By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Yated Ne’eman
How does one manage
Not to cry
As he ponders
Wonders, “Why?”
He chose them
Not “Me,” not “I”
To write the saga
Of Mumbai
What’s there to write?
What’s there to say?
About a morbid
Dreadful day
A day of carnage
In Bombay
Brought to our homes
From far away
A world so distant
So far-flung
The banner of Hashem
Was hung
A song of comfort
Was once sung
And now it mourns
Its martyred young
Who did not know
Someone who’d gone
And felt the warmth
of Nariman?
Satmar, Volov
Bobov too
Anyone
who was a Jew
Frum or Not
it was not odd
In Mumbai
their home — Chabad
An oasis of Yiddishkeit
In a foreign land
Where Yidden came
To bond
To band
Where golus took
A tiny break
An Indian respite
Where somehow
Diverse worlds would meet
And everyone would fit
But terror’s sword
Reached far and wide
And found us ’round the world
Yishmael’s flag
It would not hide
Its filthy wrath unfurled
A tearful lesson
Did us teach
A thought we all must know
That until we
Correct the breach
There’s no place they won’t go
To run
To hide
We all can try
But where we are
Is still Mumbai
Not the comforts
Of Boro Park
Nor fancy homes
In Sutton Park
Can keep the light
From turning dark
A bustling metropolis
Where the Torah’s
Words do reign
A tiny, lonely shtetel
Somewhere in the Ukraine
Are no safer than
The Nariman
Where Yidden
Came to pray
To find a breath
Of ruchniyus
In the smog of
Old Bombay
A hotel
In Netanya
Or a bus in
Tel Aviv
A rural street
In Iowa
Where Yidden
Hardly live
There’s golus in Bnei Brak
And hatred on the wall
Skinheads in Toronto
And bombs in Montreal
There’s always a reminder
That nowhere
Are we free
And that there is
No “type” of Yid
For every “them” is me
No matter where we’re standing
Whatever street you’re on
We need the understanding
Of “Golus Nariman”
No matter where we travel
No matter where we fly
Golus seems to find us
For everywhere’s Mumbai
There are no sects in golus
And no rift does exist
For we are “one”
To all of “them”
To every terrorist
But if everywhere is golus
And all Jews are just one
Perhaps there is nechama
In the mayhem that was done
We were all shot together
We limp as we are maimed
The dreadful storm we’ll weather
With each bullet that they aimed
We’re Toldos Avram Yitzchak
Chabad and Bobov, too
We are Israeli tourists
And a Mexicana Jew
Maybe we are still standing
Indeed we’re still alive
But maybe we are Moishele
The baby who’d survive
For Klal Yisroel’s yasom
Whose tears wet every heart
Is the symbol of our history
A message to impart
That no matter how they’ll kill us
Whatever time or where
Moishele will yet live on
A hope for our despair
Amongst the smoke and rubble
A babe ‘mongst the reeds
A plant amidst the trouble
The Almighty always seeds
Until Moshiach’s heralding
When all the dead revive
The Moisheles declare our fate
“Klal Yisroel will survive!”
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29 Responses
well put.
sadly true
I think that its not so kavod for the holy kedoshim to call their work Nariman House, Oh please.
if you dont want to write about them fine but please dont ignore the organization that sent them due to sinas chinam, you due their work no respect.
Please dont try to grudgingly sugar coat the name Chabad between Toldos AY and Bobov, try working harder on your poetry.
a yeshivisher yid from LA
this is the best thing! make a achdus picture and fix up the typset!
Amen.
Does Rabbi Kamenetzky remember that Chabad House was not the ONLY place targeted, and that many, many other people died in the other locations? Or has he simply forgotten??
This was so powerful.
I have no words any more.
What can anyone say???
AM YISRAEL CHAI L’OLAM
After world war 2, the belzer rebbe met the gerrer rebbe in Eretz Yisroel, they met but did not speak any words, the conversation consisted only of tears.
if you don’t like the poem don’t read it!! all the tsuris of last week…and you have to find fault??! are we ever going to learn?????
Yes, We ARE Mumbai. We were all there, and all of us got shot. We were all forced from Above to see Life, self sacrifice, and lifes mission from a new angle.
We saw a couple who looked past their own views to accept all. And now we must measure up to do the same.
beautiful, and powerful
it bothers me so much to see criticism on such a nice poem. i wish there would be less disagreement between us jews. it would be a much happier world if peaple would learn to coplement more and critisize less
Sometimes poetry touches the heart more than just plain words can. Thank you for sharing this with me. Isn’t it amazing that a Jew from across the globe can feel the pain of a Jew they’ve never met? I will print this out and keep it where I’ll see it often so that I will never forget.
i agree with #10, the whole point of this article is not to give you something else to find fault in. you all have to open up your eyes and come to realize that unless if you start looking at what good there is to people, and not trying to do the opposite, you won’t get anywhere where it really counts.
