The length of Days

     The eternal question as to why some people are blessed with long lives and others are given shorter is always on my mind in times of tragedy. I think that the only thing to say is that we do not understand Hashem's reasons for things. We have to appreciate the blessings in life that we do receive.
    Sometimes I get angry at others who say that they know why Hashem has done this or that. I suppose if it makes it easier for them to cope it does not bother me, but it bothers me when they want to force their opinion on others because really they do not really know the true reasoning for things , they just know what works for them.
     All I know is that three Jewish boys had their lives extinguished just because they were Jewish. Who knows what they could have accomplished had they lived longer lives. Then again in their short lives they caused some of the most amazing prayer sessions  and achdus that I have ever seen. Something about their kidnapping hit a nerve so deep within Jewish people .  We are still in galus.  May we only have more bracha .May moshiach come speedily in our days.

Women In The Spotlight

      I find it interesting how when there is a crisis where frum children are concerned they always spotlight the mothers of the victims and not the fathers in the news. This has been the case with the recent kidnapping in Israel and I remember when Ari Halberstam was killed they were constantly showing his mother speak but not his father. Other times I remember them only showing the mothers in the news. I think with Leiby Kletzky neither parent was shown in the news. 

       I always find it interesting how the frum  mother is allowed to be trotted out for sympathy but not the father. Is this because the father might look more recognizably Jewish and only cause anti-Semitic feelings so they only show the mothers? Or is showing a distraught mother more sympathetic in general even if she looks like an Orthodox Jew?  Or maybe a little bit of both. Do the fathers not want to speak out?  Its a bit interesting to me since so often women in the frum world are not allowed to speak in public and suddenly they are always speaking in public in a tragedy. I realize that the mothers of the three teenagers kidnapped are not charedi so the women are not completely hidden from public speaking, but I still find it interesting. The fathers have been shown with their wives in the news but they never speak. I have to say that I find it a little disturbing that they are never shown speaking about their missing children. I am glad the mothers are being allowed to speak, but it does bother me that the father's aren't shown speaking about their missing children.

Return Our Boys

 


    May Eyal, Naftali and Gil'ad be safely returned home to their families.