Reactions

As we hear the awful, horrible news, I just needed to put my thoughts out there. My neighbors are suffering the worst type of suffering, needing to bury their only son. Any problem I have pales in comparison.

The first issue is that tomorrow I need to explain what happened to my children.  How do you tell a 4 year old that her friend's brother is never coming back? 

Next, to all of you out there who are thinking of vocalizing the thought "look at all the achdut and good deeds that came from this tragedy" that what you are saying is "these poor innocent children had to die, and their parents had to suffer immeasurably because we are all assholes who can't be nice and civil to each other for 5 minutes."

Third, I am hearing celebratory fireworks from the surrounding Arab villages. Can we please not so kindly and subtly escort them out of here once and for all.  Frankly I am sick of people walking on eggshells talking about good Arabs. There may be 2 or 3 of them out there, but I would feel better if those couple of good ones were living somewhere else along with the vast majority who are evil worthless child killing pieces of shit.

While we are on the subject of our neighbors, can we stop using the term "bringing them to justice." There is no justice for child killers. There is no due process for someone who thinks that kidnapping and killing children is a legitimate form of protest. There is only death, preferably in a hail of bullets to the crotch. And the people who raised and educated these assholes should be forced to witness the family home bulldozed from the inside. They are equally guilty, as are the politicians who justify this sick twisted thought process.

Finally I am sad. Sad for the parents, sad for the siblings, sad for the friends, sad for the world that will no longer have these wonderful children around to watch them grow and contribute positively to our world that so desperately needs good people, sad for all the children who will lose their innocence tomorrow when we parents tell them about it, sad for all us parents who now have to go to sleep regretting every time we lost our temper or ignored our children, just as these poor parents will do, sad that we can't protect our children at all times from every bad thing, whether it is horrible, terrible news, or horrible terrible people, sad that these kids last moments on Earth were the worst moments of their lives. I hope that this is as sad as we get, and the parents are given the strength to deal with this horrible, senseless tragedy. 

The Empty Seat

This past Shabbat, like most Shabbatot, we invited another family for lunch. Just like most Shabbatot, the guests came and sat down where my daughter set their places.  Well almost everyone, one seat was empty, the seat of the oldest son who, like every other boy in his class, was spending the meal together.  That is every boy except one, the empty seat, the reason for the empty Shabbat greetings, where every greeting was not "Shabbat Shalom," but "any news?"

This morning, like most mornings, I walked my kids to school, and then went to Shul. Just like most mornings, the same group of people who have the luxury of not needing to leave before 8am to get to work or school showed up, wrapped in talitot and tefillin, ready to begin our day. Well, almost everyone was there, there was one empty seat, a seat occupied by a student on Sunday mornings and vacations, next to his father, was empty.

I sat in Shul this morning, like most mornings, with friends and neighbors, davening quietly, including the father next to the empty chair.  But this morning, instead of being able to go through our normal quiet davening routine, we were all disturbed and interrupted by the silent scream coming from the empty chair, the emptiness that filled the one minyan that is never crowded.

No rant today, That will come after our empty places are reoccupied by by our missing children.

My we see Gilad Michael, son of Bat-galim,
Yaakov Naftali, son of Rachel, and

Ayal, son of Iris T’shura,
returned safely and quickly to their homes and families.