This past week brought such terrible news; words do not do justice to the pain that the families must be enduring.
It’s only natural to turn to G-d and ask “why”? Why do such terrible things have to happen? Why must we suffer? Why?
And there is no answer. There is no legitimate explanation; rationalizing another person’s suffering is misplaced and downright callous.
We are privy to a mere snapshot of existence, a small blip in the grand scheme of things. Our ability to understand is on par with the backwater tribesman’s ability to understand his first visit to the hospital operating theatre. To him, the lifesaving operation looks like a heinous crime; a group of masked individuals sadistically butchering a helpless person. To this person, coming from his background - with his lack of context – it looks like the opposite of what is actually taking place.
Perhaps it is a blessing that we don’t understand everything? If we understood why bad things happen it would rob us of the ability to empathize and share the pain.
One thing is certain, while we can’t control what happens and we don’t understand why it happens, we can control our response. The response to the tragic murder of Eyal, Gilad and Naftali has been a global outpouring of love and unity. Let us make sure that our personal response to this negative event be one of adding in goodness and kindness.
Don’t just read this – take a minute and think of a person that you have lost touch with, think of a person who could use a call or a visit. Do an extra mitzvah in memory of these young Yeshiva students, taken from us before their time.
May we share good news!
PS. This is worth your time – please take a few minutes and read this account of one Rabbi’s trip to Israel to comfort the families whose son’s were murdered. It’s worth the few minutes!