“Bitterly she weeps in the night, her cheeks wet with tears. There is none to comfort her, of all her friends.”
Eichah/Lamentations 1:2Dear JCOGS family,
We weep and cry with the mourners and families.
First, 10 Black people gunned down in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Now 2 teachers and 19 children gunned down in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. 119 school shootings since 2018, 27 just this year. Over 200 total mass shootings this year thus far. And, too, the unrelenting daily homicidal gun violence on our streets and the less visible suicides in our homes.
I spoke to a child Holocaust survivor yesterday who had only slept two hours the night before, tormented by the Texas shooting of innocent children. I asked her, in her many years of experience, what she thought of the world we live in today. This woman who has lived through such horror said the world feels less stable, less safe, more broken than ever before.
At my rabbinical school ordination, one of the great contemporary rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi addressed the graduates, saying: “There is nowhere in the world that G-d’s presence on earth, the Shekhinah, can find a resting place because the world is so broken.”
When the world is broken, our hearts can grow paralyzed by all that we see around us. But we must never let ourselves be so numb. We must never let the bitterness stop our tears. Reb Zalman would pray each night that the Shekhinah might find a safe place on earth.
Beyond prayers, perhaps you must now talk to your children about this because they heard the recent news. Here is
one resource to support you. Perhaps your tears or sorrow will lead to a rage that calls for action. Here are two ways to
demand change and
make a difference. Perhaps you are looking for a way beyond the political stalemate of inaction on guns. I found this
one article seeking practical, political compromises moving.
Ryan Heraty, superintendent of the Lamoille South Unified Union, wrote: “One thing that is more clear than ever is that we need to wrap our arms around the children in our schools that feel disconnected, withdrawn, or socially isolated.” More mental health professionals in schools. Gun safety initiatives. Attending situational awareness and emergency protocol security trainings. Developing empathy within ourselves, our schools, and our society. I am no expert, yet it is clear that there are many things we each must and can do to better prevent future shootings. It takes all of us.
When might our world be less broken that the Shekhinah may dwell among us? I pray that we stop the scourge of shootings all across this great land, so that we might no longer need to cry so bitterly, so that G-d’s presence may finally be among us, speedily and soon.
Tihiyu bri’im, stay safe, be well.
Rabbi David
