Monday, May 01, 2017

Letter to the Editor Jewish Star re: Front Page Article Mother Journeys to LI in Memory of Hallel

bs"d

Dear Editor of the Jewish Star:

re: Mother journeys to LI in memory of Hallel
http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/mother-journeys-to-li-in-memory-of-hallel,13490

Thank you the article featuring Rena Ariel speaking recently at the Young Israel of Woodmere as a front page news item and for  raising consciousness. 

Having lived in Hebron, let me suggest a broader perspective. 

Hebron is unique in that the forefathers and mothers buried there have a living presence.  דברי רבותינו (ברכות יח, א-ב), שהצדיקים במיתתם קרויים חיים

The first sentence doesn't really do justice to the reality in Hebron and Kiryat Arba. 

When you live in Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, you live with the unrelenting threat of terror. As Rina Ariel explained on Monday night at the Young Israel of Woodmere, living there's not for everyone.

 Of course, this would be a perfectly normal and expected reaction and conclusion any normal being would have after hearing of the horrific trauma suffered by the Ariel family.  

But living in Hebron and Kiryat Arba transcend what is considered normal and expected.   

My personal experience leads me to strongly suggest that the children in Kiryat Arab do not live with unrelenting threat of terror.  In fact, probably they feel much safer walking around their community especially after it gets dark at night  than our kids do in our community and the parents are probably less worried if they happen to venture out on their own unescorted.  Just to get an idea of what it is like, I personally used to walk around the Kirya at all hours of the day or night as women in Boro Park walk around their bungalow colony in the Catskills.   Kiryat Arba is a closed community, at least when I was there in the 80's and all the neighbors were Jewish. Actually the freedom children had to walk unchaperoned day or night was a breath of fresh air.   

Infiltration into the Kirya is a very aberrant,  and unfortunate lapse of security. 

One lapse is one lapse too many with tragic consequences! Yes it must be addressed with determination and strength rather than with acceptance of it being a typical everyday occurrence. 

Rena Ariel is addressing the lapse with determination and strength!

"There's so much terror", said Rena "let the children play" was not to suggest that since terror was so rampant, the kids should learn to live with the terror by being compensated with playgrounds. .  

Rena's point was as follows:  Kids should not be exposed to terror. They should be playing in playgrounds.  It is the job of adults to make sure their environment is safe and terror free.  The 17 year old murderer of Hallel Yaffa hy"d was the product of Hamas education which to our discredit is tolerated in Israel and worldwide.  She is telling us that this particular act of terror did not come in a vacuum.  This is something that must be addressed and Rena was making sure that adults in the room heard and now they too were sharing her heavy burden to make sure that other children would never suffer the fate of Hallel HY"D.  

Building playgrounds is our response to terror. The more they try to destroy our settlement, the harder we try to build our settlement.

I liked this quote from Rabbi Axelrod

 That "this is a family we didn't know personally" is irrelevant, Rabbi Axelrod said, "because all of Israel is connected"

Yes... My comments: We share in the knowledge that Israel is allowing Jihad in the schools funded by UNRWA. Surely that is something we Jews in America can address in Congress especially in light of the fact America funds UNRWA and that Abbas is soon to be visiting the White House.  Surely the hate indoctrination taking place in the Palestinian territories is something that should not be ignored and perhaps Rena's presence in the USA was to see to it that it is raised while the negotiation in the White House is being held.

Rena's main objective is to perpetuate Hallel Yaffa hy"d life as it says BeDamyich Chayii.  She stands for, Song, Praise and Dance.  If the terrorist thought they succeeded to  extinguish the light of one child, the Ariels will make sure that the light of that child will shine that much brighter with playgrounds and educational programs servicing lots of kids to enjoy these programs... as Hallel Yaffa herself would have enjoyed.  With our help their Vineyard will expand in Kiryat Arba and with the help of the Loving Almighty, hopefully the number of children in Kiryat Arba will increase as do grapes of the Vine....... Invey HaGefen....keeping Hallel Yaffa's spirit alive... 

Thank you for being partners with these important projects and the Ariel family.
Kerem Hallel website: https://www.keremhallel.com/  Rena Ariel yekev.arielbyehuda@gmail.com   Elana Abelow Kronenberg elanam77@yahoo.com, assistant

May the Spirit of Hebron shine bright with our combined efforts. 

Kol Tuv!  

Sincerely, 
Robin Ticker


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