Did you ever hear of “We are the Worl” Churchill telling the troops, “You are England”?
You call yourself, “Give me a break.” Practice what you Preach. 🙂 Mumbai has taken on a persona like, 9/11.
Guys
IF U HAVE NOTHING POSITIVE TO SAY DON’T SAY IT!
Enough with this cynicism it’s sickening.
Givemeabreak
You are right. This is a poem, it doent have to make sense. Although this is a common usage to metaphorically connect people to a place. He’s trying to say that Bombai Ceased to be only a place rather it is now the name of a concept.
For example: R Aharon WAS Lakewood. Lakewood is also a concept
Look up the word metaphor.
JUST REMEMBER:
FROM INSIDE WE SEE EACH OTHER AS SO DIFFERENT BUT FROM OUTSIDE THEY SEE US AS ALL THE SAME!!!!
Beautifully put! You made me cry all over again!
We are all survivors and have to realize we are here to fulfill a mission. Don’t let your life slip by on nutral, live and give to the fullest.
(A small note to “give me a break” – I know your user name must inspire you to analize and criticize everything you find on thit site, but not everything is a gemara to be taken apart, somethings are just meant to touch your heart!)
# 5
You are right that cahabd house was not the only place that Jews died in Mumbai. BUT, it was the ONLY place in Mumbai where people died BECAUSE they were Jews.
# 2 My gosh, I was thinking the same thing.
For crying out loud, I am not lubavitch, but you put the word Nariman House in the song once instaed of chabad and I thought, nu it rhymes better, but after the second time? And only stick in chabad in the middle of other groups.
This is false achdus. Even if some disagree, its only because of how holy THEY are.
This poem is beautifully written and very powerful.
Thank You.
It`s very sad that some choose to criticize an individual`s personal reflection on the tragedy (ie. it doesn`t have to include EVERY aspect….and is written as a message to Yidden). (Did you notice the word Nariman rhymed, not chabad?).(Why look for the positioning of chassidus next to another, the whole message of achdus is overlooking petty differences).
Beautiful poem. I too, will print this out to share with others. Thank you, Rav Mordechai!
My first reaction was that this poem was BEAUTIFUL and so meaningful.
My next was to email my family to read it.
Then I read the comments.
I happen have a pretty cynical eye unfortunately but I was appalled to see the comments!
Yes there were other targets but this poem is about the Jews not the gentiles. If you wish, you can write a poem about the gentiles.
“We are Mumbai” or “For everywhere’s Mumbai” is a metaphor. For those of you who don’t know anything about poetry at least don’t embarress yourself(s) and ruin it for others. It did not literally mean that NY and Toronto IS Mumbai. It means that they are the same in the sense that they are all vulnerable for attack and we are not safe anywhere. We cannot separate ourselves from the attack on Mumbai as it could have been us Ch”V.
Give Me a Break ,
Poetry has a different set of rules than other forms of literature and I believe that “We are Mumbai” is okay. (BTW, where is that line? I scanned through the poem and only found “For everywhere’s Mumbai”. What number line is it on?)
Oh, just realized, “We are Mumbai” is the title, whatever.
5 and 15, you are right, and we should feel bad that so many people died. But think about it: Jews comprise a fraction of a percentage of the population. Targeting this highly (only?) visible Jewish building was such a priority that 2 of the 10 terrorists were assigned there!!! And how many of the other victims underwent such torture?
There is another message. This is such deja vu, remember Mercaz Harav? What are we supposed to learn? How can it be impressed on us so that it will stick longer this time?
Those of you who complain that “chabad” was barely mentioned, are probably the same people who would complain that it WAS mentioned if they would have used the word more… (Just taking a guess, maybe I’m wrong)
JUST STOP COMPLAINING! FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO, THAN TO CRITICIZE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!!!
STOP, STOP, STOP!! HOW CAN YOU SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE IN KLAL YISROEL WERE AFFECTED BY THIS TRADEGDY!!!! DON’T YOU HAVE ANY FEELINGS AT ALL?! JUST STOP ALREADY!!!
lets be dan likaf zechus.
“give me a.b.” is probably quite young, & has yet yet to develop sensitvities to such a tragedy & perhaps to peoples feelings in general.