Writer and counselor for troubled youth, (Yechezkel) Chezi Goldberg, was killed yesterday in the suicide bombing on a Jersualem Bus.. I hadn't read Mr. Goldberg's writings, but my mother frequently read his articles and e-mails.
On December 3, 2001, Chezi Goldberg wrote a powerful article about emotions and prayer after terrorist attacks. Here is an excerpt:
Perhaps, my friends, we are being foolish to really believe that the nations of the world should be upset about the continuous murder and slaughter of Jews --- if we ourselves are not crying about it. Am I my brother's keeper? The most effective way for us to stop the carnage in our midst is to wake up and to react to it from our hearts. How can we DEMAND that the Creator stop the tragedy when most of us react like robots when tragedy strikes? If WE don't cry about what is happening around us, who will?If YOU don't cry about what is happening around us, who will?
If I don't cry about what is happening to us, who will?
Maybe our salvation from this horrific mess will come only after WE tune into our emotions and cry and scream about it.
As King Solomon said, "There is a time for everything under the sun." Now is the time for crying.
May He protect each and every one of us from our enemies so that we will not have to cry in the future.
"Goldberg, 42, a native of Toronto who made aliya eight years ago from his wife's native Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, had seven children of his own, ages one to 16, but he left behind dozens of children whom he helped through his practice and his articles. He preached for years against making concessions to terrorism in articles he wrote for The Jewish Press and in a radio show he hosted on Arutz 7.
Friends of Goldberg said he saved many lives. Goldberg was eulogized at the Bostoner Shul in Betar Illit, where he served as a sexton, before he was buried Thursday night at Har Hamenuhot Cemetery in Jerusalem. "