It has been a week since the horrific Elad terror attack, and readers around the world have followed the many tales of heroicism and brutality. A group of the world’s biggest rabbanim, however, are asking a deeper question: Why did this happen? 

A moving letter from Rav Gershon Edelstein, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, Rav Chaim Feinstein, Rav Dovid Twersky, and Rav Naftali Nussbaum has been released to the public.

“Who among us can say that their heart is pure?,” asks the letter, shifting the focus off of the attack itself and onto the Jewish People as a whole.

“They left behind them two widows and ten young orphans. Their cries reach up all the way to the heavens, and it must be as a result of our sins.”

The rabbanim insist that this brutal attack is, ultimately, the result of the actions of the Jewish People. This level of responsibility is a bitter pill to swallow. How to remedy it? The rabbanim say: Give. The widows of the men killed in the attack are struggling to raise their children after this unthinkable loss, and an emergency fund has been opened to help.

“In the merit of this great mitzvah,” continues the letter, “you should merit to be saved with everything good. With children, long life, and plentiful sustenance. He who created this world should put an end to our sorrows, and may we merit to see the coming of the Moshiach speedily in our days, amen. “

Readers can answer the call of the rabbanim, and donate to help these devastated families here for a limited time.