[Aneinu] MESSAGE FROM RAV PLOTNIK, ANEINU INT"L RAV

ANEINU KLAL YISROEL's HEART IS BROKEN WITH THE TRAGIC NEWS THAT THE BODIES OF THE 3 YESHIVA BOCHURIM KIDNAPPED 2 WEEKS AGO HAVE BEEN FOUND. We asked Aneinu's Rav, Rabbi Henoch Plotnik to give us divre chizuk in light of this tragedy "No doubt everyone is beside themselves with grief. We all need chizuk and to harness the power of all the sense of responsibility to the klal and the ability to look beyond our outer differences to come together. We shouldn't wait for nisyonos like this to bring out the best in us. If I may, I would offer our membership one thought that gave me some strength and admiration for how great people have such different perspective. When Rav Shmuel Birnbaum zt"l lost his second son, Rav Leibel zt"l,the rebbetzin was understandably broken as she was at his bedside when he left this world. The great Rosh yeshiva joined her after shabbos (she had spent shabbos in the hospital with her son)and told her,"remember there are three partners in our child. The third partner says this is good!" We cannot imagine such gevuras hanefesh at a time like that, but we must remain steadfast in our emunah that only Hashem knows what we need and what is tov. He is the Av harachman,the source and continued compassionate father. We accept his gezeiros,difficult as they are to bear,as absolute defferment to what only he knows is tov. One important point to remember: These bochurim, having died al kiddush hashem, for no other reason than their being Jews, are now afforded the most honorable places under the "kisei hakavod" as is brought in our seforim. They are experiencing unimaginable joy, we need not be sad for their lot. Our tza'ar is so strong but should only bring us to higher levels in our own avodah Boruch dayan emes. Rabbi Henoch Plotnik