according to my Rabbanim and Daas Torah, of course you can ask your questions – it IS a VERY SHOCKING STORY and does momentarily startle our regular faith in Hashem – and in yiddishkeit we are never scared of questions. But best would be to go ask your rav or a talmid chochom for the best answer – you could discuss it with him properly, have back and forth questions and answers and understand this topic as well as we can.
Such a shocking tragedy – we (my husband and I) used to live around the corner on Rechov HaKablan – if you’re familiar with Shchunat Har Nof, it is an upper-class, suburban, peaceful neighborhood on the outskirts of Yerushalayim. That a massacre/pogrom of this sort should happen here is a tremendous shock.
But there was one thing that comforted me – when I heard the nissim of the few who were not in shul that day for various reasons.
My son’s principle told the boys that his elderly father-in-law always davens in that shul and his seat is at the back where all the kedoshim were but on Tuesday morning his taxi didn’t come and he couldn’t walk all the way so he davened at home.
When I heard this I thanked Hashem for letting me hear this story as this comforted me because ‘in the same way that some people were not there that morning and we don’t understand why, so too some people were yes there – even if we can’t know WHY.
There is a plan even though we can’t understand it right now. We’re looking at the back of the tapestry so we just see the knots and the random threads crossing over each other. We’re like the fly that lands on a very valuable painting but just sees the one dark patch he landed on and so he can’t understand why all the people are marvelling at the exquisite work of art. Us too – one day when we see the whole picture we’ll understand – and it’ll all be so clear we’ll understand just like that – no explanations.
This should be the last bad news we ever hear. The next news we hear should be the sound of the shofar and Mashiach’s arrival. Omein.
Thank you everyone for all the hashkafa you wrote in these posts.