Word-Cloud of Misery

[A Guest Post by Zahava]

Grief-stricken.

Horrified.

Mournful.

Furious.

Heart-broken.

Ill.

Distressed.

Irate.

Sorrowful.

Demoralized.

Upon learning that yet another innocent soul was violently and prematurely stolen in what should have been the sanctity of her own home...

Hallel Yaffa Ariel, הי׳ד -- may your memory always be for a blessing and may G-d comfort your family, loved ones, and friends during this tragic and difficult time.

We have never met, but you will forever live in the memory of my mind in a special corner dedicated to remembering the ones you unfairly and brutally joined today...

Including, but not limited to:

Rachel, Neriyah (15), Tzvika (12) and Avishai (5) Sabo of Itamar -- June 2002

Yossi Twyto of Itamar June 2002

Gavriel Hoter of Otniel -- December 2002

Eli and DIna Horowitz of Kiryat Arba -- March 2003

Udi, Ruth, Yoav (11), Elad (4), Hadas (4 months) Fogel of Itamar -- March 2011

Dafna Meir of Otniel -- January 2016

To say nothing of those viciously torn from their lives and loved ones in suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, ambushes, stonings, rock-throwings, and car-rammings....

Determined.

We will pause to mourn. To be inconsolable. To grieve. And to rant and rave over the insufferable and intolerable and hateful and fanatical nature of our enemy.

And then.

With a bit more heaviness in our step from the weight of an added tragic memory, we will pick up our feet, steel our hearts, and continue our daily living with a touch more vigor, love, and resolution to honor the memories of those who have been ripped from our lives.

The hate, the zealotry -- they are neither contagious nor deterrent.

For the first time in 2 millenium, we are home. And. We. Will. Not. Leave.