Monday, June 30, 2014

What Rather than Why

The young man decided it was best to ignore the last message his brother sent. It was because there was no answer. There was no real way to explain such a thing or make it taste any better than it did. It was the question that had been asked over and over since the dawn of time.

Why is this allowed to happen?

No response is an answer in and of itself

The young man's thoughts were not on the hows and the whys. There was no point in focusing on questions that only lead to frustration. The universe was too vast to comprehend and the G-d that guided it infinite beyond infinity. There was no way to explain how any good could come from such a thing, but neither could one claim it was bad either. 
The key was simple acceptance. 

It was not the hows. It was not the whys. It was the what that the young man observed. It was what he felt when he first heard the news. It was something he didn't quite expect to feel. To feel about three boys he never met, never would meet, who's families he'd never speak to or see in person.

He felt hurt
The same hurt felt all around the world

It was was the most profound thing about it all. Actual tears were being shed in Australia, America, England, and Israel. The same tears and the same hurt were at that moment binding all the Jews across the globe together. Wherever one was in the world. Whether they were religious or not. Whether they went to shul every day or maybe once a year. It didn't matter. They were our boys. our sons, our younger brothers, our older brothers. It wasn't like the rest of the world, satisfied with a hashtag and simply disappointed in the end. Every Jewish woman felt the pain as a mother and every man the pain as a brother. In the weeks prior thousands came together in prayer. Thousands said psalms in unison. Thousands took upon new acts of kindness and good deeds. Not for three boys they never met, but for three boys they knew. After all was said and done there were no thoughts of failure or despair. Instead millions stood together in the same genuine tears and hurt for one of their own. For three. But it was their three.

It was tremendously sad
Yet it was uniquely beautiful