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For me, it has been a long and sad day. It was a day in which someone expressed that they were suffering from terrible depression. It was a day of speaking with someone about an unfavorable medical diagnosis. It was a day of helping a family to prepare for the funeral for their wife/mother who passed yesterday. And it was the day that the world learned of the brutal murder of Sarah Milgrim, Z”L and Yaron Lischinsky, Z”L, two Israeli Embassy officials, who were in love, and have been taken from their families and from our collective future.
We Jews have always known that this is what “Globalize the Intifada”, and “Free, free Palestine” would lead to. We have known this story for millennia. It is in our DNA. And yet, even though I knew it was bound to happen, this murder has left me heartbroken, outraged, and at a loss for what to say or do.
The sickening irony is that these two beautiful young souls, who were about to become engaged, were murdered as they were leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee to facilitate conversations on how Christians, Jews, Muslims and Israelis can help the Palestinian people. They wanted to help find a solution.
The tolerance of escalating rhetoric, and concomitant actions, against Jews in this country and around the world, should concern everyone. The lack of a purposeful effort on the part of the world to address this very real issue is maddening. It should leave us concerned for the safety of Jews everywhere. However, I am more concerned about the impact of all this on our children and grandchildren.
The death of two innocent people, who were killed solely because they attended an American Jewish Committee event, is hard to process. But here is the response that we need to have.
We cannot not hide.
We must continue to be proud Jews.
We must continue to support Israel.
We must continue to express our Jewish identity.
We need to loudly and vigorously call out those who (even only verbally) seek our destruction.
We need to “Do Jewish” every day.
We need to let the world know that we are not going anywhere.
As my colleague Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz wrote in a post on Facebook: “We are a resilient people, and we will not be paralyzed by the terror.
With thanks to minyannaire, Marlene Herman, this morning we recited Psalm 121, which reads in part:
I turn my eyes to the mountains;
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
maker of heaven and earth.
Lastly, this is not a time to be alone. This is a time that we need community. When we come together in solidarity, the help that God provides, as expressed in the Psalm, comes from each of us.
Please join us at Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday evening at 7:30. We will have some special prayers to say and try to begin the process of making Sarah’s and Yaron’s memories a blessing.
We are in person and on Zoom.
Remember: #ITZAMITZVAH!
I look forward to seeing you.
Shabbat Shalom – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
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