Libi B’Mizrach – My Heart is In the East…
As are many of our hearts right now. The cruel, cowardly and despicable actions of the terrorists who entered the synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem is something that stuns each of us. That someone could enter a house of prayer and brutally murder four Rabbis; Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 40, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, and Rabbi Kalman Levine, 50, Rabbi Moshe Twersky and a Druze guard, Zidan Saif, protecting the synagogue, is unthinkable.
Each of us consider the synagogue the most secure place. Yet yesterday, that peace was violated because of hate. And this hate must stop. What pains the heart, is that, while we hope to pursue peace, there are those who will stop at nothing to continue to spread terror and hate at any cost, even the cost of their own lives.
Our hearts are in the east, they are in Jerusalem and with the people of Israel. Our prayers for peace will not cease because someone wields an axe. We pray that someday, swords may be turned into plowshares. We pray that all people can live in peace. Our hearts go out to those who are in mourning and we wish for a full recovery to those who are healing.
The prayers of the Har Nof community rose up again this morning from the synagogue but the walls wept with the memory of what took place. May we all be pursuers of peace and not be silent in the wake of hatred. Our synagogues should be places for peace, places where our prayers may freely come from our hearts and our lips. May no one ever silence them, and may the memories of those who were killed yesterday and in the weeks before never be forgotten.
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