[By Shlomo Katz]
So it is Erev Shabbos and I don’t have time to write. But my heart is broken and my eyes have spilled with tears too many times in the last few days. One of our babies was taken to Hashem and is now basking in the glow of the Kisei Hakovod. May Ha Kodosh Baruch Hu give his family and all of Klal Yisroel Nechama.
The horrible circumstances surrounding the story of Leiby Kletsky have shocked and horrified us all. Such a pure innocent Neshoma so brutally butchered by one of our own!
I have read so many well written letters and articles, trying to find a silver lining, to make sense of all this, and to try and offer some comfort. They have been written by people greater then me and wiser then me, they are all talking about taking the good from this.
The tremendous Kiddush Hashem that was made, the Achdus, the outpouring of love and concern for a fellow yid. All these writers talk about doing a mitzvah, a kindness in Leibys memory and they of course are right. For me I know that I won’t be able to get through Kiddush, a time that I use to reflect on all the Bracha that Hashem has showered my family with, and to express my hakoras Hotov to Him. How can I spend a warm Shabbos with my family, when another family is shattered? Maybe tonight when we all light candles and make Kiddush, we can shed a tear for one of our own, show HKB”H that we are broken as a family and ask him to reunite us with Moshiach.
But I feel like maybe there is another piece to this tragedy. The videos have shown Leiby standing lost for SEVEN minutes!!!! None of us, none of us, stopped to talk to help this little boy, looking so obviously lost! It was only this monster who had the time for this little boy! I am just as bad as the next, I am always doing one thing to many, rushing to try to get it all done, busy on my cell phone and often distracted. But my Grandfather ob”m never had a cell phone and never was too busy for anyone on the street, he could stop to show his concern and love for any of Hashem’s creations.
Maybe I am so shocked because I just spent a week at Camp Simcha Special, the most magical place in the world, every minute of every day is a Kiddush Hashem. All you see anywhere is Jews taking care of each other, all day long, 24 hours a day, one child taking care of and interacting with another child. And here in the center of one of the strongest Jewish communities in the WORLD a child can stand lost for seven minutes with out of one of us stopping?! Can we actually say as the Ziknei Ha ear must say after R”L a case of Egelah Arufah “ lo Shofchu Es Hadam Hazeh”and now what of the Murderer, it must be that he is crazy, it has to be that he is mentally unstable, how else can we even begin to deal with this, so then what are we doing about it?
We have all seen the elter bochur, the person slighty off of center, on avenue J or M 13th ave, or Central ave, as a Hatzolah member I have seen them, have we taken the time to check up on them, to intercede on their behalf, show them some love, or get them some help?
So we as Klal Yisroel, Rachmonim Bnei Rachmonim, we have received a brutal wake up call. Are we ready to answer it? Will we stop the next time something might not be right, with a child, with an elderly, or even with one of those that makes us a little uncomfortable?
Shlomo Katz is a 13 year veteran Paramedic with Hatzolah in Lawrence
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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4 Responses
Sad but excellent point.
Lets all make an extra effort to say good Shabbos to random strangers in the street this Shabbos as practice for looking out for others.
Absolutely amazingly written and really gets to the reader. I will reiterate something that was mentioned that also crossed my mind at the time I was watching the videos- how come no one stopped for 5 seconds to make sure he was okay? It disturbed me to watch so many busy people go about their day and not even see a little boy wondering and ask if he needed help.
May we only know simchas and shabbos should be a true nechama for everyone.
a jew: Just THIS Shabbos? It amazes me when I walk down the street and say gut Shabbos to people how many people just ignore me or just look at me like I am a little odd. Perhaps we should always think of all Jews (even if they don’t look like us) as family. You wouldn’t pass by your relative and not say gut Shabbos, would you? Let’s work together and bring Moshiach.
Just,
of course I meant lets start this shabbos.
we should always say good shabbos wheather we know each other or not….