May it be G-d's will to save us from destruction
The headline on the front page of today's New York Times is
"Gunman Kills 8 and is shot dead at Israel Yeshiva"
Online it is written as
"Gunman Kills 8 in Attack on School in Jerusalem"
... but if you click on that, it takes you to
"Gunman in Jerusalem Attack Identified"
The Times is obviously concerned with the identity of the "gunman." The article does not identify the victims. I don't understand this; I am confused.
Maybe I am confused because of the picture. There is a photo of a black-hatted yeshiveh bocher standing at one of the graves. The Husband and I are arguing as to whether or not that young man is our son. The Husband says it's not, that our son wears his hat differently. I am not convinced.
Our sons, ruthlessly murdered, have been identified.
Yochai Lipschitz, 18, of JerusalemYonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shiloh
Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kochav Hashahar
Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem
Roey Roth, 18, of Elkana
Segev Pniel Avihayil, 15, of Neveh Daniel
Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat
Maharata Trunoch, 26, of Ashdod
May their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life, and may we be inspired to acts of charity and kindness to honor their memories.
Adar is not supposed to be all Joy. It is the month of transforming dread into joy. Adar was the month that Haman selected to kill the Jews because it was the month Moses died. He didn't realize it was also the month he was born. In 1991, when Saddam Hussein tried to rain missiles down on Israel, he was defeated on Purim day.Amen.Adar contains the power to succeed against an opposing force, both on a national level and on an individual level. This Adar, may we be inspired to conquer enemies -- whether they come from afar, or from deep inside ourselves.
.... When it's God's will to protect us and save us from destruction, it doesn't matter how powerful the enemy appears to be. Whether the enemy is Haman and the Persian king Achashverosh or today's enemies of Hamas and Hizbullah, terrorist organizations funded by Iran (modern-day Persia), the enemy is just a puppet in God's hands, so to speak, and he can't lift a finger against us unless God decrees it to happen.Having an absolute trust in the goodness of God and the wisdom of His ways is the bedrock of Jewish belief and the basis of our joy. Without this trust we would have succumbed to our enemies long ago. Yet even though we know how important this trust is, when things get rough it's easy to get confused and start believing that it's the enemy who has the ultimate power and not God.
That's why we need the festive meal on Purim, where we are told - even commanded - to go ahead and get confused. Get so confused that you think Haman will save you and Mordechai, God forbid, will destroy you. Let your thinking get so turned around that the world seems upside down - because it's only in that moment that you can no longer distinguish between Haman and Mordechai, good from bad and up from down that you begin to approach the real truth of this world. It's only when you get to the point when you can say "I don't know" - I don't know how the situation will be resolved - that you can begin to say "I know" - I know that God has a plan for the world. I know that whatever happens will ultimately be for the best.
.... One of the most notable aspects of the Purim story is hippuch - sudden reversal. Haman has his gallows ready to hang Mordechai. The letters decreeing the "final solution of the Jewish problem" have been sent out in all 127 languages to the far corners of the Persian Empire. In a split second, everything was turned upside down.The only difference between tragedy and comedy is the ending. The Purim story is a comedy in the classic sense. All seems set for disaster, and in an instant everything is turned on its head.
At sunset tonight begin both Shabbat (Shekalim) and Rosh Chodesh (Adar II). Purim is in less than two weeks.
May we witness hippuch ... a sudden reversal. May our dread be transformed into joy. If not today, then soon.
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