Israel Matzav

Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, Leiby Kletzky and the Utoya massacre

Many tragedies have befallen the Jewish people over the last few months. Two in particular have caused particular consternation.

In Brooklyn three weeks ago, almost-nine-year old Leiby Kletzky was kidnapped and murdered by a man whom he trusted because he appeared to be Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) just like him. And last Thursday night in Be'er Sheva, Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, one of the generation's pre-eminent Kabbalists, was murdered by a follower who was ostensibly seeking his blessing (picture from his burial last Friday above). In each case, the victim was murdered by someone whom he believed would not harm him because he was a member of his own community.

In between these two crimes, a 'normal Norwegian boy' named Anders Behring Breivik murdered 76 Norwegians, most of them while dressed as a police officer. It was reported, in the aftermath of the murders, that Breivik gestured to his youthful victims to approach him so that they would be safe, and then took advantage of them and shot them. They trusted Breivik because he was a Norwegian like them and would not harm them.

That's not all that dissimilar from the cases of Kletzky and Abuhatzeira, is it?

But the similarities end there. On Wednesday - one day before the Abuhatzeira family rose from shiva - signs started going up all over our Haredi neighborhood. The signs draw a parallel between Kletzky and Abuhatzeira and urge members of our community to look inward to discover why God took these two righteous people from among us. We understand that it is our community that spawned the two murderers who committed unthinkable acts. And we understand that God is punishing us for our shortcomings by taking two righteous people from among us.

The Norwegians are still looking for someone else to blame.

'Nuff said.

Labels: Anders Behring Brievik, Leiby Kletzky, Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, Utoya massacre

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:34 AM