I caught wind of the sad outcome of the kidnapping of the three teens, Naftali, Gil Aad and Ayyal, on may way from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem. I am currently at the Hartman Institute attending a Rabbinic Training session along with 120 other rabbis from various streams of Judaism from Israel and the entire diaspora. We, too, have been going through various stages of grief along with all of you. The truth is that to some of extent all of us understand, through these boys, that this could have happened to our children, and of course that is heightened in manifold fashion to every Israeli parent and grandparent. There is grief, identification, anguish and anger. Above all there is an understanding of the nature of the enemy that Hamas represents and even beyond, in the present precarious direction and societal turn of the Palestinians in general. Nonetheless Israelis are resolute. Resolute in uprooting, by military force, the threat against it to the degree possible. Resolute in the extirpation of the support networks and commanders that are encouraging these terrorists. Resolute in arguing diplomatically for the dismantling of this new hybrid regime of the PA that is basically adding Hamas to its decision making process. Resolute in showing restraint against civilians that are non-combatant. And resolute in its appreciation of seeing a unity among Israelis, secular and religious, outraged and pained by senseless brutality, not to be squandered by actions that aren't carried out without due process that befit civilized society.
It is fitting that these lads were laid to rest together side by side. It is fitting that the families have connected with one another in friendship and support. In a sense that support is spread across Israel, among all Israeli Jews in a massive extended family. That is something that a Jew feels keenly in Israel as in no other society. Because that is what Zionism is all about: the realization that as Jews, our primary responsibility is to look out for the welfare of the Jewish people and to protect it with vigilance and steadfastness. May we too learn these lessons and support the State of Israel and it's people through this challenging time in any way we can muster, politically and financially.Then and only then do we properly do honor to their memory.
May the souls of the departed be bound up in the bonds of life...tehi nishmatam tzerura betzror Hachayim.
