my heart is in the east....

about an hour ago, there were three terrorists who walked into Yeshivat Mercaz Harav Kook in Kiryat Moshe and opened fire. as of now eight boys are dead, and many more are wounded, some critically....

i was shocked when i heard this news. how many times had i walked/ridden past that yeshiva, never given it a second thought. my seminary was right near that neighborhood, my cousin lives there. one minute these boys were learning, the next, their friends are lying in their own blood...just stop and think for a second..somewhere out there, eight mothers just received a phone call that their sons are not coming home for shabbos. in fact, their never going to come home again. these mothers will never be able to say to the neighbor "oh i have loads of laundry to do, my son is home from yeshiva" they'll never be able to walk their sons down the aisle, never have the joy of holding a grandson....

when we hear about things that happen in israel, or any other part of the world, we stop what we're doing. we feel bad. maybe even say tehillim. and then we go on. for the families of those who are killed, there is no "getting back to regular life" when there's a bus bomb, or a Kassam rocket, there's a little girl out there who will never be able to have her Abba come sit with her and say shema. a family will never be able to celebrate the bar mitvah of their brother/son. a young girl will never walk to school with her best friend again. it's so easy to become callous and hardened. it's important to remember that in just a few short moments, someone's life is changed forever.