and in the competition with all that was around me, my soul was screaming and I couldn’t listen to it.” And he ends with a wide smile and tells me: “Today I can be who I really am! I might be imprisoned, but I am spiritually free. I can be who I am for real!”
It took me a few minutes to think about what he said and to understand his words.

Unfortunately, there are people who might be “free”, not confined to a prison, though they are very much imprisoned within their hearts, within the society in which they live or within the conditions that are set up for them by other human beings.

In a month and a half, Isaac will be released from prison and will return to the country he came from. I think it will be the first time for me, that I will miss a prisoner.

I got a strong reminder and lesson from this prisoner about the true meaning of “freedom”.

As our sages have said in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers): “Who is Wise? One who learns from every person”.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Chaim

Brotherly Love at the Grocery

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 4:46:00 AM

We often talk about the unconditional love that Jews have for one another. Last week Friday I had an inspirational experience which reminded me again what true Ahavat Yisrael (brotherly love) is.

I was standing in line to pay at one of the kosher shops in Zurich. The cashier was a nice guy, friendly to everyone.

Before me was a Jewish man, who was clearly a visitor and does not live here. When he got to the cash register, the cashier started scanning his items. When he was about to finish, the cashier looks at the man and says, “Wait a minute, I see that you are buying wine, challah, gefilte fish, a salad or two… I can tell that you are planning a Shabbat by yourself. Do me a favor, put everything back on the shelves, you are invited to my place for the Shabbat meals!”

I was touched.

I don´t know if the boss of the shop will be happy to hear this, but I saw an example of true brotherly love between Jews.

For me it was a real example of what we learn from Chassidic teachings, that Ahavat Yisrael applies even to a Jew whom we have never met, and most likely will never meet again.

Shabbat Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Chaim

Spoiled 'Cheese'

Fri, 18 Oct 2013 10:11:00 AM

This week I found myself in a situation, where I felt so ashamed, I wished the earth should swallow me up. Here is what happened.

I was standing with Rivky at the entrance of a big shopping center, enjoying the wintry sun shining on us.

A couple of meters away from us, a family was getting out of a nice car, a young woman with 2 small children and an elderly couple, who seemed to be her parents. They were all dressed very well and looked like respectable people. At the entrance of the mall the woman stopped to pose for a picture with her daughters, asking her elderly father to take the picture with her iPhone. Up until here everything is completely normal for a family outing.

However, the grandfather didn't manage to take the picture, he simply couldn't figure out how to take a picture with the iPhone. His daughter shouts at him, first with a regular voice "push the button at the bottom", but he still doesn't find the right button, so she raises her voice impatiently "come on, it's just there, at the bottom....". But he still couldn't find it.

Just then a teenaged girl passes by and the woman asks her politely: "Could you please take a picture of us?". The girl is happy to help and takes the picture, not before the mother and her children say "cheese, cheese, cheese" at least ten times.

The picture session is over and the woman goes over to her father, who is standing on the side, already feeling inadequate, and starts shouting at him really loudly "how many times do I have to explain to you how to take a picture?! It is so simple!!!" And he answers with a shameful voice: "I'm sorry, but I just can't figure it out". But she doesn't give in:"I have no patience to explain it to you anymore! It's so simple!"

Our hearts went out to this father/grandfather. In my opinion his daughter needs therapy as well as a good dose of education urgently. But what could I do, unfortunately there are people who act in such a nasty way, and even publicly.

What bothered me most of all was the "cheese"-moment, which the woman organized for herself during the picture. I can already imagine this picture, with the smiles pasted across their faces, which she might put on Facebook and the amount of 'likes' she will get. Because they really look like a very cute family.

Since I saw what went on around the picture, I knew that a smile was the last thing that fit into that moment. Believe me, my heart was crying about how terribly she treated her elderly father, but even more so, the impression which the children are getting, that the picture is intended convey something so unreal, so fake. Here we are smiling and everybody will think that we are having fun and we are a perfect family.

I once heard from a wise man who asked how come in the black and white pictures of our grandparents, which we find mostly in museums today, they always look so serious and are not smiling, whereas today you will not find one photo from a family event or trip where there's no 'ear to ear' smile?

He explained, that once upon a time nobody would think about faking a smile for a picture. Today, just try to keep a serious face in your family picture at a wedding and the photographer might just cut you out of the album.

I remember once I went to visit a learned man in his office, which was filled with many books, this was his pride. At the end of our meeting he invited me to be photographed with him against his distinguished library. But then he raised his voice to his secretary: "Why did you organize the books?" I did not understand what he wanted, isn't it nicer if if the books are neatly organized? He walked over to the bookcase and messed up the books a bit, explaining to me: "It is important the the books look like they are being used and are therefore not perfectly neat... It looks good."

