To say
that it’s been a difficult week already rises to the level of a cliché.
Within
days of each other we buried three of our kedoshim, we were on the receiving end
of a group blood libel, and now watch in shock and horror as some of our youth
stand accused of acting like Arabs.
Yet, from
all of this darkness emerges a ray or two of something brighter.
Here are
the amazing words of Rav Yaakov Roza Shlit"a, the rabbi of the Zaka
Organization, which he gave over in his role as rabbi of the Pathological
Institute in the Institute for Law Health in Abu Kabir in reference to the
condition of the bodies of the three martyred kedoshim:
It appears we can add regarding the
merit the boys had for 18 days. For the
first time in my life, I came across such an occurrence where bodies that were
lying in the field in hot weather for 18 days and no worms were found on their
bodies. I can attest that on the 3 Kedoshim, no maggots overtook them. Besides
the gunshot wounds, there were no signs of abuse or injuries. According to the
doctors at the Institute for Law Health, there is no scientific explanation for
this phenomenon.
And there
was the plane ride that Rabbi Shay Shachter took to Eretz Yisroel, to represent
the White Shul of Far Rockaway New York as its shliach tzibbur, for the
mitzvah of nichum avilim. In a
flight that can be modestly described as one long series of amazing occurrences,
one, in particular, jumps out at me.
Rabbi Shachter tells us that:
In the middle of our flight, the
stewardess began to speak with me, and we got into a very pleasant
conversation. She then inquired when I was planning to return back to the
States, and I said I would only be staying until after Shabbos, and I would
then be returning home. She said "just four days? What kind of trip is
that?" And I proceeded to tell her that I was sent by our shul to visit
the three respective families, to deliver our beautiful letters, and to let
them know that the affection of their beloved brothers and sisters in America,
knows no bounds.
She immediately began to cry uncontrollably, and said, this kehillah of yours is something unique and something incredibly special. For you to get on the flight is no big deal; but this speaks volumes about your kehillah, that this is what they feel is important. This is where their hearts are, and this is what is occupying their minds - how incredible!
So the stewardess proceeds to make an announcement in tears, to a plane filled almost to capacity with Birthright groups; "Rabotai! We have on our plane, a shliach mitzvah! Come meet a Rabbi who was sent by his Kehillah to perform the great mitzvah of nichum aveilim, for those whom they feel are their own brothers and sisters! Our plane is safe because we have a shliach mitzvah on board with us!"
This led to a whole pandemonium, and after I finally got to sit down again, the young man next to me informs me that he is 26 years old, from Seattle Washington; he works in a national zoo, and is going to Israel for his first time.
He then proceeds to tell me that he was so inspired by our kehillah, and that he would like to borrow my Tallis to do a mitzvah that he has not done since his Bar mitzvah celebration (at age 16) in memory of the three precious neshamos.
I gladly gave him my tallis and then proceeded to ask him if he knew how to recite a bracha. He said "sure I do", and went on to take out a small piece of paper from his pocket, and recited the "Tefillas Haderech". This was the one and only Hebrew Bracha that he was familiar with, so he decided to recite it as well on the tallis.
He then asked to borrow my tefillin as well, which was followed by a long conversation with the other members of the plane, who were all taking pictures of this highly unusual scene.
But that wasn't it; after a few minutes he turns to me and says "Rabbi, I am so inspired, but in Seattle Washington we don't have these boxes. But I want to continue to do something special for these three precious souls, even after I return home. So what would you suggest I do?"
I was in complete shock, and overwhelmed with emotion, so someone in the next row turns to this tattooed and pierced young man and says, "Sweet Jew, if you promise me you will try and wear these Tefillin each and every day, I promise I will have a pair sent by FedEx to your home in Seattle Washington by the time you get back from Israel!" They then exchanged phone numbers and information, and the deal was done.
That was probably the high point, achdus wise, of the wave
much of Klal Yisroel had been riding these past three anguish ridden weeks, but
high points spell nothing but trouble for the Satan so he proceeded to pop the
achdus bubble with a reminder why we’re all in Golus to begin with as we headed
to the low point by way of the following remarks that were publicly made
shortly after the funerals:
Who gave them a heter to live in a
place like that, where they were living among known murderers? Is there no place in Israel to live and to
learn other than in a place of tremendous danger?
Who gave them permission for
themselves and for their children to live and to learn Torah in the midst of
the lion’s den? To put their lives at
risk, and the lives of their families at risk?
It is all because of the yetzer hara and the desire for Jews to inhabit
the entire State of Israel. It is
Zionism for the mehadrin min hamehadrin.”
It is incumbent upon us to say that
these parents are guilty. They caused
the deaths of their sons and they must do teshuva for their actions.”
Both the high and low points are two sides of the same
coin. The tzaddik who promised to buy a
pair of tefillin for the not yet observant Jew from Seattle was a Satmar Chossid. He’s heads.
The remarks that rang somewhat hollow in terms of Ahavas Yisroel were
made by someone also associated with the same chassidus. That
was tails.
One of
the ways that ideology is defined
is: as a body of doctrine, myth, belief,
etc. that guides an individual,
social movement, institution, class, or large group.
When any given ideology ceases to be
a guide, but rather morphs into a filter through which all of life is viewed, by definition
it also ceases to be an ideology.
It has become instead an ideological
straight jacket.
