A Prayer for the Fogel Family as they Rise from Shivah

Not one of us can feel your pain.  

Not one of us knows what it means to have our heart shattered as yours. Your grief only point out to us how empty words can be in the face of tragedy and sorrow.

The tears of our pain are but a shadow of your pain. The hurt in our soul is only the smallest fraction of the hurt you bear. The ones you loved so deeply are gone, and the pain of loss ripples through the Jewish People. We cannot heal your heart, we can only offer you our own hearts and hands, to stand with you when you need support and to cry with you when you need to cry.

Haverim Kol Yisrael - All Israel, both near and far, are your brothers and sisters. We express our commitment to be with you, to strengthen you in the days ahead and to help to bring to justice those who have attacked you, and through you, all of us.

We do not speak in your name, nor can we give voice to the pain in your heart. We can only offer our compassion and our love and we pray to God that it will be enough to see you through the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

May God comfort you and may God comfort us all.

 

-by Rabbi Randall Konigsburg