Moshe Kempinski
On Monday (15 February 2009) a special ceremony took place in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in the Kiryat Moshe section of Jerusalem The Brit or circumcision ceremony was being held a week before the tragic one year anniversary of the slaughter of eight young Yeshiva students in the same school. On that night, on the first day of the Hebrew month of Adar , an Israeli-Arab walked into the Mercaz Harav yeshiva armed with a Kalashnikoff and ammunition belts.. He opened fire on a group of teenage boys and young men immersed in their studies, firing an estimated 500-600 bullets in the span of 10 minutes and butchering eight young students. The gunman didn’t konow these young boys personally ,he simply hated what they represented. The rampage on that night was stopped by two young men . One was torah scholar , author and off-duty IDF officer Yitzchak Dadon and the other was Captain David Shapiro, an IDF officer who was nearby at home who responded after hearing the gunfire.
Eight young souls were extinguished in the midst of studying G-d's Torah in the Yeshiva library. The gunman didn’t hate these specific young boys, he hated what they represented.
On Monday , a year later, Yitzchak Dadon brought his newborn son back into that same Yeshiva library so that his son could be initiated into the Jewish people. The man who saved so many other lives re-entered the room where eight young lives were curtailed holding in his arms precious new life.
Rabbi Tzemach Hirschfeld, whose son, 18-year-old Yonatan Chaim was murdered in the attack, was the mohel who carried out the ritual. Rabbi Hirschfeld, said "this is a very special occasion for me – to circumcise the son of the man who shot the terrorist who murdered my son, and all this just a week before the first anniversary of the attack."
A true understanding of the spiritual undercurrents that flow through life is to understand the concept of circles flowing through circles.
A man who was responsible for stopping the carnage brings his newborn son into the peoplehood of the Jewish people amidst singing and dancing. On the following week, eight new torah scrolls will be delivered to the Yeshiva amidst singing and dancing.In addition the event will also be marked by the worldwide conclusion of the study of the 2,700-page Babylonian Talmud, . Over the course of this past year, those who wished to study a daf of gemara, or several of them, in memory of the slain students, signed up via an internet site designated for the purpose, specifying the pages they planned to study. The entire Talmud was completed more than three times in this manner, and the festive conclusion ceremony will be featured at next Tuesday's memorial.All this again with singing and dancing.
When Jews dance they dance in a circle ..circles within circles.
Rabbi Hirschfeld , the father of murdered Yonatan Chaim ( hy'd) appeared happy after what must have been a very heart wrencing and dramatic occasion, He spoke to several media outfits and a couple of newspapers and the following is a compilation of some of his words."Yes, this is definitely the closing of a circle. But it's not the first time; I also circumcised the son of Dudi Shapira, who also took part in killing the terrorist. But here, of course, it is even more poignant, given the timing and the location...As we say at the brit and also at the Passover seder, 'With your blood you shall live' - the blood that was spilled here is not the end of the story; there is life after death. Life goes on, babies are born, and thank G-d I deal with this, I am always involved with people who have just had babies, and life continues....It's true that our grandparents said that every baby born is a revenge against Hitler, but I don't live with that sensation. I could say it is a victory of sorts. We're not giving up, we have babies; I too had grandchildren this year..."
The prayers recited over the baby declared;
Our G-d and G-d of our fathers, preserve this child for his father and mother, and his name in Israel shall be called Elkanah ben (son of) Rabbi Yitzchak .May the father rejoice in his offspring, and his mother be glad with the fruit of her womb, as it is written: May your father and mother rejoice, and she who bore you be glad. As it is said: I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood, and I said to you: You shall live through your blood; and I said to you: You shall live through your blood. ..........May this little infant Elkanah ben Rabbi Yitzchak become great. Just as he has entered the Covenant, so may he enter into Torah, into marriage, and into good deeds.
The child was named after the late head of the Yeshiva Rabbi Avraham Elkana Shapiro, Yitzchak Dadon's rabbi. Yet the name Elkana means G-d will enact revenge. This revenge is personified by a young baby entering the nation of Israel, eight Torah scrolls entering the sanctuary and thousands of hours of Torah study culminating at this day.
Circles within circles threading through every moment in this land of unfolding destiny.
In blessed memory of Avraham David Moses, Ro’i Aharon Roth, Neria Cohen, Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar. Yochai Lifshitz, Segev Peniel Avichail, Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, Doron Meherete, May HaShem Avenge their blood..
