Today we mourn with the families of Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas and Oded Lifshitz, as their bodies were returned home to Israel. Oded was a peace activist. In his memory we must never give up hope for a peaceful future. In his honor we must continue to look for allies. We may never make peace with those bent on being our enemies, but that doesn’t mean we get to give up. We fight to remain pursuers of peace.
The video and subsequent still pictures of Shira, a loving mother, clutching her two tiny red-headed sons as they were kidnapped from their home on October 7th are seared into many of our minds. The depravity of a group that could harm – close up and personal – and kill two beautiful little children still boggles our minds. And yet we are faced with such a tragic reality today as their father, Yarden Bibas, himself a hostage for almost 500 days returned to life only to receive and need to bury his wife and children. Three generations (for Shira Bibas’s parents were killed on October 7th as well) of the Bibas family were murdered by Hamas. Killed yes, but never ever forgotten. We as Jews have learned something incredibly important during our thousands of years of continued persecution: they may kill some of us, perhaps thousands and even millions, but we as a people will survive. Not one of us dies and is forgotten or erased. We will remember. We will live in order to keep their memories alive. We will fight in their honor.
The Poet Hannah Yerushalmi wrote,
To receive our dead
How do we prepare
to receive our dead?
with stones from Jerusalem
in our pockets, anchoring us,
with red anemones in our hands,
and a knife wedged in our hearts.
With murmurs of ancient laments
on our parched lips as
We drag our feet with halted steps
to receive those dear souls
because not a single one of us
wants to face this news.
How do we prepare
to receive our dead?
With numb spirits,
Fragmented for months,
with our right hands,
lost and withered
with our left hands
wiping at our infinity of tears.
Shiri, Ariel, Kfir and Oded (Rabbi Shalhevet)
February 20, 2025 by nssadmin • Blog
Today we mourn with the families of Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas and Oded Lifshitz, as their bodies were returned home to Israel. Oded was a peace activist. In his memory we must never give up hope for a peaceful future. In his honor we must continue to look for allies. We may never make peace with those bent on being our enemies, but that doesn’t mean we get to give up. We fight to remain pursuers of peace.
The video and subsequent still pictures of Shira, a loving mother, clutching her two tiny red-headed sons as they were kidnapped from their home on October 7th are seared into many of our minds. The depravity of a group that could harm – close up and personal – and kill two beautiful little children still boggles our minds. And yet we are faced with such a tragic reality today as their father, Yarden Bibas, himself a hostage for almost 500 days returned to life only to receive and need to bury his wife and children. Three generations (for Shira Bibas’s parents were killed on October 7th as well) of the Bibas family were murdered by Hamas. Killed yes, but never ever forgotten. We as Jews have learned something incredibly important during our thousands of years of continued persecution: they may kill some of us, perhaps thousands and even millions, but we as a people will survive. Not one of us dies and is forgotten or erased. We will remember. We will live in order to keep their memories alive. We will fight in their honor.
The Poet Hannah Yerushalmi wrote,
To receive our dead
How do we prepare
to receive our dead?
with stones from Jerusalem
in our pockets, anchoring us,
with red anemones in our hands,
and a knife wedged in our hearts.
With murmurs of ancient laments
on our parched lips as
We drag our feet with halted steps
to receive those dear souls
because not a single one of us
wants to face this news.
How do we prepare
to receive our dead?
With numb spirits,
Fragmented for months,
with our right hands,
lost and withered
with our left hands
wiping at our infinity of tears.