Struggling With the Tragedy in Newton, Ct.

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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The Tragedy in Newton, Ct: In Memoriam

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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