* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
“Have they heard about Charlotte in Israel?”, asked one of my readers in New York this past week, and asked that I write about one of the most discussed incidents that recently occurred in the Jewish community there:
*Charlotte Herzberg,* an eight-year-old girl from Monsey, New York, was riding her bicycle near her house when she was struck by and killed by a car. The driver of the car, who immediately took responsibility for this tragic accident, was the best friend of Charlotte’s father, Yudi.
“At that moment, my wife and I understood that we were facing a tremendous challenge and test,” Yudi said in his eulogy for his daughter. “My best friend did not do this deliberately — it was a terrible accident – and we would not allow this tragedy to tear us apart. Satan was testing us. He wanted to show that our beautiful neighborhood… couldn’t handle machlokes (dispute). But the Satan underestimated us. We were going to prove him wrong.”
Yudi and his wife were determined that their tragedy should be used as an impetus to promote unity and peace among the Jewish people.
The next day, when members of the community paid a shiva call to the family, they were moved to see Yudi and his best friend — the driver who struck Charlotte — embracing, crying and literally holding one another up, while Chumi, Charlotte’s mother, and the driver’s wife also held each other and sobbed.
Before the shiva was over, Charlotte’s family launched a campaign called *“Shalom for Charlotte,”* an initiative “encouraging every member of Klal Yisroel to forgive, to forget, and to move on.” The bereaved family is urging people to reach out to friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues in order to repair relationships by letting go of grudges and resentments, and then to share their story with them.
At the time of this writing, 2383 stories —from 42 countries—have already been posted on their website. We can all choose to cast blame and hold on to our grievances, says the family, but instead we ask you to “take the pledge and make shalom for Charlotte. Bring more shalom into the world and help bring Moshiach.”
And the stories are incredible: two brothers who hadn’t spoken to each other for years began to speak again; business partners who hadn’t spoken for three months, cleared the air and began to restore their relationship; a synagogue that could have been torn apart by this tragedy joined this campaign; parents who were estranged from their child, sent him a text saying, “We’re thinking about you and we hope that everything is okay”—and received a response from him for the first time.
During the period of The Three Weeks there is much talk about ahavat chinam - unconditional love. When there were “only” 500 stories posted on the “Shalom for Charlotte” website, *Rabbi Elya Brudny*, one of the prominent rabbis in American Jewry, gave a class, in which he said: “I could give many classes about the importance of cultivating peace in the community and of refining one’s character. But these days we are witnessing a live lesson in front of our eyes. There are tremendous people living among us who are asking us to raise ourselves higher.”
Have you heard about Charlotte? asked my reader from New York. I hope that now more people have heard this story, and they will join the family’s campaign. You can join here: https://shalomforcharlotte.com/
