A Father Mourns for an Unknown Son
On Shabbat in the synagogue I recited kaddish for my unknown son. He was not only my son. He was the son of our nation. And I weep bitter tears because of his death. I am an old man, old enough to be his grandfather. And he, a 20-year-old Jewish boy, not yet grown into full manhood, had his life stolen by rabid Arab terrorists. The death of Ronen Lubarsky must be avenged !
Looking at the photo of this smiling, extremely handsome young man, tears at my heart. I think of him as my beloved son and my heart instructs me to mourn for his cruel murder and to pray for the speedy painful death of his filthy murderer.
Refrigerators, washing machines and heavy furniture have been thrown from Arab rooftops to our young soldiers below. It belies the imagination of the cruelty of those despicable Palestinian terrorists. May their names and lives be quickly erased from the land of the living.
Ronen, a seargent in the Duvdevan battalions, a warrior and a defender of our moledet, our homeland, has been viciously taken away from us. My heart aches and bleeds for the suffering of his parents. There can be no greater tragedy than burying a young child. Oh, God of compassion. I beg for your love and comfort to Ronen’s family. Help them to remember his noble life and brave deeds in the name of sanctifying You in the defense of the land which You promised to our patriarch Abraham.
How many more Ronens need to face the tragic death from which he suffered?
I am a father who mourns for an unknown son, who cannot embrace him, who cannot place hands upon his head to bless him in the words of Aaron, the Kohen haGadol.
That honor has been stolen from me. And for this, I weep. And for Ronen I mourn.
After learning of his death I sat down to meditate upon it. Had he recovered from the cruelty caused by an Arab tyrannical terrorist, what would he have done in his lifetime? What would he have studied? Would he have become a doctor, a lawyer, a computer analyst, a diplomat? Questions which cannot be answered. Oh, how the heart aches!
Our police are engaged in seeking his murderer. I wish them success. It is not always easy to locate the Arab murderers who hide and find refuge in other villages, given succor by other Arabs who rejoice in his deed.
Are there no Palestinian fathers and mothers whose hearts are filled with hatred for Jews to find an ounce of remorse and compassion for Ronen’s mother and father?
Is there not even one single Arab voice which can be heard condemning this act of wanton murder?
How many of our Israeli people will mourn for this unknown son of Israel?
We may find some comfort in Ronen’s young life but only bitter heart-ache in his tragic death.
What words can we offer to the Lubarsky family? “HaMakom yenachem etchem b’toch sh’ar avalei Tzion v’Yerushalayim” May God comfort you among the mourners out of the gates of Zion and Jerusalem.
How can Ronen’s beloved family ever be comforted? They will eventually go down to their graves in sorrow, still mourning for a young beloved son whose life was stolen forever from them.
I join in their grief. I too mourn their son…MY son…the son of the entire household of Israel.
Ronen Lubarsky’s death brings to my mind the words of our great prophet Yirmiyahu: “My grief is incurable, my heart is sick within me .O that my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night”.
My countrymen… let us pray: May the memory of Ronen Lubarsky ever be for a blessing. Amen.