We are crying out again

Yehuda cried out. Yehuda protested against the injustice. The injustice of the punishment of the innocent.

We were in the car when my daughter called us hysterically and cried out that the 16-year son of the social worker that she had worked with at Shalva was killed.

For a few hours, the death of this young boy was headline news, and then we cried out again, This time about the senseless, barbaric murder of a Jewish woman out for a run in the forest near her house in the heart of Biblical Israel. Since then, our Facebook feed is full of pictures of Esther Horgan, We cry out about the loss of life, and a life cut short, Indeed her praises are both beautiful and sad to read.

But what about that 16-year boy from a good family? Silence. Why? He and few friends decided to fight the injustice of life in Israel today. Where Jews are murdered for being Jews. Their murderers and their families get rewarded by the system. They throw stones at cars, injuring or murdering Jews. Even this week there was a reported incident. They build houses illegally and our government does nothing to stop this. They incite hatred. So, when this young man and his friends take action and throw some stones in frustration as a form of retaliation and revenge, we are quick to condemn their actions. And lessen our sympathy for the loss of a young man’s life.

Both murders are sad. Both deserve our crying out.

We are living in a complicated place. We live in a complicated irrational world. Even without COVID-19.

We live in a world where we need to cry out and protest. Nowhere is the more blatant than in the UN where this article by UNwatch clearly illustrated – “The Top 10 Worst UN Actions of 2020”

https://unwatch.org/the-top-10-worst-un-actions-of-2020/

Do let’s go back to Esther Horgan and look at what she wrote a few years ago.

Today is the 10^th of Tevet a fast day remembering when the start of the seize of Jerusalem which was the breach against the light of God in the world. Even though our Sages teach us our sins were partly to blame, we still cry over the injustice and what we have lost.

The 10^th of Tevet is Day of general kaddish which the Chief Rabbinate of Israel chose to observe the Tenth of Tevet as a “general kaddish day” (Yom kaddish ha’klalli) to allow the relatives of victims of the Holocaust, and whose yahrzeits (anniversaries of their deaths) is unknown

So on this day the 10th of Tevet, lets us cry for the injustice and the memories of those who died in the Temple destruction, the victims of the  Holocaust, Ester Horgan z”l  and Ahuvya Sandak z”l

Photos sourced from Facebook

A few more thoughts

Today, the fast falls out on Friday, on Erev Shabbat, Shabbat is a respite from this crazy world.  It is also the Yahrzeit of Reb Noson of Nemirov, the made it possible for the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov to reach every one of us today. These teachings teach us to find faith and joy in this confusing world. And indeed, Shabbat comes to us as a day of consolation as we wait for the day when everything is revealed and clear to us. Just like when Joseph called out – I am Joseph, Od Avinu Chai. I am Joseph, does our father live?

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For more contemplation:

R’ Shlomo Katz – Video – When Jews scream again  https://fb.watch/2B2dEmHavh/

https://www.souldoctorstories.com/single-post/2020/01/02/parshat-vayigash