Painful Reflections #RememberOurBoys
Our worst fears have been confirmed: the bodies of the three kidnapped youth have been found. There are no words to convey the mix of grief, sadness… and rage that one cannot help feeling. There will be plenty of commentaries in the days, weeks and months to come... But for now, all we can do is pray for their souls and express our deep condolences to the families and to all of Israel. J.J. Surbeck
Image by Henrique Gandelman
18 days ago, 3 innocent teenagers were ruthlessly kidnapped, their only 'crime' being Jewish. For 18 days the people of Israel and Jews all over the world have come together to hope and pray for their safe return home. After 18 days of searching, their bodies were discovered, hastily buried by the terrorists to hide their heinous crime. The lives of Naftali, Gilad and Eyal were cruelly cut short at the average age of 18.
There are many possible reactions to the events of the past 18 days: anger, vengeance, frustration, despair, questions of faith, etc. I choose a different response: the number 18 is the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word Chai, meaning life. For 18 days, we have been taught the sacredness and preciousness of human life, lessons our enemies do not wish to learn. We have come together as a nation in the past 18 days, achieving a rare Jewish unity, to make clear to ourselves and to the world that we choose life while our enemies choose death. As profoundly expressed in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 "I have placed before you life and goodness or death and evil ... choose life"
Gili Houpt
There is no laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. Conversations are hushed, like they might -- and will -- be in a shiva house. When we say these boys were our brothers, our sons, we are not spouting empty platitudes. This is a death -- three deaths -- in the family. Just as all of Israel, and the entire Jewish people, held its collective breath throughout the search, so, too, will we now mourn as one. Avi Mayer
This is the sound of an entire nation's heart breaking. Rachel Moore
"5000 miles away from home, I never missed Israel more than today." - Amit Levinson
It was like a knife going through me when I heard the one line announcement on the radio. Our deepest sympathies to the families and all the family of Israel. -Joan Rimmon
We feel hopeless and helpless, abandoned and disillusioned. We turned to the only source we have and that is to Hashem. We must feel their pain and feel their fear. Empathy is an important Jewish trait. We can no longer go on with our lives today as if all is normal and all is the same; for it is not. Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
I find it hard to post, hard to function, for my heart is broken and my tears run down my cheeks uninterrupted!
Jewish mothers, Jewish fathers hug your children and hold them close, this is the moment we need faith, and strength. They have killed three of our family. Bobby Brown
Why? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why pray? How do you do that for an entire nation that is worldwide?
"A cry is heard in Ramah--deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted--for her children are gone." Jeremiah 31:15
The greatest pain in loss is not in the days of mourning...it is in the days and weeks, months and years later. When you question laughing...think of how you wish that person was there with you. It is learning how to get up each and every day and continue to live. Because there is so much to live for. But in that moment, all that you can think of, is all the moments they are not there for. All the moments that they will did not live to see... Michelle Rojas-Tal
"We will learn how to sing without you. We’ll always hear your voice inside." - Racheli Frankael
It is all happening too fast. Soon we will go back to our busy lives, immersed in our daily grind, our concerns displaced elsewhere. Please, whether you're secular or religious, Jewish or gentile, left or right, take a moment to remember the unity that these three Israeli schoolboys brought to the Jewish world...
Three innocent boys were murdered. Let mourners mourn. I will say kaddish for our brothers, and pray that their memories aren't usurped for political purposes. Kei Ishii
Words cannot express the grief and anguish I feel at this moment. My heart and mind race to the parents of these three young boys. Peace with people like these brutal kidnappers is imposible, illogical. Generations of hate taught systematically to young minds, cemented into evil acts leading to violence cannot be swept away. If you prayed at all these days for these children please keep the parents covered in prayer all the more. One With Israel
How we deal with this event will have long term ramification for all of the nation of Israel.
May we all keep our hearts and prayers with the families. The mothers. The Fathers. The siblings. May we continue to share their hope, their faith, their commitment to the land and to our people. May we all pray for humanity, for compassion, for understanding, and for peace.
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