It seemed to happen by accident. But, since we know that there is no “happenstance” in this world, we would have to call it hashgacha pratit. The “Geula gatherings” that took place across the globe on February 26 (the 22nd of Adar, 40 days before Nissan) were not long in the planning. In fact, they weren’t really planned at all. A few weeks earlier, many women suddenly began seeing a video of Baltimore’s Rivka Malka Perlman that was circulating on WhatsApp calling on women to come together on February 26th in achdus (unity) and prayer to hasten the Geula (Redemption). Women enthusiastically began contacting Rivka Malka asking how they could participate, not realizing that that video was actually a promotional piece for a different event, which had taken place seven years before! As Rivka Malka says in her video on the GeulaGathering.com page, she “took the cue,” saying, “Hakadosh Baruch Hu, You want us together in unity for the Redemption. We say yes. Who in the world could plan a perfect date for world unity?” she asks. “Not me. But the Mega-Event-Planner has done the job for us; He set the date.”
With only a month left to flesh out what a Geula gathering would consist of and make arrangements, Rivka Malka and other organizers were nevertheless able to receive haskamas (approbations) from many rabbis, including Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky of Bnei Brak, encouraging these global events. The Geula gatherings were organized by a grassroots movement of women in different cities and were under the guidance of Rav Moshe Weinberger, who told Rivka Malka, “Hashem has been waiting thousands of years for this to happen, and this is certainly the light of the Geula that you are experiencing.”
According to Esther Sara Weiner, who co-chaired the Baltimore event along with Danielle Sarah Storch, the mission statement of the Geula gatherings is “to bring women together to express to Hashem their yearning for Him to bring the Geula to each and every one of us and to all the klal (community).” Gatherings were held in at least 75 locations around the globe, including Baltimore, epicenter of its beginning. Each event featured noted speakers as well as music and dancing with tambourines, evoking the spirit of the prophetess Miriam, who encouraged and strengthened the women and led them in song.
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Also, “by chance,” after it turned out that one of the planned speakers, Rebbetzin Leah Feldman, would be unable to attend, a replacement speaker was found via unusual circumstances. Rebbetzin Nechama Klughaupt, a daughter of the Skulener Rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael Avraham Portugal, just “happened” to be in Baltimore with her father, who has lately been receiving care at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Rebbetzin Klughaupt spoke words of inspiration and gave a bracha that we “should be blessed with everything we wish for and see the Geula sheleima soon.
“You can’t imagine what a ko’ach (power) there is when Jewish women daven together,” she said. She also asked that we daven for a refuah sheleima (recovery) for her father, Reb Yisrael Avraham ben Shayna Rochel. In addition to encouraging women to increase their levels of achdus (unity), modesty, and davening, Rebbetzin Klughaupt brought copies of the book, Daughters of Dignity, which were given out at the event.
“She was absolutely extraordinary!” said Hana Bashe in describing Rebbetzin Klughaupt. “I could have listened to her for another two hours, and I’m enjoying the book she brought very much. I really felt inspired by her.” Shoshana Liebman also felt “touched by the Rebbetzin. I felt it was important that she was there.”
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Following the recitation of Nishmas by Musia Delman and listening to a recording of a beautiful “Nishmas Song” by Shalomis Koffler Weinreb, Esther Sara Weiner, who served as the emcee, spoke. She began by discussing what seems to be a paradox: We wait for and anticipate Mashiach’s arrival at any moment. So how do we plan for the future? Her answer? Although our souls are all connected in heaven, in the world of timelessness, we can only see this world, where things are unknowable. We therefore need to live with a “Plan B,” just in case Mashiach doesn’t arrive immediately.
Esther Sara also drew our attention to a flyer from a related organization in the small packet of information that each participant received. She is participating in “40 Days of Healing and Emuna,” a program of the Redemption Project. She suggested signing up at the website (http://timeforpeace.io/) “to receive material every day to help you grow a tiny bit closer to a truer and more meaningful relationship with Hashem.”
The Redemption Project is not a typical organization. Its website states, “Around the world there is a growing movement of Jews who are seeking to harness the energy of Jewish unity. For too long, the beauty and power of the Jewish people has been marred by our division and disparity, but now is the time for reframing our relationships to one another and tapping into the burgeoning power of Redemption.”
Esther Sara explained, “Our self-judgments, our judgments of others, our angers, our fears, our failures to forgive – all of these are self-imposed barriers to Hashem’s love. Our individual journey is to clear out some of those barriers so we can get close to Him and to each other. We are all emanations of Hashem. His love is constantly coming down.”
