By Rabbi Eli Freedman

The Torah mentions the terms ‘widow’ and ‘orphan’ over fifty times.  It seems strange to me that both in Hebrew and English the terms for someone who has lost a spouse or parent are so prevalent, yet there is no word for someone who has lost a child.  Perhaps this is because there are no words to describe a loss so tragic.  
In this week’s Torah portion, we see a glimpse of the pain that all of the families in Newtown, CT are surely facing when we look at our patriarch, Jacob.  Jacob believes his favorite son Joseph is already dead and at the prospect of hearing that he may also lose his son Benjamin says, “If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.” (Genesis 44:29)
There is truly something about the death of children that brings us to despair more than anything else.  How, then, do we continue on, continue to have faith even in the face of such evil in this world?
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