The shooting this past week at the Stoneman Douglas School in Florida has left our country so shocked and so bereaved that the only response is a deafening silence. It is at these horrific times in life that we cannot ask Why? Too often there is no logical response to such a question when the absurd over powers us, and logic is replaced with absurdity. We cannot ask :"Why"? But we can ask What? What do we do now?
The poet John Whittier, in his moving and electrifying poem "Gone" comes to mind at this moment.
“There seems to be a shadow on the day,
Her smile no longer cheers;
A dimness on the stars at night,
Like eyes that look through tears.
Alone unto our Father's will
One thought hath reconciled;
That He whose love exceedeth ours
Hath taken home His child.
Fold her, O Father in Thine arms,
And let her henceforth be
A messenger of love between
Our human hearts and Thee.”
No words can assuage the pain that these families are going through. I can hear the words of the anguished King David at the death of his beloved son Avshalom,
"O my son Avshalom, my son, my son Avshalom. Would I had died for thee, Avshalom, my son".
With this in mind, I am reminded of the words in Megillat Esther that we will read this week, as the Jewish people were being threatened,
כי איככה אוכל וראיתי ברעה, " How can I live to see the evil that befalls us, how can we stand still and do nothing and watch as this evil invade our country ".
After reading this you can ask me, “Where do we go from here? Please give us some uplifting, wise words to be able to move forward with confidence, and hope for a better tomorrow, with greater optimism to bask in the light of a brighter future.
For this Chizuk, I turn once again to the Megillah that we will read on Purim, the festival of joy and happiness and echo the words of Esther as she deals with the seriousness of the hour by telling Mordechai, לך כנוס את כל היהודים, “Gather all the Jews together and fast and pray for me.” The crucial words are "all the Jews".
There has to be unanimity and togetherness when evil befalls. We must act in consanguinity, as one, for when humanity is threatened we all must be on the same page. We need to reach out, not only to the families in Florida, but to reach out to each other with more love and compassion for our fellow man and to the show the world we care for each other and we do not live in a vacuum, We live in a world of G-Dliness and a world of true brotherly love. We need not have to wait for tragedy to befall us before we realize this truism.
This is a special message for our Jewish Brethren – a message that calls for greater unanimity, benevolence, kindness, understanding and Achdut. Only then can we raise our voices loud and clear and enjoy the final words of the Megilla,
" ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר"
And we can in unison reply כן תהיה לנו.
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