Without much of a choice, I had to smile for the camera.

May we have the courage to smile to ourselves for REAL, and not for a passing camera lens.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Chaim

Swiss Youth in Jaffa

Fri, 9 Aug 2013 12:35:00 PM

This past Monday morning, in the old city of Jaffa-Tel Aviv, I was amazed and emotionally touched to see two young men from Zug standing amongst the ancient houses, holding a siddur (prayer book).

It was just a few minutes before the start of the Bar Mitzva ceremony of one of these boys. His name is Rapahel. Like any other Bar Mitzvah boy, he was using the last couple of minutes to go over and review the reading of his Torah portion. From my experience, it is usually helpful if the Rabbi is around in order to encourage the boy and help him do one last repetition before the big moment.

And so, I approached him in order to help, but then I saw that he was standing together with another boy, called Ydan, also from Zug, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah a few short months ago.

Then I realize, that Ydan is actually helping Raphael from his own fresh experience, and from where I was standing I could hear that he was guiding him in a pretty professional way. I was very inspired.

Why did it touch me so much? Besides for the fact that it was a cute and unusual scene to watch, I was touched because I know where these young men come from. They come from a very small community. Hebrew is not their first language and they also don’t visit the synagogue on a weekly basis.

Despite all this, I was able to tell how much their parents have invested in them, and the strong Jewish education which they received although they live in the Diaspora.

It was not surprising that Raphael did a great job reading from the Torah. With a hint of a Swiss accent, but in a pure, fluent and beautiful Hebrew.

I returned back home with great motivation to continue and to further develop the Jewish Youth Program in our community.

And here, of course, is the picture:

Raphael (on the right) gets encouragement and guidance from Ydan, moments before the ceremony.

A Surprising Spiritual Experience

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:38:00 PM

This week Tuesday I had a very surprising spiritual experience.

On Tuesday was the 3rd of Tammuz, the Yahrtzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In middle of the day I felt myself longing for the Rebbe, so I called a friend who was in middle of his workday at his office, and asked if he would be interested in watching a video together with me of one of the Rebbe’s speeches, which in the Chassidic dictionary is called a ‘farbrengen’.

He was also eager to and right away invited me to join him at his office after 4pm.

From the many DVDs which I have in my archives, in which there are hundreds of hours of speeches and lectures of Torah knowledge, Life lessons, Belief and what not… I chose one from the winter of 1983. From what I read on the DVD cover, it looked like it would be a deep thought, but fascinating and very interesting. And it was indeed. We sat together, said some Lechaim, and dove into the amazing Torah world of the Rebbe. He was speaking about the idea of seeing G-dliness in everything in life. The Rebbe expanded on the idea and explained in a very clear manner, how every person, Jew or non Jew has to remember that there is a reason for which he was created, and he should be happy about the fact that he received a mission from G-d to fulfill in this world.

Then the surprise came from a totally different angle.

As we were in middle of watching, my friend’s mother, who works together with him, walked into the office. When she realized that we were busy doing something spiritual, she was about to leave the room… when suddenly she says: “Hey, look that’s him!”

I look at the screen and think to myself, who’s him? She comes closer and we stopped the picture in the screen, and she says, “look, this is my husband”.

I couldn’t believe this unbelievable ‘Divine Providence’. When filming this video during the Rebbe’s Talk, the camera turned around and focused on some of the participants of this great event, and among them, out of the thousands of people, none less than her late husband, who was of course, the father of my friend whom I was watching the video with.

It was a very spiritual and heavenly feeling. From all the hundreds of hours of recordings of the Rebbe, I chose just the this DVD, and just thhat moment when she walked into the room, the person who was on the screen, was her husband. Living in Switzerland, he obviously did not visit New York that often.

There was a great excitement in the room. Since I was very inspired by this, I decided to share it with you.

Shabbat Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Chaim

My Coke Incident

Fri, 31 May 2013 9:43:00 AM

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I had a very uncomfortable experience, which ended well. The lesson I learned from it is once again, not to judge a person before knowing the whole picture. And it was all because of a small bottle of Coca Cola.

I had an early morning meeting in Bern. After finishing the meeting, I went back to the train station, and bought myself a small bottle of Coca Cola on the way. I said the blessing „shehakol nihya bid’varo“ and took a couple of sips all along my trip back to Luzern.

When I arrived in Luzern I get a SMS from Rivky, asking me to buy garbage bags at one of the shops in the train station.

