Apr 30, 20192 min read

A Message from Values-in-Action Foundation about Recent Shootings and Acts of Hatred

We are sickened, heartbroken and speechless at the continued mass shootings in our country, this weekend killing one worshipper and wounding three others at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue near San Diego, California as well as the continued spewing of hate as exhibited recently by church and mosque burnings here in the U.S. and by the mass shooting in New Zealand and mosque bombings in Sri Lanka.

We are praying for the recovery of all the wounded and for the families of those who were killed. This week, we are thinking of the San Diego/Poway communities and every fair-minded person who suffers whenever and wherever killing occurs.

Clearly, goodness, values and love are under attack. But, how can we stop this hatred and killing? Chabad’s iconic Rebbe Menachem Mendel Shneerson, of blessed memory, said: “Cold-blooded, fanatical, baseless, relentless hatred can be uprooted from its core only by saturating our world with pure, undiscriminating, uninhibited, unyielding love and acts of kindness." Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of Chabad of Poway, recovering from the shooting in his hospital bed, said: " We all need to take this darkness and do some random acts of kindness. And it's going to tip the scale in our favor one hundred percent." Anyone who doubts the veracity of these messages, Google “Cantor and the Klansman” to see how a simple Cantor took on the Klan and won through acts of kindness.

So, let's shout kindness through our loud megaphones wherever we go. Let's act with and encourage kindness in our daily lives. Let's speak kindness with our spoken words. Let's drown out the hate and take away its platform through kindness. Just like the bully, those who hate crave an audience. Let's light our respective candles to diminish darkness.

Let's JUST BE KIND!