In many ways, words cannot describe the desolation. This week I intended to share the source from our Torah portion that provides the basis for why abortion bans are against our religion. As a strong advocate for reproductive rights, I have important information to share. Yet, the news of the release of the bodies of the Bibas children, the youngest of those held hostage, captures our attention. When they died, how they died is of lesser consequence than the very fact of the cruel and savage reality that they were taken at all.
The Hamas terrorist murderers had no consideration for human life. Their articulated goal all along from the planning of the attack was to brutalize and murder as many people as possible on that day and thereafter. They have demonstrated how little they care for others as they cowered deep beneath in the tunnels of hell they created for their own protection at the cost of the lives of their own citizens.
This week’s Torah portion presents many laws, many of which legislate kindness, taking care of the vulnerable, the stranger, the widow, the orphan. The larger community carries the responsibility to take care of those within it.
This week, Israel cradled the remains of those children and their mother in the embrace of the earth. Israel also buried Oded Lifshitz, 85, one of the older hostages who embodied kindness by being among those who had volunteered to drive Gazans seeking medical treatment to hospitals.
Kindness extends beyond life even into death. May these beloved souls rest in peace and may peace one day extend far beyond their graves.
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