The bombings in Boston this week were attacks on our own community. From God's point of view, so to speak, this week was no more horrible than any other. Monday was hardly the only day when people were killed by human beings with no regard for the sanctity of life, for any of the reasons one group terrorizes another or for no reason at all. And yet, it's a fact that for us, this was here, this was home.
If we're shaken up, it's not only the shock, and our fear for the safety of people who we know. When someone succeeds in killing in this way, our foundations shudder. We live always in a combination of belief and unbelief in the notion that people are good enough, that we are not just restrained from hurting each other but actually would rather treat others well and make each other's lives better. The bomber or bombers make us wonder whether human goodness and the sense of responsibility are truly that strong.
The response of faith is: Yes, it is. One person can kill and maim hundreds, and one small group can kill thousands in the blink of an eye. It takes longer than that for one person to save hundreds, or for one small group to rescue thousands from death or suffering. But the Torah says in this week's parasha that our holy acts are not just symbolic, but powerful. "You shall be holy, as I Adonai your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). Our holiness and goodness can equal God's. As God's acts are powerful through their holiness, so too our own.
To let ourselves be distracted or demoralized now means we would overlook an opportunity to do a mitzvah, and that would prove prove the bombers right. It's not just that small things matter. Small things are big. We have to work harder at mitzvot than the bombers work at destruction. But our power is like God's power, and therefore greater.
That power was evident within an instant of the first explosion, and magnified after the second one. Many people have remarked on the fact that some people nearby did not run away, but almost instinctively ran toward danger to pull debris off of people, to bind horrifying wounds. As my colleague and teacher Rabbi Shai Held wrote this week: Saving lives, running to people in great danger who might have already died -- this is what it means to imitate God in holiness. This is what people not only can do, but actually did this week. No matter how many plotters will be discovered in the Boston bombing, the heroes will far outnumber them.
May our own response, and God's comfort, be with all of the victims of the bombing in Boston and with all their families and loved ones.
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