The Jewish world is reeling from the cowardly terror attack that targeted a bus of Israeli’s who were travelling on vacation to Bulgaria. Some of the victims probably never had time to realize what happened and others will be physically scarred for a long time to come from this terrible attack. They were targeted for one reason, because they were Jewish and Israeli, and for the terrorists this is more than enough to conduct a cowardly strike. A lady who had finally become pregnant after many years, young vacationers, and other innocent victims were all cut down by a single murderous blast.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
Words will never do justice to the evil that was done and at the same time trying to make sense of these kind of attacks doesn’t help either, but the last few days have been difficult and painful as we struggle to internalize the loss and what these kind of events mean.
Yesterday I took a walk with my children to a lighthouse in Truro on one of the eastern most points of the US. The location where the lighthouse stood was stunningly beautiful and was situated high up on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The lighthouse itself was setback from the cliff by a few hundred feet but we could still go to the edge of the cliff and stand on a viewing platform. As we were walking and approached the cliff we noticed a sign on the path that stated that until 1996 the Lighthouse had stood there 450 feet closer to the cliff than the current location. This was due to the sea erosion which chips away at the cliffs each year and causes crumbling and gradual erosion of the land.
The beauty of the cliffs and the lighthouse was breathtaking but it made me think about current events and perhaps something that we can learn from the portion of the week.
The lighthouse represents a beacon of light that is there to guide ships in the ocean and to protect them from wrong decisions. At certain points in history the lighthouse was an essential tool for boats and ships in their journey through the ocean. Yet for the lighthouse to work and shine, it has to be on firm ground. However, sometimes the ocean does its thing and the shoreline recedes, the cliffs are getting wacked and chunks are falling off, but the lighthouse is still needed. So some smart engineers come and move the lighthouse to new sturdy ground where it is no longer within reach of the waves, and the lighthouse can once again be a beacon of light for the boats.
The Torah teaches us that we have a role in this world, to be a beacon of light, to show the way and illuminate the path of goodness, responsibility, and kindness. Sometimes we get hit by waves, sometimes by massive waves, and sometimes the earth beneath us is destroyed. Lives have been lost and we are completely shaken to our core as we mourn the senseless loss of life, the cliffs have crumbled. Yet we have a job to do, we must continue shining, we must continue to make the world a place that will shine, and a place that will be fitting for mankind and for G-d. We must mourn and cry and shed honest tears, but afterwards we must rededicate ourselves to bringing the message of goodness and kindness to the world that Judaism represents. It is the very core of this message that evil seeks to destroy, yet it is the very core of this message that will ultimately prevail.
This week we are in the traditional three weeks of mourning for the destruction of the Temples, and on Shabbat will be reading the double portions of Maatot and Maasei.. It is a time when we reflect on the tragedies that have occurred in Jewish history and seek to transform the negative energy and translate it into positive energy and changing the world for the good. The names of the portions that we read this week mean, Maatot “tribes” and “firm staff” and Massei means “journeys”. Very often these two portions are read together and thus share a message. We must always have that firm staff at our core, a strong unbreakable rod that reflects our essence and our inherent Jewish values and mission, afterwards this core part of who we are must serve as the nerve center for our journeys, travels and tribulations in life.
As Jews we must not let these attacks deter us from being who we are and from living and acting as we do. VeHachai Yitein El Libo, and the living shall take to heart, after we finish mourning, we will stand up even stronger for who we are as we continue to bring this Divine message of changing and refining the world into a better place. Goodness will ultimately prevail! Am Yisrael Chai.
Good Shabbos
Rabbi Yisroel Freeman