search
David Sanders

October Lamentation

For these things do I weep,
My eyes, my eyes, flow with tears
Far from me is any comforter
Who might revive my spirit
My children are forlorn,
For the foe has prevailed.

This lamentation I have read privately and publicly so many times to the haunting tune of the ancient book called: How? How could this happen? How did this happen?

As a relief from my heartache, my tears, my disbelief, my helplessness, my rage, are the stories of heroism; a young woman named Inbal who rallied her Kibbutz’s make-shift security forces to thwart and kill an incoming horde of terrorists, a grandfather named Noam who got in his car in Tel Aviv and drove hours to the southern border determined to save his son and grandchildren and my cousin Yair Yonah, severely wounded, grabbing his gun to kill terrorists who entered his family home. Each summoned extraordinary bravery and each helped many others to survive.

For these things do I weep,
My eyes, my eyes, flow with tears
Far from me is any comforter
Who might revive my spirit
My children are forlorn,
For the foe has prevailed.

My nephews, each one called up for a different mission, collecting their gear, saying goodbye to parents, wives, children. What will come of the next days, what ghastly encounters and harrowing decisions lie ahead for them. They are only three of 300,000 heading to the front lines or behind enemy lines. They are preparing for the worst. My brother asked his son: “Do you have your battle knife? Let me sharpen it for you.”

For these things do I weep,
My eyes, my eyes, flow with tears
Far from me is any comforter
Who might revive my spirit
My children are forlorn,
For the foe has prevailed.

“Brutalized people do brutal things sometimes?” These words spoken by a Jewish leader? Let me be brutally honest. One’s heart can open to and care for all who suffer but how can anyone be so tone deaf and callous as to excuse the most heinous, deliberate atrocities. There is a tipping point. A sharpened blade that cuts both ways. An ache and despair whose hum deepens and whose scar will never heal.

How? How could life go on? And yet life goes on.

About the Author
Dr. David Sanders, clinical psychologist and Founder and Spiritual Director of Kabbalah Experience in Denver, CO helps guide people to deeper awareness and fulfillment in their lives. He developed Transformative Kabbalah which combines traditional Jewish mysticism, contemporary psychology and quantum physics.
Related Topics
Related Posts