Today is a devastating and horrific day for the Jewish people. This tragic act of violence- those senseless, vicious, malicious murders leave us horrified and traumatized beyond measure. I personally know three out of the four wives of the victims; one of whom Im very close with. These kedoshim were the holiest of holies. There are so many questions...and so few answers. As human beings our mental and intellectual capacities are limited and we dont understand the ways in which God runs the world. We are unable to connect naturally with our spiritual universe while living in the physical one. But, if we are alive in this world, then there is something we need to experience and learn from everything and from everyone that we encounter. So, although we dont know the WHY, we can try to identify with the WHAT. What is the message here? What can I learn from this? The answers to those questions are distinctive and individual. But, Ill share with you my own personal moral and understanding. What happened this morning reminds me of something I heard a while ago from my husband, who witnessed this first hand. When my husband was learning in Yeshivas Ner Yisrael in Baltimore, he was in the beis medrash one day, when a man entered, looking for the Rosh Yeshiva, R Yaakov Weinberg. Since the RY wasnt there at that moment, he was directed to one of the top Maagidei Shiur, Rabbi Frand. The stranger walks up to R Frand and within half a second removes a knife and proceeds to stab the rav! Thanks to the quick thinking and reflexes of the bochurim there, they jumped him, grabbed his knife, and saved the ravs life. When Rav Weinberg addressed the yeshiva in attempt to explain the near tragedy they had almost experienced in the beis medrash, he told them something that I am internalizing right now as my personal message of this mornings attack. He said that violence and bloodshed, and acts of aggression dont happen here. They just dont happen inside our sacred homes and shuls and yeshivas. They exist only in the outside world. And if we see that they are entering our private corners; if the bestiality and brutality is happening inside, perhaps that means we are bringing the outside world, inside. And that maybe, this is the natural result of that. I will try to find that balance. To live in this world, to use it to my advantage, to enjoy its pleasures, to utilize its conveniences....but yet not to bring the outside, inside. Its about elevating the good while rejecting the bad. Its about knowing which aspects of the outside world are nourishment and which are poisonous. And I will take it even a step further. Am I an internal person, or an external one? Do I want to LOOK good, or BE good? Do I prioritize my middos? My character? My derech eretz? Do I treat others with respect and kindness? Am I sensitive, compassionate, loving towards others? Or do I give priority to my reputation? Or my outside appearance? Am I more careful about chumras between me and God than about hurting a human being? Am I judgemental? Am I counting peoples inches and measurements on the outside...or am I counting my own measurements (middos) on the inside? I need to be a person of the inside and not of the outside. May Hashem comfort these wonderful families, and shower them with blessing and kindness. And may Hahem protect us all and keep us safe...on the outside and on the inside.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 18:46:55 +0000