Introduction to the Kaddish (December 21, 2012)
Rabbi Alan D. Fuchs
As we are about to read the names of those of our loved ones and members of this congregational family, we also will remember those who were murdered in Newtown, Ct.  this is very personal for carol and me and our son Dan who is with us this evening.  our son and Dan’s brother Douglas, his wife Diane and their two children, Rachael, age 15, and Zachary, age 13, live in Newtown.  Rachael and Zachary attended sandy hook elementary school.  Diane taught at least one of those ill-fated first graders when that child was in the pre-school where she works.  the sibling of a present student escaped the carnage by running out of the classroom and out of the school.
Douglas has worked in law enforcement since his graduation from Brandeis in 1988.  He is now the chief of police of Redding, CT, a town adjacent to Newtown.  He heard the Newtown dispatcher call for help while he was in his police car and raced to the school.  he arrived moments later.  The Newtown police had just burst into the school.  Tragically, the assault was over.  Douglas then was asked to be in charge of organizing the reuniting of the children with their parents, an event which took place in a nearby firehouse.  He separated the children by grade in one room and then connected them with their frantic parents in another.  he had to separate out the parents of twenty children who never returned.
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