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Susan Stern, who was born and bred in Baltimore and returned after a 30-year stint in New York, began her talk by saying, “It’s a great privilege to be part of such a wonderful and diverse community,” noting that the women present were of all ages and stages of religious observance. Susan invited the audience to “be part of a new undertaking that will change ourselves, our city, and eventually, the world.” She directed us to a card in the bag we received, distributed by the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation. The card includes a list of “seven reasonable and doable strategies to seeking out the good in others.” Some examples are: Daven to Hashem to see the good; Understand people’s motivations; Be an easy grader – give partial credit; Accept differences; and Don’t keep score. Susan suggested choosing at least one strategy which seems to call out to us or which we feel the need to work harder on and concentrate on that before tackling others.
Susan also shared with the audience the struggle with childlessness she had dealt with for 30 years, and how, only a few years ago, had her own personal redemption: “I not only came to terms with my ordeal but embraced it,” she said. “Each of us is created betzelem Elokim, in G-d’s image. We are Hashem’s children, His favorite daughters. Each one of us going through challenges, struggles, and so many conflicting emotions. And yet, when we tune into our heart, we know that our heart is pure and sincere and only wants what’s right and good. We are beloved in the eyes of G-d. He knows our truest selves and our deepest emotions and desires. He waits for us to pray to Him and connect to Him through conventional prayer or, if you are not comfortable with that, ‘hitbodedut,’ a personal conversation with G-d.
“Through His grace and compassion, He waits for us to express our own individual and pure yearning for redemption, and He delights in our joining hearts with one another in achdus.” Susan ended with a bracha: “May the expression of true desire for personal redemption and the ultimate Geula find favor in the eyes of Hashem, our Father, and may He bless us with His revealed Geula speedily in our days.”
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The audience was also treated to new and inspiring song composed by Shalomis Koffler Weinreb. Shalomis, accompanied by Lisa Friedman, second member of the three-woman Baltimore band, Ayelet Hashachar, sang, “We Are One Family” after teaching the audience the chorus so we could participate. Even this musical interlude was almost “by chance.” Shalomis related that, several years ago, she had buttons made for a different function, which read, “We Are One Family.” However, she ended up never distributing these buttons. Then a few months ago, she “happened” to be looking at one of the buttons again, and was inspired to write this song. [See sidebar.]
For Adi Yahav Brito, hearing the song and singing the chorus together was the height of the evening: “Acknowledging that we are one unified family was the key point for me. I felt so elevated by this and, later, by the dancing in the circle, hugging one another and feeling as one with all the women.” Adi especially appreciated Susan Stern’s comment on how many diverse women were united and present that evening. The goal of “all Jews being united” is very important to her and close to her heart, she said. “We are not here to judge each other, but to accept each other.”
The feeling of unity the song inspired touched others as well. Esther Sara said, “Someone told me that when Shalomis Weinreb and Lisa Friedman were singing the song, ‘We Are One Family’ and leading the whole group in singing, it was the first time she really, really felt that we were all sisters.”
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The Baltimore gathering was also treated to a short safety presentation showing how to perform the Heimlich maneuver and oral instructions on how to do CPR. Following that was a video about the Ner Echad movement (www.NerEchad.org), which was established to perpetuate the lifework and legacy of Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, a”h. Joining this organization allows one to automatically donate a dollar before Shabbos each Friday before candle lighting to the Rebbetzin Kanievsky Widow and Children Fund. In addition, members receive a text or email on Friday afternoons alerting them to the candle lighting time of their zip code. But there is even more. As the pamphlet in our bags says, “Our Sages extol the virtues of one Jew praying for another Jew in distress” as a “time-tested segula to facilitate one’s own prayers to be answered speedily.” So, each week, Ner Echad members “receive the name of a fellow member to include in their prayers, and are assured that one of her sisters in Klal Yisrael is praying for her as well.”
Common among most of the world-wide Geula gatherings was a video of Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi speaking about the power of women’s prayers. Rabbanit Mizrachi detailed two times in Jewish history when the women gathered together in prayer. The first time was when Leah gathered women to daven for Rachel so that she would have another son in order to be the mother of two tribes, not just one. The second time was when Queen Esther gathered her seven closest friends in the palace of Achashveirosh. Rebbetzin Mizrachi said that these prayers saved the Jewish people from destruction.
Reflecting on the Baltimore gathering, Shoshana Liebman said, “It’s very important for me as a Jew that we meet in community.” Shoshana lived in the Old City in Jerusalem for 20 years and feels community is very important. “I don’t think we Jews ‘get it,’ how vital we are to Hashem, and I think the more we gather together, the more we’ll feel it. I just want to get a little closer to Hashem every day.” She also notes, “I think that this is just a beginning, but the fact that it was possible to get this many cities together is remarkable. That shows what women can do.” She also applauded Susan Stern’s message of accepting differences.
Like many others, Janet Ben-Natan noted, “I am very impressed by the sheer number of locales all over the world where these gatherings are taking place.”
