By Rabbi Motti Wilhelm – Portland, Oregon

How does a Yiddishe, Chassidishe family respond to grief, tragedy, and a doubled-over sense of loss?

How do grandparents find comfort when two of their grandchildren have never met their fathers?

How do cousins support one another after coming together for a Shabbaton for those who have experienced loss?

In under two years, the Jewish world, and Chabad in particular, lost two of its young greats: the brothers-in-law, Rabbis Mendel Plotkin and Levi Wolosow OBM. Two young, vivacious, influential, and luminous individuals who suddenly and without warning returned their souls to their Maker.

Both left behind large families, many who depended on them, and children yet unborn. Both held dear their values and their Chabad identity.

The grief and the loss have been real. The pain, the absence, the missing presence, profound.

But yesterday, the family, under the leadership of the patriarch and matriarch, Rabbi Chaim and Sarah Wolosow of Chabad Sharon, Massachusetts, did what a Chossid and a Jew does.

They channeled the energy, the grief, and the geshrei into creating the holiest matter we have in our world.

Yesterday, the Mendel and Levi Legacy Torah was completed.

Yesterday, they danced.

They danced with a sense of purpose.
They danced with determination.
They danced with the knowledge that the cause and mission these two young men lived for, namely to make this world a home for Hashem, had come closer to fruition.

As the Mendel-Levi Torah was completed, a sense of the sublime entered the room, a feeling that something greater was unfolding, that these souls continue to generate holiness, purpose, and the presence of Hashem in our world.

Hashem, watch how Your people dance when You come close, and allow us to dance with full hearts when Your presence will be fully revealed and those who lie in the dust will arise and dance with us.