This column about the murdered
Fogel family was written a few times on other surfaces before I
put it to paper. First I etched it into my heart with a scalpel,
then I inscribed it on the sacred parchment of Jewish history with
a quill; finally, I spray painted it onto the bulletin board of the
human race in a jagged graffito. After all this, I thought that
maybe, just maybe, I could be lucid enough to share it with my
friends through the printed page.
There are two small communities in Israel, Elazar and
Itamar, named after the two surviving sons of Aaron. Their two
brothers died shockingly to disturb a happy period for the
Israelites, not long after the Exodus. The tradition teaches that
there was a divine decree for all the children of Aaron to die, but
Moses prayed and succeeded in saving half of them. Now, 3300 years
later, the tableau is repeated in the town of Itamar.
Six children live at home in the same family, brutal
killers invaded their home, yet half the children survived. One kid
was sleeping on a couch instead of a bed, the two-year-old was
curled in a small ball on his bed, and probably escaped notice. The
12-year-old sister stayed out late in a Sabbath youth group;
parents in Israel are astoundingly tolerant of these wholesome
gatherings and suspend their usual curfews.
So a heartless, soulless, gutless murder of a sleeping
family only got the parents and half the children, including a
three-month-old baby. That is the good news. All the rest is
hellish tragedy, atrocity, inhumanity. Hamas announced that
although they did not send the killer, they applauded his
handiwork. Those peace-loving Palestinians strike again!
THIS IS THE HAPPIEST SEASON of the Jewish calendar. The
holiday of Purim, celebrating the heroism of Queen Esther saving
her people from the Persians 2300 years ago, will be observed next
week. It is a day of goofy costumes and comedy, eating and
drinking, a giddy time of hope. School plays are being performed in
advance of the holiday, so little glittery crown-wearing boys and
girls are skipping up the steps of school buses all over
Israel.
Against this backdrop comes a bloody act of random
cruelty. Climbing into a peaceful suburban home to slash the
throats of its sleeping inhabitants; now there’s a political
statement. What does that tell the world about the culture of the
people who can perpetrate such acts — not as isolated instances of
twisted menace but as publicly celebrated expressions of a national
spirit?
Yes, you heard that right. Gaza residents hit the streets
to express
their jubilance, handing out candy and sweets in honor of the
occasion. We have our murderers, too, but we chase them into their
dark dens and confine them in cages.
Can someone reasonably argue that a peace treaty
negotiated by some people in suits is going to pacify a culture
that throws a party to honor the murder of a three-month-old
child?
Well, perhaps I have not becalmed myself into lucidity
after all. I am enraged, offended, provoked into a state of war. I
reject the notion of statehood for the bloodthirsty, legitimacy for
the ruthless. Ruthless is an appropriate word here; the woman they
killed with three of her offspring was Ruth Fogel. Fogel is a bird,
so Ruth Fogel means Bird-of-Peace. It does not take a genius to get
the message of slashing the bird of peace.
You and I love the image of the bird soaring high and
free; we love peace so much we are willing to overlook all sorts of
slights and affronts and irritations and provocations. We want so
much to impute good will and good faith to all of mankind, to men
and woman of every race and religion. But we cannot close our eyes
to evil, to raw predatory evil, to naked evil wielding its scythe
of destruction against all that is gentle and kindly and
innocent.
I want so much to join my children and grandchildren in
their Purim playlets, to get into the mood of the time. One more
time the brutes have stolen the light right out of my eyes. Thank
God they could not get it all; prayer has saved half of our
goodness from the blade. Let us treasure what remains.
