Obrigado terrorista

THANK YOU!?!?!

YES, Thank you.

Thank you for reminding me of who I am and what I need to do with my life.
I am a JEW. I am a member of the Nation of Israel, the People of Israel; and a servant of the G-d of Israel.

Thank you for impressing into my consciousness, once again, that life is serious business, and that I have a responsibility to live my life to a higher standard than the rest of humanity.

Thank you, once again, for reminding me that there is still a ton of work to do, to rectify my own character, to unite with my fellow Jews in peace, and to fulfill our Covenant with G-d.

More about me later…

Now I’d like to tell you a bit about my first cousin, Chaim (Howie) Rotman, who was viciously hacked with an axe yesterday while he was praying the morning services in a synagogue, in one of the most religious Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem.
Howie wasn’t born into an Orthodox Jewish family. His family was very active in a Conservative Jewish congregation in Toronto and he went to Hebrew schools and the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (CHAT), so he received a good Jewish education, but he was pretty much a typical middle class Canadian kid growing up. He did receive a scholarship to Hebrew U in Jerusalem in Grade 12, where he studied for a year, in addition to getting a degree at York University in Toronto.

Instead of just carrying on in a ‘typical’ fashion and graduate into a lucrative accounting career and a more prosperous life in Canada, Howie decided that Judaism and the Land of Israel were priorities for him. He was very active in the Jewish Student Federation at York and he spent time volunteering on a kibbutz in Israel at which time he decided he would make Aliyah (emigrate) to Israel.
He became a Ba’al Teshuvah (a returnee to a more committed and observant Judaism and follower of the Torah), studying at Ohr Somayach yeshiva in Jerusalem and working for their Jewish Education Program (JEP) here in Toronto, to help reach out to other unaffiliated Jews here and teach them about the beauty of Judaism and Torah.

He met his wife, Risa, at JEP, and shortly after they married in Toronto they made Aliyah to Israel. Not for material gain. Not for political motivations. Not as refugees escaping persecution. Simply because Howie and Risa wanted to live their lives as committed Jews in the Land that is most conducive to being a Jew.

Indeed, I believe he had little money and no job went he first made Aliyah and he and Risa had to live in an immigrant absorption centre, learning Hebrew and how to start a new life in Israel.

And a new life they did make… living in a religious moshav (settlement) before moving to Har Nof and raising 11 children.

I have visited Israel twice—once in 1993, and again in 2001. On both visits I had the privilege of experiencing Howie and Risa’s hospitality, as they welcomed me into their home for Shabbat and Holiday meals, and I watched their family grow from four (in 1993) to eight (in 2001) lively children. I vividly remember first being greeted at their door in 2001, where I was ‘ambushed’ by eight rambunctious kids who revelled in climbing all over their tall cousin from Canada.

Indeed, I remember sleeping in a small bedroom in his home with his five sons, and I appreciated then how lucky I was as a kid growing up to have a bedroom all to myself. It certainly is not easy raising kids. I have two myself now (Thank G-d) and I find that excruciatingly difficult at times (but most rewarding), so I can hardly fathom how Howie and Risa raise eleven! They certainly don’t do it to make life easier! They do it because it is the ultimate gift to be able to create new human beings and mould them into devoted Jews, who only want to serve G-d and do good in the World.

Speaking of children… this is not the first tragedy to strike Howie and his family. They lost their eldest son, Eli, in a tragic hiking accident seven years ago, in the mountains west of Jerusalem, not too far from the scene of yesterday’s attack in Har Nof. Did they give up, decide to move back to Canada, or complain to G-d? No. They accepted the Divine decree that took their firstborn son, soldiered on in stoic faith, stayed put in Har Nof, and brought even more children into the world.
Howie works for the State Comptroller’s Office in Israel, doing auditing work in various government departments. His work helped to weed out the financial corruption that unfortunately sometimes plagues the government there (as it does in govts everywhere).

He is a devoted Husband, Father, Torah scholar, and devout Jew whose only wish is to help create a moral and just society in Israel that believes in the Creator of the Universe and follows His Torah.

And now this happens. His ‘reward’ for all of this is to be axed in the head and body and lose an eye and suffer brain damage, and lie in an induced coma in an intensive care unit in the hospital.

My issue is not with G-d. I know that (as unfathomable as it may seem at times) everything that happens in life is a precious gift from Him and is only meant to stimulate us to grow into better, more refined human beings and to establish a close relationship with Him. No. No complaints to G-d.

My issue is with the rest of humanity. With the UN. With Obama. With the Nazis, Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, PLO, Fatah, the European Union, the ‘Anti-Zionists’, the BDS movement, and all the other assorted Jew Haters that have always existed in the world.

Just what the hell is your problem with us?!?!?! Why do you want us all dead???

Contrary to all the lies and libels out there… we do not want to rule the world. We do not control the global financial markets or the media. We do not want to ‘segregate’, oppress, or ‘occupy’ the Arabs. We do not think we are superior to all the Gentiles, nor do we want to convert them.

We simply want the right to live as Jews in our ancient Holy Land of Israel, or anywhere else in the world.

And what does it meant to live as a Jew?

It means to be the moral and ethical leaders of humanity. To teach all of humanity that there really is One compassionate, loving, all powerful G-d who only wants to bestow kindness on all human beings. But He wants us to live as spiritually refined human beings, and to treat all other human beings in a refined manner—not to live as animals or treat others as such. And we do that by studying and trying to live to the teachings of the Torah. By observing the mitzvot (commandments), and by doing acts of kindness and justice.

Howie didn’t move to Har Nof to lead an easy life. In fact, he knew it would be damn hard. But for him, there simply was no other way to be a committed Jew.
And so I thank the terrorists once again. I thank them for reminding me that life is damn hard.

It’s damn hard to eat kosher when I used to eat whatever I wanted.
It’s damn hard to keep the Sabbath when the rest of the world is 24/7.
It’s damn hard to guard my tongue when people make me so angry sometimes.
It’s damn hard to be at peace with my fellow Jews when there is so much that divides us sometimes.
It’s damn hard to be an observant Jew when I deal with my immediate non-religious family members.
It’s damn hard to raise two kids to be proud, committed Jews in a mostly secular and gentile world.
It’s damn hard to converse peacefully with my ex-wife, but I need to for my sake and that of my children.
It’s damn hard to work on my character flaws and grow into a more refined person.
And it’s damn hard to have faith in G-d in the wake of the never-ending tragedies and assaults on Jews everywhere

It’s damn hard, but it’s absolutely vital, because the continued and future existence of humanity is wholly dependent on it.

May all of us Jews and the G-d fearing Gentiles of the World unite only to do Good and fight this seemingly endless Evil. There will be a wonderful ending to all of this pain and suffering. G-d willing, let us do what we can to make it come soon!