Gayle Sassoon’s 1st Public Statement: Even When We Feel Abandoned, Trust Hashem
This past March 21st, the entire Jewish people mourned after 7 children of Rabbi Gavriel and Gayle Sassoon were killed in a house fire. Gayle Sassoon was released from the hospital this past June, and last week she made her first public statement via the Chazak Hotline:
This is Gila bat Francis. It’s hard for me to let another day go by without ever trying to attempt to thank all of Klal Yisrael for your incessant davening for mine and Tsipora’s refuah shlema. I have to start with that. It’s grilling me. Thank you. Really thank you.
The letters from all over the globe, really, fill my room. The tears, I think, we all cried were enough to fill oceans.
Ladies, is this not the same as the commentary that Rashi gave when we stood as one at the time of Matan Torah? That we stood “K’eesh echad b’lev echad.” As one man with one heart?
That’s all I thought when I woke up. When my family told me one by one: “The world you left, Gayle, is not the same one [you will see] when you are going to go back out there.” They all had tears in their eyes. I had no clue what they meant.
But we all were, and I know we still are one.
We’re in the month of Kislev now. What joy. What fun. What excitement. I just anticipate every single Kislev. It was hard for me this year. I’m not a hero. It is hard.
We as mothers anticipate the fun of Chanukah, the miracle of Chanukah, with, of course, every single type of donut out there, we serve. And, of course, if you live in Israel you’ve been eating sufganiot since Succot was over.
But, really, what do Chanukah and Kislev have in common?… It’s all about bitachon, trust. Trust. Trust in Hashem when we feel completely abandoned. Trust in Him…
The Maccabees were five against rabim, many. It doesn’t say how many. It just says many.
How was it possible? What was their secret weapon? [What they did was] virtually impossible.
Their weapon was trust, just trust.
Now today, these days, we all know… We can’t even listen to the news. It’s just crazy.
Times are crazy. Nothing is normal. But ladies, if we can do it again, we must! K’eesh echad, b’lev echad, as one man with one heart, to find it deep in the deepest of our hearts to find trust.
In the merit of the children, and they weren’t only mine and Gabi’s children, they became the children of all Am Yisrael. Our David would have become a bar mitzvah this 17th of Kislev (November 29th) on Motsaei Shabbat.
I plead with all of you, to believe in “Ain od milvad,” there is nothing besides Him. Just trust. May we all be zoche to greet Moshiach now. Thank you. And I’m sorry I did not speak sooner.
To send an Email to Rabbi Gavriel and Gayle Sassoon, please write sassoon7@gmail.com
Here are the phone numbers to listen to Gayle Sassoon speaking on the Chazak Hotline, press 5, then 8. (I am not sure these numbers are up to date. If someone has the current numbers, please send them to me)
Atlanta: 404-419-7163
Brooklyn: 718-258-2008
Denver: 720-496-4220
Detroit: 313-332-4444
Florida: 786-347-3555
Israel: 03-929-0707
Monsey: 845-356-6665
Passaic: 973-928-0950
Teaneck: 201-645-4650
Toronto: 416-800-0656
I don’t have the courage to call the number.
It’s so powerful actually hearing her.. I recommend calling
me too
When I call the (FL) number, it requests a security code…
these numbers are around 4 years old…so you might just have to call a different US number
thank you for sharing her words and thoughts. trust is the only thing we can hold on to in these turbulent times. May this Kislev be filled with joy for everyone! Enough sadness and tragedies!