Lost in thought

A week and a half ago, we celebrated our son's bar mitzvah. I had been looking forward to sharing it with you, and I do plan to, but something happened over the weekend that has made it difficult to discuss. You see, while we were enjoying Shabbat dinner with our family, celebrating our son's entry into the nation as a full member, another family was being slaughtered in their beds. That same Friday night, while we were enjoying parental pride, another set of parents were butchered, along with three of their children, including a three month old baby girl. Three children will never grow up, and three other children are orphans. They will never have their parents look at them with pride, to see their milestones, to celebrate their successes and dry their tears. Because they were Jews, living in their homes. On Saturday night, when we learned of the horrendous terror attack, of the savagery and pure evil that had been perpetrated, we were in shock. How could we continue to celebrate, go on with our plans for the Sunday night party? But terrorists can not stop us from living our lives, so we go on. It is the reality of life here. For truly moving photos of the funeral of the Fogel family, I suggest you look at the Real Jerusalem Streets blog, which documented the 25,000 mourners who attended the funeral. Additional photos can be found on their Facebook page. This is our nation, joining together in strength to remind the world that we will not retreat, and assuring the surviving family that they will never be alone.