Following the horrific tragedy in Bondi Beach, Sydney, where Shluchim and community members were murdered Al Kiddush Hashem this past Chanukah, a new publication has been released to offer clarity and direction during these turbulent times.

Titled “כאשר יענו אותו כן ירבה וכן יפרוץ” (“As they afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they burst forth”), the Kovetz was initiated by a group of bochurim in 770. Seeking clarity and guidance after such a painful event, they turned to the Rebbe’s response to a chillingly similar historical tragedy: the 1956 terror attack in Kfar Chabad.

On Rosh Chodesh Iyar, 5716, terrorists infiltrated the vocational school in Kfar Chabad, murdering five students and their instructor, Rabbi Simcha Zilberstrom, Hy”d, while they stood in the midst of Shemoneh Esrei. The Rebbe’s response at the time was immediate and transformative, issuing a call not for despair, but for expansion and growth.

The publishers of the new Kovetz noted that, unfortunately, history has repeated itself in a painful way. “Obviously, the Rebbe is with us through it all,” they shared, “but this booklet allows us to read exactly what he wrote and said clearly when faced with such darkness.”

The Kovetz is divided into two main sections. The first part contains a collection of the Rebbe’s Igros Kodesh regarding the Kfar Chabad tragedy, including the instruction to strengthen the institutions and the dispatching of a special delegation of Shluchim to Eretz Yisroel to lift the spirits of Anash. The second part features transcripts of the Rebbe’s Sichos delivered in the aftermath of the event, focusing on how to respond to tragedy with spiritual fortitude.

It also includes addendums from Sichos in 5734, after the Ma’alot massacre, and 5752, regarding the murder of Mrs. Pesha Leah Lapine, Hy”d, further addressing the Jewish response to terror. The Kovetz opens with a Foreword connecting the events, noting a striking parallel to the Rebbe’s 1956 response: Just as the Rebbe sent a special group of Shluchim to strengthen the community then, a delegation of student Shluchim has currently traveled to support the community and the Shliach, Rabbi Yaakov Litton, following the tragic murder of Shliach Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Hy”d.

Click here to download the Kovetz