It has been a hard time in the Jewish Community the past week or so. First the news of three boys being kidnapped on their way home in the West Bank....then one of the Palestinian mothers of the alleged perpetrators claiming that while she doesn't believe her son did the deed, she'd be proud if he did. Then alas, the discovery of the bodies and verification of our worst fears.
Throughout message boards and Facebook and the Twitter-sphere, the reaction was much as expected -- sorrow and mourning then turning to anger and outrage. The feeling of helplessness for all of us is often too much to explain. It's too much to endure. Our imaginations run wild as to how awful and fearful the last moments for each of these boys was and it is something we have to immediately wash from our minds. And the quickest way most of us wish to release this anger is to lash out.
I was at an event last night with Julia Brownley, the Congresswoman from the 26th District in Southern California. She has been a staunch supporter of Israel and as a neophyte of just 18 months, is refreshingly honest while trying to also be politically smart.
An angry someone at the event last night put a question to her in this manner, and I mean, he was angry... "I want to know how the United States should react to the death of one its citizens?" He was referring to the dual citizenship of Naftali Frankel, one of the youths murdered this past week. Clearly, he was angry and he already had an answer he was looking for. It was obvious he didn't like the way Obama had responded (multiple news outlets said he was slow to respond and an Israeli blogger said Obama's response was shameful as he was much quicker to respond regarding Nigeria (in fact he was just as slow). Brownley fielded the question about as well as she could for what sounded more like an accusation. "It's wrong," she said... "It's unacceptable..." and she added a few more adjectives.
For the questioner, it was clear he was in anguish. He felt helpless. He wanted the U.S. to act. He wanted Israel to act. And he wanted retribution right away, not simply because he wanted to boys to have justice. If he was honest with himself, he wanted to get rid of that helpless feeling he has that he can't do anything to prevent this kind of thing from happening. It could even, G-d forbid, happen to any one of us if we're in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What he was unable to do is to separate his emotion from action. We as citizens have the luxury of lashing out however we wish (within legal reason) and saying what we want with little immediate repercussion. Politicians, leaders and the like don't have that luxury. While we can yell for revenge, leaders cannot. They can't take to Twitter and respond emotionally, lest they be Tzippi Livni who may have done just that today after an Arab teen was found dead and she assumed in her emotional state it was a revenge crime.
The point is, we all feel anger. We all feel remorse. The internet has allowed our once private mourning to take place in public, and often to the detriment of everyone. It's why journalists study and become professionals, because they have to learn the meaning of their words, and what their job really is before penning a piece to the public. Their job is to discover facts sans influence of bias and opinion, or least that's what it should be. But in this new media world, bloggers who are often confused as being journalists pen Op-Ed pieces as if they were facts. Individuals scream out epithets from behind the safety of their computers without regard for those who are reading. It is a sad state of affairs to say the least.
Thus, we need to learn to hold our voices occasionally, particularly in moments of grief and anguish. Being Jewish, if you understand the words behind our religion, you know that in no way do we condone revenge. I could go into this but it was said a lot better by a crony of mine who emigrated to Israel (as Jews say, "made aliyah") and now lives and works in Jerusalem, among many different ethnic groups.
Please read Joel Haber's piece on revenge - from someone living within the confines of one of the world's most intense and conflicted cities.
And consider that the people who perpetrated this crime should be tried and brought to justice, just as it should be for the person who murdered this Arab teen (jewish or not).
May you all find strength during this time of mourning, particularly the families -- Yasher Ko'ach, and for the boys, Baruch Dayan h'Emet and may you rest in peace.
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