* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Hamas plans to return four bodies of our hostages today. How do we respond to this gut-wrenching news?
“There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.” Today is the 166th yahrzeit of the Kotzker Rebbe who is the originator of this profound saying.
We are broken-hearted today, so how is it possible to still feel whole?
Perhaps because millions of us are in mourning for our brethren who were murdered because they were Jews. Make no mistake: These little ones weren’t murdered because they were redheads or babies — they were murdered because they were Jews. It was the same reason that 1,200 people were murdered on one day, October 7th.
This is not the place to discuss the appropriate national response to such brutality, but to ask ourselves what we can do, on a personal level, with our own broken hearts, anguish, and pain.
If the aim of Hamas is to make us feel helpless and hopeless, distraught and divided, then we must try to react differently. It is up to us to respond in our own way to this crushing news and not allow our enemy to dictate the agenda. We can choose to respond with prayer, Torah learning, volunteering and with any positive action. Every chapter of Tehilim (Psalms) recited for the elevation of their souls is invaluable.
And what about crying? Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach said: “Sometimes, when you see someone’s tears flowing down from their eyes, they’re really going up to Heaven.” When you cry over something holy and precious—these tears are a form of prayer. We need to direct these tears upward, asking God to take revenge on our enemies, to restore a world of justice and healing and to bring the complete redemption. We need to learn how to cry.
Bsorot Tovot.