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I spoke with a few people in other cities to find out how their events went. Miriam Glick Yager has lived in Coral Springs, Florida, for several years. With a small Jewish population – and only two Orthodox shuls – its gathering was not large but was diverse, with women of various levels of observance. She was one of the speakers. Miriam felt “amazing, amazing energy…I still feel so inspired,” she said. “There was so much achdus, and the videos were amazing, as was the live music. Everyone was touched in meaningful way.”
In Stony Brook, N.Y., about an hour away from any large religious community, Peryl Agishtein, originally from Queens, is a neuropsychologist and rebbetzin; her husband is the rabbi of the local Orthodox shul. Although Peryl only heard about the Geula Gathering date at the last minute, she was hoping to be able to host perhaps five women. Unfortunately, they were committed to a prior event, so only one other person showed up, an eleventh-grade girl whose family is in the process of becoming more observant. Even though they shared what may have been the smallest Geula gathering, it was an experience they treasured. “I was feeling so discouraged and thought about canceling, but I remembered hearing Rivka Malka speaking about how ‘the Satan will try to put obstacles in our path because this work is so holy.’ I decided to go ahead and hold our two-person Geula gathering, and it was beautiful. We talked about Geula, tehilim, and the role of women, watched the videos, davened and sang together. It was so moving. Since the inspiration of the gathering, we’re both still saying tehilim and praying daily for the Geula.”
Varda Verstandig, from Brooklyn, attended the Brooklyn event where Rivka Malka was one of the speakers. Varda had just arrived from Israel the day before and had to go to work the next morning. Although she felt very tired, she was very glad she attended. “I felt very connected, as if I was doing something for Klal Yisrael. I felt as though there was a lot of wonderful positive spiritual energy in the room. I felt that everybody who was there was in tune with preparing themselves for redemption. I brought a friend along who didn’t think that this was ‘her thing,’ but she was also very happy that she went. And, of course, Rivka Malka was wonderful.”
Many readers will recognize former Baltimorean Yehudis Schamroth, who lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh (RBS). With only three weeks of lead time, she was one of the committee organizers to arrange a Geula gathering in her area. “We reserved the Carlebach Shul, which holds 300, arranged musicians, produced ads, and set up a program. But then we had an unusual situation. There was already a huge women’s event happening on the same night! It was a fundraiser for kids at risk in RBS and Beit Shemesh. Their event was scheduled way in advance of ours.
“So, I got together with the organizers of the other event, and we decided that my main event would proceed with Orit Esther Riter running the program, and I would go to the other event to explain what we were doing across RBS, and why we scheduled it for the same night. I spoke about how it will be the nashim tzidkoniyot (righteous women) who will usher in the final Geula and how I came over to include them in the number of women worldwide who were raising the awareness of the Geula and davening in unity for it to come soon in our days! I led 400 women in tehilim at that event, and then ran over to the Carlebach and joined 100 more women.” She added, “We got back amazing feedback from both events requesting us to do it again soon.”
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Although the first Geula gatherings have passed, their effect is not over. As Rivka Malka says in a video, “Geula is a state of being…. What we experienced in creating these gatherings is a taste of Geula. We tasted what it feels like to be in the Truth, that we are all the beloved children of Hashem; there’s no difference between me and you – the truth of ahavas Yisrael, love for the entire world, when we stand with the purest, highest connection with Hashem.
“Tonight, this is where we want to focus: that this should not just be an inspirational night, not just a night of coming together. Our intention in these gatherings is to plant seeds for continuity. You showed up here for this event because this is your yearning, and you and HaKadosh Baruch Hu yearn for the same thing. Let this be a reunion of ourselves to our sisters, of ourselves to our people, and ourselves to our highest self. Because our highest self knows that there is no room for anything but love. One day we will see the Beis Hamikash, and we yearn for that day. What is the point of the Beis Hamikdash? The point is for the glory of Hashem. Hashem made us, the Jewish people, to spread His glory around the world. Where we are heading is to be restored as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It is our job to be a light unto the nations.”
SIDEBAR
WE ARE ONE FAMILY
Music and Lyrics by Shalomis Koffler Weinreb
You don’t know me, I don’t know you
And though we’re neighbors, we’re far away
Our clothes, our style, our point of view
We’re so different in every way
If I say go left, you say go right
If I say it’s black, you say it’s white
It seems we disagree on almost everything
And yet…and yet…
We are, we are, one family
We are, we are, one, one family
Traveling in a sea of strangers
I spot an almost familiar face
I hear an almost familiar name
We feel the bond that cannot break
Suddenly, I’m not alone
Suddenly I feel at home
And here we are, you and I, only having just met
And yet…and yet…
We are, we are, one family
We are, we are, one, one family
