Senseless

Yesterday evening a man walked into a Yeshiva and started shooting innocent boys who were learning Torah. You can find details here or here. At times like this we are all asking ourselves why? Why did this have to happen? Unfortunately there are no easy answers and when your facing the reality of living in a place where this is just the reality of life it’s not easy. Everyone around Aish is talking today about security in our building about ways that this could be prevented. Everyone around Aish today is mourning for the young boys who were killed one of which was the son of a Rabbi who teaches a few classes here at Aish. This one hits very close to home, you would like to think that we’re safe, you would like to think that there’s a good reason for this, but there isn’t. Nothing justifies this kind of violence; nothing explains it away or makes it any easier to deal with. I wrote a few days ago about the situation in Gaza and how fortunate I felt to be getting a more personal account of it. How it’s amazing getting to see world opinion from the inside looking out. I’ll be curious to see what world opinion is of this, if the world even takes notice. Never mind. I don’t feel fortunate to have a first hand account of this, I’ve talked to Israelis, one of whom lost a friend in the shooting last night and all their reactions were the same, this is just how it is in Israel, this is the price you pay for living here. It’s terrible that a people could have that kind of attitude that they’re so intimately involved that they just see it as business as usual. I wish I never had the chance to experience this, I wish I didn’t have to talk with my family, trying to justify why I’m living here, why its still so important for me to be here, why I love this land so much, despite what happening, despite the risks, I do now and will always love Israel, for everything that it is and most importantly what I know it could be. So I’m okay, everyone here is okay; we’re just not you know okay. Eretz Israel, shalom, a peaceful and restful Shabbat to all.