Parasha Thought: Raw Thoughts on the Toulouse Massacre

Sholom Aleichem. Some raw thoughts on the Toulouse massacre…

I thought to not start this column with “Sholom Aleichem” because the Jewish People are in an international state of mourning and to mourners one doesn’t extend this greeting. Nazi-like cruelty has been visited upon our people. It is disturbing to read how the murderer perpetrated his evil in cold blood and with an extra effort to make sure his victim didn’t live. One wants to ignore this. It is just too much to bear. But is our discomfort reason enough to make the pain of our brothers and sisters into a mere statistic?

Heaven forbid! A father and his children leaving behind a grieving wife and child. Children ripped away from their mother. Parents and siblings bereft of their sister and daughter. And they didn’t live in a vacuum. They each had extended family and friends. Then there is the issue of the fear and terror the victims endured. There is no way to slice it other than the truth. A Jew is a target. G-d Almighty, please protect Your Children. G-d Almighty, only You can remove this pain from Your people. We need Moshiach already. Too much time has gone by. They have been killing us for thousands of years. We want Moshiach now!…

How can we understand something that is impossible to understand? I am reminded of a story told in the Talmud about the great sage Rabbi Joshua ben Chananiah. He was a Levite who sang in the Beis Hamikdosh prior to its destruction by the Romans in the year 68 CE. His mother brought his cradle into the Torah study hall when he was in infant so that his ears would become accustomed to words of Torah from infancy on. Rabbi Joshua, as he was often referred to without patronymic, witnessed first hand the terrible sufferings of the Jewish People under the Romans.

This Rabbi Joshua possessed great skills in diplomacy as well. The experiences of his people at the hands of the Romans did not hold him back from acting with great self-sacrifice by going to Rome numerous times on missions of mercy for the Jewish People. It happened that the Roman Emperor once said to Rabbi Joshua, “I wish to see your God.” He replied, “You cannot see him.” “Indeed,” said the Emperor, “I will see him.” [In other words, make it happen for me anyway.] Rabbi Joshua went and placed the Emperor facing the sun during the summer month of Tammuz and said to him, “Look up at the sun.” The Emperor replied, “I cannot” Said Rabbi Joshua, ‘”If at the sun which is but one of the ministers that attend the Holy One, blessed be He, you cannot look, how then can you presume to look upon the Divine Presence?!”

Friends, there is so much that we cannot understand. It seems that the words of Rabbi Joshua ring true for much of life. How can we expect to understand the hidden ways of our Creator when we cannot even understand His creations?

Our hope, prayer and trust is that G-d Almighty will only give our People visible and revealed goodness, happiness, life, joy and prosperity. We need and want Moshiach now!

May G-d guard our brethren in Israel and the world over from harm and send us Moshiach speedily. May He protect the armed forces of Israel and the United States wherever they may be. Shabbat Shalom! L”Chaim!! Chazak!!!

This Torah Thought is dedicated in loving memory of Schabse Noach ben Moshe, of blessed memory.