The well-known Maggid, HaRav Baruch Rosenbloom, spoke in his weekly shiur last week about the Ramot terror attack, which took the lives of the two Paley brothers, h’yd, and Altar Shlomo Lederman, h’yd.

HaRav Rosenblum mentioned that this wasn’t the only tragedy in recent times in which Hakadosh Baruch Hu took the lives of young siblings, such the Glustein sisters, who were killed along with their mother, a’h, in a bus accident in August, as well as the Meron disaster, which took the lives of two sets of brothers.

The Maggid emphaszied that we’re unaware of the cheshbonos Shamayim but even without understanding why, we can understand Hashem’s message through a passuk in the Parshas HaShavuah: “כִּי תֵצֵא אֵשׁ וּמָצְאָה קֹצִים וְנֶאֱכַל גָּדִישׁ אוֹ הַקָּמָה אוֹ הַשָּׂדֶה שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם הַמַּבְעִר אֶת הַבְּעֵרָה”.

“The Ohr HaChaim writes: “After the fire is given license to burn, it burns not only thorns but stacks of grain as well. This is a hint to the Tinokos shel Beis Rabban that aren’t yet of stature…due to sin, they [young children] are taken in world calamities.”

“The Gemara says that a solar eclipse occurs for four reasons. The fourth reason is: ‘On two brothers whose blood was spilled as one.’

“The Ben Yehoyada writes on this: ‘It’s known that the sun and moon are considered like two brothers and the moon receives light from the sun and therefore a deficiency in the sun also affects the moon. So an eclipse of the sun is an example of two brothers whose blood was spilled as one.’

“I don’t know what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants from us,” Rav Rosenblum continued. “But perhaps He’s telling us – in Parshas HaShavua, it says: ‘You’re all my children, you’re the children to Hashem Elokeichem.’ The Rambam writes: ‘If all are children, then all are brothers.’

“We all have the same Abba in Shamayim. HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants us to be connected to each other like brothers even if we have differences of opinion. It’s okay to have differences but not hatred. We have one Abba in Shamayim.”

Rav Rosenblum ended with the words of the Ari HaKodesh: “כי יפלא ממך דבר” – if there’s something that you don’t understand, why a tragedy happened – “דברי ריבות בשעריך” – begin with machlokes.'”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)