BDEHazkarah for the Three Israel Teenagers

To the Young Israel of Sharon community,

Am Yisrael throughout the world is reeling from the news that the three Israeli teenagers, Yaakov Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Michael Shaar and Ayal Yifrach,  Zikhron Kedoshim liVrakhah, abducted a little over two weeks ago, have been found murdered, HY"D. When the announcement came over the Israeli media last night, people stopped in the street in a state of shock. There was a hush over the whole country. In Israel this is deeply personal. Yaakov Naftali’s mother Rachel is a friend and colleague of our daughter Atara. Many have connections to the families and their communities. Everyone feels this pain. These young men were pure, devoted, sweet, creative, loving human beings, each one. There were daily vigils for them  throughout the country. At every tefillah they were prayed for, every shiur and every gathering began with a prayer for them. Non-observant Israelis passing by a gathering would ask for a Sefer Tehillim to join in. Two nights ago there was an enormous prayer gathering in Tel Aviv, non-religious and religious Israelis together praying on their behalf.   Throughout the world, Jews have been davening for the safe return of these children. But it was not to be. At minyan this morning, a little minyan of simple working people that I have been davening at here in Tzfat, one of the men got up at the end of Shacharit and said: “Does this mean that our tefillot were in vain, that HaKadosh Barukh Hu is not listening? Look at what these three young men did for Am Yisrael. Yaakov Naftali, Gilad Michael and Ayal – they brought us all together. They accomplished what Rabbis and politicians could not do. They brought all Israelis, all Jews together as one heart, to pray together, to hug each other, to cry together. They are Kedoshim, they are holy martyrs and their memories are a blessing.”

Yaakov Naftali, Gilad Michael and Ayal were found near Hevron, near the burial place of our grandfathers and grandmothers Avraham and Sarah, Yitzhak and Rivka, Yaakov and Leah. Our grandparents gather their children to them. HaKodesh Barukh Hu gathers His children to Him. “Thus says Ha-Shem: a voice is heard in the heights, bitter weeping, Rachel cries for her children, she refuses to be comforted for they are not. Thus says Ha-Shem, restrain your voice from crying, and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, says Ha-Shem, and they shall return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for you  in the end, says Ha-Shem, and your children shall return to their home (Jer. 31:14-16).”

Rabbi Meir Sendor