My friends,
Like everyone, I am beyond saddened and devastated by the news from the Annunciation Catholic School and Church in Minneapolis that reached us yesterday. At a time when we as Jews are entering the month of Elul and prepping for the High Holidays, news of yet another mass shooting at a school reaches us. Today I mourn for those killed and wounded. I pray for a רפואה שלמה-a complete recovery, to those students and adults wounded. Today, I feel nothing but compassion and caring for the community in Minneapolis. As a parent and grandparent, it crushes my soul to think of other parents of students, who said goodbye in the morning to their beloved children, fully expecting to see them after school, returned to home in health and safety. I can not imagine the pain of those who lost a child to this act of murder and those who had a family member wounded. It chills my heart to imagine being a parent, hearing of this shooting and desperately trying to arrive at the site and hoping against hope, my child was safe. As a member of the Jewish Community, I recall the mass killing in Pittsburgh and the Tree of Life shul all too well. For our brothers and sisters of the Catholic faith, we feel and know their pain at seeing congregants murdered in a House of Worship and at prayer. It is completely inadequate but I send them my wishes and blessings for comfort and healing.
In our Torah we are taught over and over, “G1d protects the widow, the orphan and the stranger among you”. This theme is repeated several times. Why those groups? Why do they get special attention? Because they are the most endangered and vulnerable groups in society. Just as G1d looks after them, all the more so, we need to do the same. Tomorrow, after we have consoled our fellow Americans in Minneapolis, we must take up the charge from our tradition. That charge is the injunction to protect the most vulnerable in our society. We need to enter into real discussion and work on the project of protecting our children. It is unacceptable in America for parents to send their beloved children to school and have to fear their lives will be senselessly taken in an act of gun violence. I am already hearing the tragically misguided and ill person who allegedly committed this crime may have suffered from mental illness. As Americans, we need to protect those suffering from such disorders and help them to receive treatment and recovery and care. And to protect them from harm and from harming others.
As Americans, as Americans of the Jewish faith, these are the matters we need to engage in. We can and must do better to protect those who need protection. We have the example of G’d protecting the most vulnerable, how can we not follow suit? These are serious issues that require serious engagement, debate and ultimately action. As Americans and as Jews, we don’t fear that engagement and we actively seek to be better and to listen to our better angels.
חזק ואמץ—be strong and have courage!
Rabbi Ron