Can Love Conquer Hate?

It’s the last week of summer vacation and tomorrow I’m supposed to watch a few grandchildren. Intending to keep them off the computer screen as much as possible I’m brainstorming ideas for activities.

Baking ‘s good. Everyone likes to eat.

There’s grocery shopping together. I can use their help reading labels with small print.

Playground and pool and Legos should keep them happy for a while.

Suddenly a perfect idea! The nearby spring of water only ten minutes from the house. Cool and refreshing. Just as quickly as the idea came to me, I dismissed it. Following the murder of Rina Shnerb, h’yd, at Danny’s Spring, some forty kilometers from my home last Friday, I knew I couldn’t go to our local spring without a weapon to defend myself.

I’d tried to keep the terror of that attack at bay and succeeded for four days. Now, despite my protective screen, I can no longer ignore the picture of the sweet-looking teenage girl with her whole life in front of her.

courtesy of Arutz 7

I can no longer ignore the pain of her family. I can no longer ignore my resentment that so many in the world overlook the murder of Jewish children. I can no longer ignore the angry articles that I read on the media.

Yesterday I read a post on Facebook by a Gav Kostonov. He’s fed up hearing the mantra that love will conquer hate. If that had been Eisenhower’s attitude during World War Two where would we be today? We have enemies who want to annihilate us here in Israel and singing Kumbaya with them will not make them change their minds.

Rina’s brother-in-law made a powerful statement: Two nations say they love the land of Israel. One throws explosive devices and the other goes for a hike.

Rina’s family has vowed they will not be broken by her murder. A new neighborhood of three hundred homes, to be called Mizpe Rina, is slated to be built near the site of her murder. I believe that’s the best response to the Arab terror.

No, the terrorists will not break us but they have made me wary. I won’t go to the spring tomorrow unless I can find an armed friend to go with me. I hope I can. I want our enemies to see that we’re staying strong.  I want them to know they’ll never defeat us. And then someday, soon I hope, they’ll beat their swords into plowshares. Then love will finally be able to conquer hate.