Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: While standing up for the Torah to be brought back to the ark, a little boy comes up to me and just gives me a big hug. I learned afterwards that the boy “makes the rounds” in shul giving everyone a beautiful Shabbat embrace. This simple symbolic act of caring and loving others, mainly many older people in synagogue, by this innocent child gave people an uncommon sense of happiness and even hope in our future despite the anti-Semitism and hate of too many others outside.

1. THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Not Terror But Hugs
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal, Adapted from L. Krestin)
In stark contrast to another anti-Semitic terrorist attack at a synagogue last
week, this time in Colleyville, Texas that could unfortunately have the
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2. consequences of scaring people off from attending synagogue in the future, I
want to share something wonderful and loving that recently happened to me in
synagogue.
While standing up for the Torah to be brought back to the ark, a little boy comes
up to me and just gives me a big hug. I learned afterwards that the boy “makes
the rounds” in shul giving everyone a beautiful Shabbat embrace. This simple
symbolic act of caring and loving others, mainly many older people in
synagogue, by this innocent child gave people an uncommon sense of happiness
and even hope in our future despite the anti-Semitism and hate of too many
others outside.
Afterwards, from seeing this child hugging everyone, I started to think about
why we are called the “Children of Israel” and not just Israelites, Hebrews, or
Jews–why specifically “children”?
Yes, we are descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (later called Israel), but
that doesn’t answer why the moniker of children is important to who we are as a
people. Maybe some critically would say that because we are a stubborn people
that have at times “rebelled” against G-d and His Torah, that we are like
children and need to be brought back into line every so often. But I think the
real answer is that G-d loves us as His children!
I remember in yeshiva when there was some crisis in the world, or especially in
Israel, that we, as children, were told to pray, because:
In essence, we learned that a child is innocent and pure, and their prayers are
unadulterated and go straight to the throne of the Almighty for His loving
compassion on them and us. I remember especially the story of the little boy on
G-d listens to the prayers of children.”
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3. Yom Kippur, who didn’t know how to pray, but instead he cried to G-d, and his
tears had a direct impact on G-d’s mercy on the people for the New Year.
However, isn’t there an inherent contradiction here—even as we are always
children in G-d’s eyes to be taught and loved, as we grow and mature, don’t we
also have to act as responsible adults?
Thus, at bar/bat mitzvah (age 13 for boys and 12 for girls), we celebrate a rite of
passage as we become Jewishly responsible for our actions. Further, we are
expected to follow 613 commandments (taryag mitzvot), to live our lives
ethically and with holiness, and to essentially make the world a better place
(tikkun olam) not only for us, but also for our children and generations into the
future.
Yet as every parent knows, being children and responsible adults is no
contradiction in terms. For a parent, no matter how old or what stage of life
their child is at, he/she is still going to be your child in terms of the love and
guidance you give to them even long after they’ve had their fill listening to you.
At the same time, as parents, we expect, hope, and pray that our children grow
to be responsible adults and good people in their own right. For a Jewish parent
that hope, and expectation is reflected in what we call nachas (unbridled
gratification) that parents get seeing the good from their children and children’s
children.
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4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a business and technology leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
From the individual’s perspective, even as we grow older, we still all may feel
like children inside; at least that’s how I know I feel. Our bodies age, but we are
still in so many ways innocent and unknowing no matter how old we are—thus
we make mistakes and fall down as children learning to walk for the first time.
While perhaps, we get wiser with age, we still do many stupid things and for
that we have to ask forgiveness from G-d and each other.
In the broader scope, I like something that Yossi Klein Halevi wrote in Letters to
My Palestinian Neighbor about the Jews as children in a historical perspective;
he writes:
Albeit, at often a terrible price, we have been victorious, but how have we as the
Children of Israel survived all these millennia, against all the odds, and seen
anti-Semites and empires come and go, but we, as Jews, remain?
The answer is simple, the love of G-d is our secret for life and for our
perseverance throughout history. G-d loves us as His children, but also punishes
us as such. As children, we are always learning and growing, but as adults we
have to act in a way of righteousness and holiness, so that we will merit the
former, and not the latter. With G-d’s mercy and blessings, hopefully, we will
have peace in our synagogues and our lives, wherever we reside in the world, to
worship and live as Jewish people free of bigotry, hate, and terror, once and for
all.
I am not the son of destruction but of rebirth. We survived the Holocaust not
as victims, but as victors. We have outlived the empires that tried to destroy
us.”
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