No Answers, But We Must Respond

Thoughts on the Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre

In Parshat Shemot we read how God convinced Moshe to go back to Egypt to lead the Jews out of slavery. Moshe embarks on this journey from Midyan with his wife and two sons, one a newborn. The verse then states:

וַיְהִ֥י בַדֶּ֖רֶךְ בַּמָּל֑וֹן וַיִּפְגְּשֵׁ֣הוּ ה וַיְבַקֵּ֖שׁ הֲמִיתֽוֹ:

Now he was on the way, in an inn, that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

With help from the next verse, commentators piece together the narrative. Moshe’s newborn son was eight days old; it was time for his circumcision. Moshe, for whatever reason (discussed in the commentaries) did not circumcise his son at the first available opportunity. For this sin in this instance, Moshe was deserving of a severe punishment: death. Just in the nick of time, Moshe’s wife Tziporah performs the circumcision and Moshe is saved. 

The Ohr Hachayim notes the peculiar usage of the word “sought to”. If God can do whatever He wants, then why did he merely “seek” Moshe’s death and not make it happen? The Ohr Hachayim notes that Moshe was travelling due to a Divine command. He was a “shaliach mitzvah”, an emissary of Hashem. And we have a principle brought down in the Talmud in a few places (such as Pesachim 8b and Chulim 142a) that “shluchei mitzvah einan nizakin” that those on a mission to perform a mitzvah will not be harmed.

The idea that those performing a mitzvah will not be harmed is the reason why people stuff dollar bills into someone’s hand when they hear that s/he is travelling (more common when the person is travelling to Israel, but practiced by some when any amount of travel is undertaken.) The dollars are meant to be given to tzedaka when the person arrives at their destination. And the belief is that by transporting these funds, the traveler has been transformed into a Shaliach Mitzvah, one on a mission to fulfill a mitzvah, whom we are told will not be harmed.

The events of the last couple of weeks have seriously challenged our belief in this concept that those on the way to do a mitzvah will not be harmed.

Last Shabbat, eleven Jews were killed in Pittsburgh. These Jews were killed in a synagogue. These Jews were murdered while taking part in Shabbat morning services. These Jews were murdered because they showed up to shul on time. There are no words to express the heartache of this tragedy, just as there are no words to answer the question that many of us have: Weren’t these Jews “Shluchei Mitzvah”? Shouldn’t they have been protected from harm?

In our own community, this question has been on many people’s mind since last Tuesday, when our own Mr. Stanley Friederwitzer z’l tragically died, when he was hit by a car as he was crossing the street, on his way to Shacharit services to help make a minyan. Many of us ask: But wasn’t he a Shaliach Mitzvah? How can something so terrible happen to someone on his way to do a mitzvah?

                

There are no answers to these questions. Just like Aharon was silent in the face of the death of his two sons (Vayidom Aharon, Vayikra 10:3) so too we must not offer answers to these weighty questions that often sell us, or God, short. The best answer is no answer. In that silence we should contemplate how limited mortal human’s understanding is, and how we can never understand the full picture of God’s plan. In Parshat Chayei Sarah we read of the death of our first matriarch. One Midrash suggests that Satan caused Sara’s death by telling her about the Binding of Isaaac- and leaving out the ending (how Yitzchak was spared at the last moment). According to this Midrash Sarah died of either a heart attack or a broken heart. 

Asks Rav Chaim Kanievsky: Avraham was fulfilling a Divine command. He was a Shaliach Mitzvah. If so, how could the death of Sarah occur as a result of this Mitzvah endeavor? Rav Kanievsky answers that doing a mitzvah will never be bad for a person. Nothing can take away the good that is created through a mitzvah. But God has His calculations. These calculations are incomprehensible to mortals, and include when a person’s time on this Earth is up. And when that time comes, God’s plan will come to fruition, regardless of what a person is involved in at that moment. The mitzvah will not protect from the fate that is destined to befall. But when a person expires while performing a mitzvah, then their death is elevated and now considered to be sanctifying God’s name through their death, also known as “dying Al Kiddush Hashem”.

                

Though there may be no answers to these tragedies, there are most definitely proper responses.

Mourn for the loss of life, comfort the bereaved, pray for the injured. Show solidarity with those who were most impacted by the tragic events.

Appreciate how precious every moment of life is and live it to the fullest. Love deeply. Hug your family a little tighter. Be a little bit nicer to friends. Smile more. Be more civil.

We have an obligation to vanquish evil and to not allow evil to prevail. We must double down on everything that the Pittsburgh shooter tried to destroy: things such as the sanctity of the synagogue, the crucial role that synagogue plays in building and maintaining community; shul attendance, decency, tolerance, unconditional love and respect, civility.

Rav Soloveitchik taught that in response to tragedy, we should not ask the question, “Why?” Rather let us ask the question “What now?” Let each one of us commit to answering that question with concrete action; now and tomorrow, to alleviate the pain of today and to help create a better tomorrow.