| Shleimus Haaretz Conference in 770 | | |
Over a thousand people, including Crown Heights residents and guests, participated in a Shleimus Haaretz conference held Thursday night in 770. The gathering was organized by the International Campaign to Save the Nation and the Land. The evening was chaired by Chabad journalist R. Shabtai Weintraub (Shai Gefen), who delivered a full report on the difficult situation that Israel now faces following the pullout from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron and the expulsion of the Jewish residents.
Report of the event in full article. For a gallery of pictures, click here.
Rav of Crown Heights R. Avraham Osdoba spoke and strongly criticised the expulsion and those who sat back silently and allowed it to happen. R. Shmuel Butman, head of the Lubavitch Youth Organization, said in his speech that the gathering is being held in 770 to demonstrate to the world that the struggle for shleimus haaretz is the Rebbe's struggle. All the years we did not understand the Rebbe's outcries and protests, but it's now crystal clear what the Rebbe was referring to. R. Shalom Dovber Wolpo, one of the heads of the International Campaign, said that if the Chabad community had thrown its energies more strongly into fighting the expulsion, the outcome might have been different. He also related stories about the writing of the special Sefer Torah for Gush Katif, which accompanies them in all their wanderings.
Final speaker was R. Dovid Meir Drukman, rav of Kiryat Motzkin and one of the ! heads of the Pikuach Nefesh organization. R. Drukman held the large crowd spellbound for over two hours as he related the entire history of the struggle for Gush Katif. His central point was our need to empathize and support the Gush Katif expellees, who have been left bereft of everything. He urged all the chassidim to join the struggle, which still continues, to "salvage whatever can be salvaged." After his talk was a showing of the "Eretz Yisroel Hashleima" video, a compilation of the Rebbe's sichos on shleimus haaretz.
R. Yekutiel Rapp, head of the International Campaign, then distributed Certificates of Honor to chassidim who were prominent in the struggle against disengagement, including R. Eli Poltorak, director of the Gush Katif summer yeshiva; R. Dovid Nachshon, who did non-stop mivtzayim in Gush Katif until its final moments; R. Leibel Motchkin, who despite his advanced age arrived in Gush Katif to lend moral support to its re! sidents up to the end; R. Avraham Holtzberg, who financed the ! struggle for Gush Katif, and Acharon Acharon Chaviv, a certificate was presented to the shliach of Gush Katif R. Yigal Kirshenzaft, for his ongoing spiritual battle for Gush Katif and his non-stop efforts to aid and support the residents of Gush Katif. R. Kirshenzaft's son Dovid accepted the honor on his behalf. All five honorees shared a little of their experiences in the battle for Gush Katif, and were met with resounding and sustained applause from the crowd.
The conference ended past midnight and left all the participants charged with a sense of duty to redouble their efforts for Shleimus Haaretz, and not to be discouraged by the unfortunate events of the past summer.
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