Dear Friends,
It started, as always, as a day of celebration, with the Boston Marathon, one of the most important sporting events in the world, at its center. Yesterday, like every third Monday in April, was a holiday in Massachusetts, Patriot’s Day, when kids stay home from school and most adults have the day off from work. But this time, the bliss ended abruptly and turned into panic and horror with the sounds of detonated bombs. In a fraction of a second, this beautiful and happy day turned into a day of chaos and fear.
While online looking for more information about what happened, I saw the picture of Martin Richard, the eight year old boy who was killed in the explosion while he was waiting for his father to cross the finish line of the race. Looking at the image of this sweet boy, who looks like my son and the sons of my friends and neighbors, I wanted to cry and I wanted to catch the person who did it and . . . So many times my own kids, like Martin, have waited for me at the finish line of races to cheer me on. The sound of their voices shouting “go daddy” turns a mere race into an intimate instant (an “I and thou” moment, in the language of Martin Buber) of bonding and love between a parent and his child.
Yesterday, this same Monday, happened to be a special day in Israel, only that it started as the most somber day of the year, Israel’s Memorial Day, and turned in the evening into the happiest day, Israel’s Independence Day. The day began with the sound of a siren that was heard all over the country, during which the Israelis stopped everything and stood for a moment of silence to commemorate and honor the fallen. The day concluded with the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s anthem, followed by the sound of fireworks. The official reason for the juxtaposition of a day of commemoration with the day of celebration is to acknowledge the price Israel had to pay for her independence.
But I see another reason. The Jewish people were able to survive thousands of years of oppression, pogroms and even genocide and always bounced back because we never succumbed to despair and hopelessness. We mourned our dead, licked our wounds, and kept moving forward. I don’t know who is responsible for the cold-blooded murders in Boston and why they did it. But I do know what they wanted to achieve – they wanted us to be terrorized and frightened. They wanted us to stop our normal life, to avoid public places and to feel powerless. They didn’t target Martin Richard and the other victims; they went after the minds of 300 million Americans, trying to turn our natural confidence into fear and despair.
The great Hasidic Rabbi, Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), famously taught that the main key to life is “never to be afraid”. The only way anyone can beat America is by making her citizens live in fear. We didn’t let empires with nuclear weapons do that and we are not going to let a bunch of terrorists succeed.
May God bless you all,
Rabbi Alon Levkovitz
Thank you for your thoughtful article about the bombing. You are so right, we cannot live in fear. That would only add fuel to the fire of those who wish to make us fearful.