Dear Members,
As we enter the final stage of preparations for Pesach, and in light of yesterday’s events, I wanted to share some thoughts with you, including some important information for the Yom Tov and the coming week.
4 Questions:
How will we recline at our Seder tables tonight, enjoying the festival of our freedom?
How will we savor the four cups of wine and other Passover delicacies we look forward to from year to year?
How will we sing our favorite Passover songs, engage our children in the dramatic retelling of our people’s freedom?
How are we supposed to experience Pesach this year in the wake of yesterday’s tragic shooting, in the heart of community?
The questions must be asked, even if we do not have any satisfying answers. We all feel pained, bewildered. We are so terribly saddened on behalf of the victims and their families. We mourn their loss. We welcomed them into our home in the Jewish community and they were the victims of a crazed killer.
I would like to provide a number of items for your attention and let you know how BIAV and the Jewish community will be responding in the in the new few days.
Community:
When tragedy strikes we need to come together, in the broadest most inclusive way possible.
I would particularly like to invite anyone who wishes to join us at our home at 4:30pm on Wednesday afternoon for an open forum for conversation. This will not be a “shiur” with a title. We’re just going to come together, to talk, to process, to find meaning, hope. We may not have answers but we have each other. Wednesday afternoon, 4:30pm, Rockoff home.
At home we hope everyone will have a meaningful Seder with their families. Please join us in shul as well. Davening begins at 9:30am. I’ll be speaking briefly, and offer words relevant to the holiday and the current situation. We need to come together, to be with one another, to daven together, and just to be together.
The entire community will gather this Thursday morning, April 17th, at 10am at the JCC, for a “Communal Service of Unity and Hope.” I would encourage everyone who is able to attend this important gathering. Further details will be provided when available.
Safety:
The Overland Park Police Department will be patrolling the area in the coming days and will be stationed in our parking lot during services. In addition, we will be blocking off the portion of our parking lot close to the building. Thanks to Dana Horesh and the security committee for arranging these safety measures.
I received a call today from Governor Sam Brownback who sends his best wishes to our community and wanted to assure us that he will make sure that necessary security measures are taken care of in the time ahead.
Support:
The outpouring of support locally and from around the world has been staggering and heartwarming. I am sure everyone received many calls of concern from friends and family, and even strangers who know you live here. I received messages from national organizations looking to help, students who have spent time in our community and even from some of the Israeli businessmen who frequent Overland Park.
As I mentioned, Governor Brownback called to offer his support, and Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer attended our prayer service last night and offered his voice and presence in support as well. In addition, our Representative, Congressman Kevin Yoder called today with warm words of support. Our law enforcement officials and political leaders are committed to the safety and wellbeing of our community which we should appreciate and not take for granted.
Among the many e-mails and blogs, I wanted to share one from Michal Kupchik, a student who spent the summer here last year working for JFS http://blogs.
After Yom Tov, the plan is to bring in some trauma staff from Chai Lifeline and other organizations to help in any way. In the meantime, if you feel that either you or your children would benefit from someone to talk to, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with professional counselors who unfortunately specialize in dealing with such situations. Attached are some brief guidelines of how to talk to your family
Help for Parents after Tragedy (1)
Finally…
What more is there to say? Even with all the good wishes and thoughts, there is a numbness and shock that is palpable.
This one hits very close to home, in every which way.
Today we will finish our preparations for Pesach, our holiday of redemption. At our Seder, we will celebrate with wine, song, and praise. And at the same time, we will experience the blood, sweat and tears of our people, and other peoples, through the salt water, marror, and symbolically spilled wine. The Matza is the bread of our affliction and also our redemption. These symbols are intertwined because this reflects the complexity of our experience.
Every year and in every generation we relive this mix of reliving the joy of redemption with the pain of oppression. We will still recline at our Seder table, drink the four cups of wine, sing our favorite songs and bring the story of our redemption to life. But this year sadly the pain will be quite poignant as well.
Let us pray for the complete joy of redemption, speedily in our days. It can not come soon enough!
Rabbi Rockoff