Week of Tragedy - Boston Bombing

The tragic events of the Boston Marathon are quite unnerving and shake us to the core.  How should one respond to such news and how do we deal with such calamity? The horrible cruelty perpetrated as innocent lives are taken, maimed and changed forever is hard to imagine. Members of the Newtown massacre who were at the marathon, how do they cope?  If that wasn’t enough, another major calamity happened this week when the Fertilizer factory exploded killing up to 60 people and injuring 200.

How do we respond? What are the answers? There are no simple answers, and in fact to any of these events, no answer given will suffice. To Paraphrase our Rabbis in Pirkei Avos – silence is the best medicine. Like Aharon Hakohen’s response ,  Vayidom Aharon,  and Aharon was silent, when his sons died from the fire of heaven, the only response we have is silence.

Silence can mean many things. It may mean holding back anger and pain and it may mean accepting G-D’s judgement. It also means that that which makes me human, the power of speech, is put on hold, because to be able to respond is almost not possible. It is beyond our ability, it’s superhuman.

In an article about another devastating story this week,  Shoshana Stern, a 12 year old girl, daughter of Rabbi Mike & Denise Stern, was killed when she was hit by a car while skateboarding home. Denise Stern is quoted as asking the detective how the driver was doing and that she hoped the driver’s life was not ruined. “We are people of faith”, she told the detective. That faith is the faith of silence.  It’s the understanding that there’s more we don’t understand than we do understand.

We must continue to find strength in each other during these difficult times. May we strengthen our faith with Hashem, and continue to push forward, using the character trait of Netzach, Endurance (the Sefirah of the week), to do what’s right, with faithfulness.