I created a facebook group in which close to 10 000 Jews joined together to remember the two fallen soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. On the group, I have collected 64 pages of condolence letters which are being sent to the families. As they rise from Shiva tonight, I wanted to share a pdf version of the collection of condolences being sent to them (since many are incredibly inspirational), as well as my personal letter to the family:
Dear Goldwasser and Regev families,
This past week has been a tremendously hard week for all of Klal Israel. We can only imagine how hard it has been for you.
Over the last few days, as Klal Israel mourned the loss of two of its cherished sons, I created an online group (on Facebook) in which all the mourners could come together for support. This group grew very quickly coming close to ten thousand members. As members kept pouring in messages of hope, love and condolences, I decided to collect letters together in order to send them to the immediate family of the boys.
In Jewish Tradition, after one passes away, we say Kaddish. The Kaddish says: "May G-d's name be made holy and great". Wait, a person just died and you're telling me G-d's name is made holy and great?
For us Jews, the greatest hillul hashem, the greatest desecration of G-d's name, is when a life is lost. It is like a world destroyed, like a great light of Gdliness which is turned off. Therefore, in order to compensate this tremendous loss of light, we create our own light by praising Gd, by sanctifying his name. This is Jewish Mourning. We counter darkness with light – As Rav Avraham Itzhak Hakohen Kook once said: “The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice. They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith. They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom. “
Your sons (or husband’s) passing, while tragic and impossible to grapple with, has shown us the best of Klal Israel. Through this darkness, we have seen a great light. Your sons have inspired thousands, if not millions of people, throughout the world. They have enhanced everyone’s Jewish Pride. They have helped show us how great a nation lives in the State of Israel, and how much solidarity still exists between the Jews all around the world.
As we continue mourning your sons, and we will forever remember them, we can rest assured: they have brought a great light into this world. In their short lives, they have inspired more people than some of the most inspirational people. In their short lives they have had a stronger positive effect than most people have in a lifetime.
We wish they would still be here with us. We wish they could have come out of Lebanon alive. However, we find our consolation in the fact that their light still shines bright and that their legacy will, forever, live strong.
Dan Illouz
http://www.tzipiyah.com
