The search for Leiby Kletzky z"l brought the Jewish community together in an incredible display of אחדות and ערבות. This solidarity became even more profound when we all became aware of Leibys horrific tragic end. But this unimaginable tragedy has touched a resonant chord among non-Jews as well and has broken the hearts of the broader New York community. The entire city, and perhaps beyond, has taken ownership of this disaster.
Witness the achingly beautiful, incredibly sympathetic editorial in last Wednesday Daily News and the informal memorial that went up spontaneously outside the auto repair shop where some of the remains of the physical coil that housed Laibys innocent nesumeh were found.
See if you can read through those words without shedding a tear and if you can't, then remember that there seem to be some things that just transcend even the most basic of Havdalos. I've said that in the past and I'm feeling it again recently in the wake of this heartbreak.
Maybe it's time to close up shop
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
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4 comments:
I certainly agree that this tragedy has brought together many different groups and peoples. If there's any comfort to be taken it's in the basic and fundamental goodness of the vast majority of people of all stripes.
I have to wonder though if the tragedy had befallen a non-Jewish child, would the Jewish community be writing such editorials? If it happened near a Jewish business would they set up an informal memorial?
I was wondering how you think of yourself. Do you feel you are an American and share in the idea of American, its ideals and values? Or is it that you are a Jew who happens to live in America? Are you really from Eastern Europe, from both the Lithiuanian yeshiva and the chassidisher shtetl, though you were born in America? Is your Havdala philosophy a decisive factor in answering these questions? And finally do your Jewish neighbors and friends share your self representations?
Reminds me of the mussar they used to give us in yeshiva: "Are you an American Jew or a Jewish American?"
Evanston.
My response to you will IMY"H be in an idependant post within a week bl"n.
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