[By: Yaakov Gold]
The last few days have felt as if a blur, Monday blended into Tuesday, and tonight, after paying my respects at the Levaya, I realized with a startle that it was already Wednesday evening – the week had passed by, and the sleepless nights and search-filled days all merged into one extended nightmare.
After the adrenaline and caffeine fueled hours of searching came to a close, and after struggling today to make sense of it all, I have come to the conclusion that there are several stories that can be told here, and only one that actually should be told.
There is the story of Leiby, the story of his killer, the story of each one’s respective families, and the story of a community that came together in an unprecedented display of Kiddush Shaim Shomaim.
There was a horrific incident, that is certain, but the horrors and nightmarish details that have been haunting us for the past 15 hours are not the story of Leiby Kletzky.
They are the story of a sociopath, a malformed personality, a murderer – and certainly that is not a story worth repeating, nor is it a story worth hearing.
The story of Leiby on the other hand, is an inspiring one. It is the story of the Frum communities of the 5 boroughs and beyond coming together in a show of Achdus and sense of duty that is at once inspiring and humbling – it has a tragic ending, but the story itself is a story of love and dedication the likes of which are not often seen on this scale.
The main search efforts were based out of several locations in Boro Park, and as the numerous news sites and photos online attest, they were orders of magnitude larger than any community effort in recent memory – but for a few hours last night, a search was mounted in Flatbush as well, it’s command post set up in the parking lot on East 12th and Ave M.
Midwood Chapel and Glatt Mart graciously arranged to allow access to the lot for organizing a Flatbush-based search, Hatzolah of Flatbush supplied an ambulance to use as a base of operations, Amazing Savings supplied flashlights, food came from numerous sources, Pomegranate dropped off cases of water – the support for the effort was astounding.
At 9 PM YWN put out a call to action, requesting volunteers to proceed to the lot.
At 9:05 we assigned our first search grid. As I gave instructions to the first pair of volunteers – I wondered to myself how we will ever get enough people together to cover Flatbush, a very large geographical area.
By 9:30 there were 50 people lining up to request search grids. By 10:00 that number had swelled to over 300. Reinforcements were needed for crowd control and grid assignments, and the dozen Flatbush Shomrim volunteers who showed up took up the challenge with quiet efficiency.
All told, we assigned over 300 grids to an estimated 1,300 volunteers. These included driving grids, walking grids, parks, transportation hubs, Shuls and school yards, boardwalks, 24 hour stores, subway stations, Avenues and side streets.
After assigning the grids, I drove through Flatbush, and was astounded by what I saw. Every pole and streetlight had a poster prominently mounted on it, there were groups of searchers to be found on nearly every block – their bobbing flashlight beams a testimony to the dedication of the volunteers who came out.
All told 15,000 flyers were distributed and taped to every surface imaginable, searching parties covered every street from Ocean Parkway to Ocean Ave, from Church Ave to Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach.
I am still in awe of the response that the community showed, I am still humbled by the outpouring of support and concern, that Leiby inspired.
And this folks, is the story of Leiby Kletzky.
It’s the story of community volunteering on a staggering scale. Its the story of an extraordinary power, the power that drives one Jew to feel concern and pain for another, a power that provided the momentum for a search that saturated the streets of Flatbush with people whose motivation was pure, whose intentions were pure, and who were driven by the unrelenting engine of Ahavas Yisroel.
And despite its tragic ending, it remains a beautiful story.
Leiby, was a humble and pure child, the Hespedim at his funeral attested to his warm and holy nature – and to the extraordinary Ahavas Hashem that his parents have.
But humble and shy does not make a child weak. Leiby had the strength to unite a Kehila in a way that no other cause ever has. Chassidim and Litfish, Sefardim and every other walk of Jewish life were represented in Flatbush last night. There were groups of teens on bikes, and older couples on foot. There were car loads of students, professionals, husband and wife teams, the demographic that showed up included everybody. United everybody.
There you have the story of Leiby Kletzky, a pure Neshama who gave Klal Yisroel a chance to shine.
And that’s the only story worth telling.
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17 Responses
The great benefit to the community that the effort led to the pathological killer being caught and put out of circulation before a second victim could be lost (R’L) must be noted.
How is it a beautiful story, if the end result is that a child was brutally murdered, C”V?
The fact that Jews came together to search for the child does not change the fact that it would have been better if they had NOT had to do so, if Leiby Kletzky did NOT have to “give Klal Yisroel a chance to shine” in this manner.
I’m sure that this article will be of little comfort to Leiby A”H HY”D and to his family.
“But humble and shy does not make a child weak. Leiby had the strength to unite a Kehila in a way that no other cause ever has.” This makes no sense. Leiby would not have wanted to wind up in this situation. So we need this cause – a missing and brutally-murdered child – to unite the Kehila in a way that no other cause ever has?
This article is insensitive and makes me sick and does not “inspire” me. I respectfully request that you please remove it from the YWN web site. Thank you.
I am once again moved to tears! what a beautiful piece!WE cant take it any longer in this loong, drawn out, horrible golus!AMEIN!! May hashem look down at his kinderlach and have nachus from us. May hashem take us home in the zechus of ahavas yisroel! May it be BEKUROV!! AMEIN!
