for ten's sake
Yarden Bibas’s eulogy for wife Shiri, sons Ariel and Kfir
His family murdered in Gaza, freed hostage says he misses nibbling on baby Kfir, hopes there are butterflies in heaven for Ariel; asks slain wife: ‘Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness’
Why have I said nothing recently about the 7 October atrocity and the unspeakable obscenity that is Hamas, a force of uncivilized barbaric evil whose sole characteristic is hate, not even love of its own people, but hate. I have thought and resisted lest I reveal more of myself than I am willing for anyone but God to know, for mine are not the thoughts and raging anger of a supposed "holy man." But again, for all of Israel's deep flaws, Israel will make their gravest error of all Time if they allow the peace to settle with Hamas still breathing their hatred. I remember the Gazan child who, early in the war, made headlines and front pages grieving his mother and brother, and weeping with their shrouded bodies as he told them goodbye. A difference is that those were impersonal casualties of war ignited by the boy's own people; Yarden Bibas's wife and two little sons were murdered by hand, personally, individually, by inhuman beings fully as evil as the murderers of the Holocaust; and the woman and children's bodies were handed over not quietly but festively by hating folk who have proved that there is no place for them on Earth, that they have no right to survive as a people and live as a nation.
Hamas, its ongoing terrorism and public support, have made irrelevant any residual innocence of their people. A Genesis story comes to mind.
If I cannot stifle my political incorrectness to quiet my mouth and constrain my dancing fingers, at least I can refrain from pressing Publish; and if not that, I certainly will stop myself from posting on my Facebook page a public link to this blogpost which registers not sappy religious sentimentality, but my own raging hatred of the Volk who deliberately and mindfully murdered these children and their mother, then celebrates; a Volk who dare to call themselves a People and a Nation.
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A nation united in grief: No words can heal our aching hearts
Today, an entire country and people are gripped by grief and mourning, pain and tears. It’s a moment when two little lambs – golden babes – are finally coming home to their mother, home to us. And we, all of us, an entire brokenhearted nation, accompany them to their final resting place.
God knows this is not the homecoming we prayed for. This is not the moment we anticipated or the end we had hoped for. We imagined them coming back, their golden heads shining, their sweet, inquisitive little faces lighting up our world. And Mama Shiri, in her astonishing courage, still shielding them beneath her wings, protecting them from harm, just as she did back then, against the diabolical evil they faced at such a tender age.
That image of Shiri, her eyes wide with terror, carrying her two dazzling babies, making her way through a gauntlet of rifle butts and savages, is seared into our souls forever. It is an image that simultaneously holds the purest light, the most sublime and noble love, inconceivably juxtaposed with the most terrifying, unadulterated evil. It is an image that captures just one blink of an eye, just one moment, and that tells the whole story of the tragedy of October 7th, Simchat Torah. The essence of goodness versus the depravity of murder. And how immense this rupture is for us.
The lullaby we carry in our hearts today is an eternal lullaby, as dear, sweet Kfir and Ariel are delivered to their eternal rest together with their magnificent mother, Shiri. If there is still mercy in this world, let the beautiful faces of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir be a heart-piercing cry; let them resonate through the four corners of the earth, let them reverberate to the ends of the world, and let them awaken hearts that have hardened, that have lost touch with their sense of justice, that have been closed. Look at us, world. Today, we are burying the sweetest and purest of your children. Open your hearts and add your voices to the tears that a broken nation cries today.
Beloved Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel. Know that from the day you were torn from us, we never stopped praying, waiting, crying, hoping against hope, that you would come back to us, alive. That along with brave Yarden, who came back to us so recently from the valley of the shadow of death, you, too, would return to your beautiful, warm home. Here, now, there are no words that can heal our aching hearts. We refuse to be comforted.
Dear Yarden and dear Bibas, Silverman and Sitton families: We are all crying with you. We are all embracing you. We are all broken alongside you. As the president of the State of Israel, on behalf of the State of Israel, I ask for your forgiveness. Forgiveness for not fulfilling our duty. Forgiveness for not protecting your loved ones on that dark day. Forgiveness for not saving them, for not getting them home safely.
In this broken hour, I want to quote the words of Ohad Ben Ami, who after coming back from the horrors of captivity said this to me: “As soon as we knew that people were fighting for us, that people wanted us back, it gave us strength, and lifted our spirits… There were six of us in a six square meter (65 square feet) space. All together. Secular and religious, soldiers and civilians. We were in horrific conditions, 30 meters (100 feet) underground, but we were together. That’s what we’re made of.”
Talk of unity does not always find its way into people’s hearts. But hearing Ohad, who came back from an unimaginable hell, talking about our unity as something with the power to save lives – that’s not an empty slogan. It is a decree with sacred and compelling resonance for all of us.
The living, beating and beautiful heart of our people, which revealed itself this year in all its glory, holds many voices; and all of us, every last part of this nation, must now look the pictures of Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel in the eye, and vow to hold on tight, together.
Together, a united and brokenhearted nation, we accompany Kfir, Ariel, and Mama Shiri, to eternal rest, while splitting the heavens with our prayer: May their beloved, pure souls be bound in the bonds of eternal life; and may we merit the speedy return of all of the hostages. Every last one of them.
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Genesis 18:16-19:29
Authorized (King James) Version
16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. 33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
19 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7 and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19 behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20 behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: 28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