I went in to the Coop supermarket, Coke bottle in hand – now only half full, and again drank a bit from it. At the cashier I asked the lady working there for 3 rolls of garbage bags. Then she asks me „what about the bottle?“ I answered that I had bought this bottle an hour ago in Bern.

However she continues, I saw you drinking from it here in the store.

Immediately I realized what I got myself into. I look different, speak German with a heavy accent, I have hair on my face and on my head there is a piece of cloth. From her point of view I am right now a thief, unless I prove different!

A very unpleasant feeling. I tell her: Listen, I was in Bern one and half hour ago, and that is where I bought this. I probably shouldn’t have come into your store with it, but this is the truth.

She ignores what I just said with a look that says „You’re not the first to tell me these stories…“ and takes the phone next to her to call security. There is a thief and a liar here, she says.

She asks me, do you have a receipt for this bottle?

Now, I never keep receipts for drinks or other small things which I buy myself on the way.

It was a very uncomfortable. How do I prove to her that I’m not a thief? The security guard was already standing over me and in my mind I was looking for a lawyer…

I prayed to G-d that he take me out of this mess. And He helped me. I quickly rummage through my pockets and found all kinds of papers and among them… the receipt for the bottle from the store in Bern.

At that moment everything turned around. She excused herself 100 times and tried to be extra friendly. She even expressed interest with a smile, why I sign my credit card from right to left?

I paid for the garbage bags and said goodbye.

At first I was very upset at her for judging me so quickly. Then I thought, she was actually just doing her job.

It was very uncomfortable, but what I gained from this incident was an important reminder for life. Sometimes you have all the reasons in the world to accuse someone for something or to think badly about him. It is for this reason that the Torah commands us: “ You shall explore, you shall question, you shall inquire”, check very well before you come to a negative conclusion about another person.

Shabbat Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Chaim

A Moving Photo

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 8:29:00 AM

A few days ago, on Yom ha’Shoa (Day of Rememberance), I got a phone call which caused me great sadness, more than any other Yom Ha’Shoa in the past years.

What happened?

On the phone I was told that Mrs. Eva Weber passed away. Mrs. Weber was a Holocaust survivor, who lived in Luzern, and whom I was privileged to get to know closely. She was about 93 years old when she passed away a few hours before Yom Ha’Shoa.

As I think about her and am saddened, I open the pictures application on my iphone and search for this picture, which I took about two years ago at Eva’s home.

Take a look at this picture. What do you see? A simple tray, an old Siddur (prayer book) and a set of ancient candle holders. At first glance it doesn’t look special. This image is what I would see almost every Friday, on my visits to Mrs. Eva Weber’s home shortly before Shabbat.

She lived in a small two-room apartment in Horw, just outside of Luzern. Each time I came in on Friday I was always greeted by this meaningful sight: In the middle of the small room, stood a low table and on it was the old Siddur, open to the Lecha Dodi prayer (which is said on Friday nights), and near it, two candles ready to be lit before Shabbat. She would always ask me what time Shabbat comes in, each week.

The old Siddur was a gift from her father she told me all excitedly. And since then she prays the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers every week.

For years and years, since her arrival to Switzerland, Eva had no contact to the Jewish Community. About 2 years ago, we got to know Eva through my dear friend, the well known eye doctor in Luzern, Dr. Itzik Schipper, who was treating her. Since the first contact, I would go to her almost every Friday with Challot, Gefilte Fish and Kugel for Shabbat, all home made by Rivky.

When I invited her to come hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashana, she refused politely. She has not done anything Jewish in public, since those terrible war days. After some persuasion she finally decided to come. After the services she came over to me in tears and told me how emotional this all was for her. The last time she had heard the sounds of the shofar, was before the war in Budapest. She was so happy she came. This was just this past Rosh Hashana.

The story of her escape and survival is unique, as she was miraculously saved quite early on. She was in a small camp, where many Jews were taken to, and from there they were sent to the various concentration camps. She always told us how she did not look Jewish with her blond hair and blue eyes, and not only once did she get the question “… but why are YOU here?” from the guards. One of the guards decided to take her under his coverage and made it possible for her to leave the place.

From there she was again miraculously able to get work with the Swedish Embassy and through them was brought into Switzerland.

Eva Weber passed away without leaving any children to mourn her or to say Kaddish.

Eva, we will, please G-d, remember you on Yom Kippur during the Yizkor prayer and you will always be in our hearts.

(If anyone would like to eternize her or to sponsor a Kaddish for her name, please contact me.)

Shabbat Shalom Chaverim,

Rabbi Chaim

Eva Weber ע"ה