Two points
1. To comment #2: obviously Hashem disagrees with you; that somehow THIS was “better.”
2. there are 6 million Jews in the US. only 500,000 are frum. There are 5.5 million Jews who are lost. There are 5.5 million Leibys. Who’s looking for THEM?
QuestionForYou #2: What is wrong with you? There was any way to predict or even assume looking for a child would result in this? You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
#2: I totally agree with you, this article is insensitive and should be removed. These words are not a nechama to the victim’s family. When we have questions as to why this happened; we don’t necessarily have to have our questions answered. We just need to move on; but only after we have sufficiently absorbed the pain and conveyed our deepest condolences to the bereaved family.
#2: Should we also have refrained from the massive search for the girl lost on a trip in Connecticut 20 some years ago (that resulted in her finding being lost in the woods), because “maybe” by having a massive search it would later turn out she was c’v kidnapped and the massive search would cause the kidnapper to harm her???
#2 and #6-
I feel that you entirely missed the proverbial “boat” with regards to this article.
I for one, after driving in to Boro-park at 2:36am (Monday/Tuesday) to help with the search, stayed until early Wednesday morning.
I am emotionally drained, as is all volunteers. These words of Chizuk were meant for us volunteers as well as Leiby’s immediate family; regular Jews who never met Leiby, but grew so attached in these short hours.
To the author, great article.
To #2 and 6- Yawn
This article should definitely NOT BE REMOVED!!!!!! We need to look back and see what we can learn from this situation? Yes, Mi kiamcha Yisroel!!! The family will never be able to get over their loss, R’L, though they have comfort in knowing it was their very special child, a holy neshama, who brought about this achdus in klal Yisroel!
I think this is a beautiful article. Leiby’s murder was not due to hefkeirus in the universe. HKBH has His reasons for this heartbreaking chapter in world history.
Perhaps if we could come together with such achdus for GOOD reasons, HKBH would spare us this pain, and bring Mashiach that much sooner.
Leiby; you were the inadvertent catalyst for a tremendous Kiddish Hashem. May this knowledge somehow bring comfort to your family, and Klal Yisrael.
And QFY #2: If C”V a child is missing, you wouldn’t want Klal Yisroel to organize a massive search mission because of the off-off-chance that someone might harm him as a result of the search? That is absurd in the highest degree.
STOP WITH THESE OP-EDS! Don’t mitigate a tragedy by bringing other points and answers in! Don’t explain a tragedy on any level as beautiful. WE DON’T HAVE THE ANSWERS! We must accept and try to fix ourselves each as he knows best, but to make collective statements on how klol yisroel got together and put a silver lining on this dark dark cloud is not for a public forum. Yes we should try to see hashgacha through the tragedy but printing such an article in a public forum and giving a certainty to thing is plain wrong!
I’m not sure why I am having trouble being surprised about the achdus and tremendous kochos that were exerted by the frum community in its effort to find little Leiby. And by the frum community I mean Yidden of all stripes and yarmulka types. This is what we do, Rabbosai! Now the trick is to channel all this achdus and keep it going during “normal” times when we are tempted to let all our differences get in the way of true ahavas yisroel.
‘And despite its tragic ending, it remains a beautiful story.’
Mr. Gold, I know you mean well, but the above comment desperatly needs rephrasing!
Mark Jermey says;
1. To comment #2: obviously Hashem disagrees with you; that somehow THIS was “better.”
Very insensitive! Just because this horrific incident happened, doesnt mean Hashem agress with it!!
My post was misunderstood.
I’m NOT saying that Klal Yisroel should not have worked together and participated in a tremendous effort to try to recover Leiby. Chas V’Sholom! It was a wonderful thing, and I’m not “knocking” it.
But to say, “despite its tragic ending, it remains a beautiful story. . .Leiby Kletzky, a pure Neshama who gave Klal Yisroel a chance to shine,” is insensitive to the Niftar A”H and his family.
I’m sure that the Klal’s tremendous efforts to recover Leiby were appreciated by his family; but I’m sure they’d be much happier if he were alive today and the Klal didn’t HAVE to search for him, in the first place.
Or does anyone think that a child should be missing for 48 hours and then brutally murdered and that his parents should be in agony because they don’t know whether he’s alive or dead, in order to give us a chance to “shine” ?
#6 and #12 understand what I’m talking about.
“Don’t mitigate a tragedy by bringing other points and answers in! Don’t explain a tragedy on any level as beautiful.”
To the people who wrote:
“To comment #2: obviously Hashem disagrees with you; that somehow THIS was “better.”
and
“The family will never be able to get over their loss, R’L, though they have comfort in knowing it was their very special child, a holy neshama, who brought about this achdus in klal Yisroel!”
How do you know that Hashem disagrees with me? Do you know his Cheshbonos? That it’s better for a child to be brutally suffocated and dismembered?
How would you feel if C”V this were YOUR child who went missing and was then brutally suffocated and dismembered? Would the “achdus brought about in Klal Yisroel” still be a comfort to you? I think not!
To #4:
“there are 6 million Jews in the US. only 500,000 are frum. There are 5.5 million Jews who are lost. There are 5.5 million Leibys. Who’s looking for THEM?”
You mean, there are 5.5 million Jews who have been kidnapped, tied up, suffocated, and cut into pieces?
Of all the pieces that i have read on this topic this one wins hands down in its beauty…Yaakov Gold keep on writing