"Kinah" for Martyrs of Toulouse, HY"D

I wrote a “Kinah” for the Toulouse martyrs, HY”D:

*************************************************************

Our beloved father in Heaven, please do not be silent

Do not allow the earth to cover the blood of

Pure innocent sweet school children: Gavriel, Aryeh and Miriam

Only because they dared to carry Your name in the world

Leaving behind so deeply traumatized parents, wife, friends and classmates, for whom,

*************************************************************

If only my head would be water and my eyes a spring of tears, so that I could cry all day and night for the fallen of my people

I am walking in a trance with nowhere to go

Sheep led to slaughter, to be killed, destroyed, beaten and humiliated

And how we live in a terror-filled camp

We have become so inured to Jewish blood being so cheap

Ribbono Shel Olam, please ascend Your Throne of Mercy and save us

*************************************************************

How can it be that when their mothers kissed their children goodbye that morning, that they would never see Gavriel, Aryeh and Miriam again?

Imagine their grief at candle lighting time on Erev Shabbos when they can no longer beg Hashem

To merit children who would light up the world in Torah and Maasim Tovim

Never again able to hear their children say Ma Nishtana at the Seder table

Or prepare their favorite Shabbos foods and bake them a birthday cake

Their heartbreak is as vast as the sea, which human being can comfort them?

Therefore- we must throw ourselves before Your Kisei HaKavod

To be Metapel with them personally to give them a Nechoma

Even as it seems so impossible for us to imagine any comfort

And replace it with the feeling of being enveloped with Your love

For You Hashem can do anything, even if it seems impossible to us

And may they know no more Tzuros any more

*************************************************************

A great Hester Panim seems to have enveloped us

How can we again have a delicious Shabbos or Yom Tov Seudah with any appetite

And their tables are so sorely missing the places of their dear ones?

I feel like my heart has been crushed and its blood squeezed out

Shemesh, Shemesh how could you have given out your light on that bitter day

When those Heilege Neshomos was taken from us?

We have no nerve to lift our heads

As we trudge through our daily chores without strength

*************************************************************

Our Father in Heaven, what will be of the children

Who will never grow to adulthood?

Whose parents were denied the joy of accompanying their beloved children to the Chuppah?

I am tortured by the image of young children

Their terror, in the seconds before and while they were mortally injured

And in the moments afterward while they drowned in their own blood

I wish to hit my head against the dirt as these thoughts torment my mind

And I feel like crumbling down to the ground, with no muscle tone

My eyes fail with tears, my innards burn, my liver spills on the ground at the ruination of my people

For this our hearts are ill, for this our eyes are dimmed, for our fallen sweet brothers and sister

*************************************************************

Sweet Gavriel, Aryeh and Miriam, how sorrowful I am over your departure from this world

If only you were allowed to remain among the living

Alas, if only someone would have saved you from that unspeakable tragedy

How much Nachas your parents and teachers would have derived from your Divrei Torah at your Bar and Bat Mitzvah

How much pleasure your siblings would have had playing with you and watching you grow up

But, instead we can only cry, sigh and shed tears over the tragic fate that you met

And agonize over the Chasunah that we will never have the chance to dance at

May He soon bring the day of Techiyas HaMeisim when you will be reunited with your beloved families

*************************************************************

Arise and judge our case against our tormentors

And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom, their disgrace with which they disgraced You, Hashem

Certainly the martyred Kinderlach and Rav Yonatan are our staunchest advocates in Heaven

Please listen to their plea as they ask You to stop all our suffering

And let their ascension to Gan Eiden spell the end of all Jewish blood being spilled

Please bring an end to all bloodshed, captivity, evil mishap, every illness and punishment from all members of Your covenant

Show us very soon, Hashem, our G-d, the consolation of Zion Your city, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem City of Your holiness

For You are the Master of salvations and Master of consolations