One Year Later, And Nothing's Changed

It's been one year since 8 innocent yeshiva boys were brutally murdered by an Arab in Yeshivat Merkaz Harav in Jerusalem.
(The Jerusalem Post recalls the horrific event here.
I expressed my thoughts The Morning After.)

So much has happened over the past year in Israel. The corruption case against the Prime Minister. The war in Gaza. The (still unresolved) elections for a new government. But not much has changed. Jewish children are still at risk for being attacked while they sit in school, or play in the park, or ride the bus. The children of southern Israel are still being targeted with rockets by Hamas. Their older brothers who are serving in the army are still at risk for kidnapping. Gilad Schalit is still not home. And the "leaders" of the Israeli government are still so busy fighting amongst themselves for power that the safety of their citizens is relegated to a distant second.

I've heard that the first year after a loved one dies is the hardest. You have to get through the first Shabbat without that person, the first Pesach, the first birthday... each day marks a first of some kind. You experience the pain and the loss over and over again as special days, and ordinary days, pass without having that person around to share it with. I can't begin to imagine how hellish this past year must have been for the families of the eight boys who were killed. As a parent, I can't let my imagination go there. I don't want to feel even a tiny drop of that kind of pain. I can only hope that something, anything, will happen to eliminate the possibility that Jewish children will be targeted and killed by crazed people who hate them for no legitimate reason.

If you can, please do a mitzvah today in memory of those eight innocent boys.