The First Born Son

This piece was written after returning home from the funeral of the three young boys who were kidnapped and subsequently murdered by Hamas terrorists

Today is sad day. Today is a day that Am Yisrael (the children of Israel) buried three of its children, not children by blood, but children by soul, children by identity. Our children. Today three grieving families lost their children. I didn’t know the boys, thousands of people who attended the funeral didn’t know the boys, millions of jews worldwide didn’t know the boys. But we all stood together. We all cried together. We all looked to the heavens, turned to God, asked Him, pleaded with him - together. That is what the Nation of Israel is about. The children that were taken from us did something great, something that they were destined to do, throughout life or even death, they brought us together, they made us see our holy nation for what we could be, for what we have the capacity to be – for who God wants us to be.

The unity that we can have, that we should have – can never be taken from us. The murderous monsters, who perform heinous crimes against holy, innocent children will never achieve their goal. They will never be able to destroy us. They will only ever make us stronger; bring us together – because we are one. One soul, one being, one chosen nation.

Throughout the past 18 days, there was not one Jew who did not check, at least once a day, whether our children had been located.

Why is this? What binds us? To me it is simple – Unity, Torah, Holiness. The nations of the world may lack this connection - we cherish it. We strive from it and we nourish it.

It is this secret ingredient that was revealed to us, it is something that only we feel. It is something that is ingrained in us from the moment God puts the soul into our body until the moment He takes it away again. It is this that makes us special and it is this that makes us Hashems first born child. It is this that makes us mourn the children that we never met.

These three boys brought us together, what they did, without intention, will live through us, through our children and our childrens children. In a sick, distorted and evil way, these murderous monsters have shown us something that maybe we wouldn't have been able to see alone, that maybe Hashem was sitting on His throne in the heavens, crying to us, begging us to see. That we can be more, that we can be great – together. Maybe now it’s our turn to cry and it’s our turn to see what He so desires from us.

Today, in the boiling heat, thousands upon thousands of people, old and young, came from all corners of our Holy Land and climbed a mountain to attend a funeral of the children they never knew. This is who we are. This is why we survive, and this is why we were chosen. God looked down on us today and said: “Beni Bechori Yisrael”. (My first born son, Israel)