Thoughts Following the Terror Attack at the Ariel Junction

When are they going to release the names of the murdered and injured? Will they be people I know? Soldiers from places in Israel I’ve never heard of? Truck drivers delivering goods? The mother of my grandchild’s buddy? The neighbor down the street? My daughter’s friend from high school? G-d forbid!

It’s not healthy checking the news and emails every few minutes. So far, no names on the emails. That’s a good sign. Still, somewhere in Israel someone is being mourned by his or her loved ones. Others are gathered praying for the seriously injured to have a full recovery. After three decades I still can’t get used to the terror. I refuse to accept it as reality.

Yesterday was Shabbat Zachor. The Shabbat when we read the special passage from Deuteronomy, chapter 25, verses 17-19. Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you went out of Egypt. That he happened upon you on the way, and he struck those at the end and the weak when you were faint and tired, and he didn’t fear G-d. When Hashem, your G-d, gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land that HaShem, your G-d, gave you as an inheritance to possess, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heaves. Don’t forget!

As I sat in the synagogue waiting to hear the reading there was no way I could forget the evil of Amalek. Barely thirty-six hours earlier there had been Hamas rockets fired on Tel Aviv and gunmen entered two separate mosques in New Zealand murdering fifty people. Then we listened to the Haftorah, taken from Samuel One, chapter 15 and as I heard verse 9 I almost burst into tears.

Shaul and the people had pity on Agag ( the king of the Amalekites)…and did not destroy them. THEY HAD PITY ON THEM! They didn’t believe what the Midrash teaches us: He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate.

Life is not a Disney movie and as much as it’s praiseworthy to believe the best of others we must be realistic also. There’s evil in the world and that evil needs deterrence and punishment. Shaul missed the boat, had pity on Agag, and Agag lived long enough to become the ancestor of Haman, the villain who wanted to annihilate all the Jews in Persia.

His descendants continue to do evil; rockets in Tel Aviv, murders in mosques, and today, drive-by shootings just kilometers from my home. While writing these words I discovered that one of the injured is a former neighbor of my son and a father to a large family. Please pray for Achiad Ehud ben Carmit.  May he have a full and speedy recovery.

Amidst my worries and concerns I’m conscious of one fact that keeps me sane. Purim is this week. As we read the megillah we’ll bear witness once again that HaShem will never totally abandon us. He will never allow Amalek a total victory. In the end good will triumph.

 

courtesy of Jewish Press