* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
How do you rebuild after a calamity? This was the tremendous challenge that Noah faced after the world was destroyed in the Flood.
It’s also an enormous challenge that we are grappling with now.
The following is a thought-provoking and inspiring scene I recently witnessed with my own eyes:
It happened last week on Simchat Torah, exactly one year after the catastrophe. Eliyahu Libman, a bereaved father, sat down next to a young man who had been at the Nova festival. They had both come to a Jerusalem hotel along with other bereaved families, families of hostages, and about 100 survivors of Nova. The organization “Kesher Yehudi” had invited them to mark this difficult day together.
While everyone was dancing with the Torah, one young man sat on the side, trembling and looking down as he recalled the atrocities he had witnessed the year before, and his friends who had been killed or kidnapped while he fled for his life.
Eliyahu Libman held the young man’s hand and spoke to him directly:
“Do you realize that exactly one year ago today my Elyakim was rescuing people until he himself was murdered? It’s the first anniversary of his death (yahrzeit). So, listen to me— today is his memorial day and also the day of your rescue. I ask that each year you not only remember those you have lost but also celebrate the miracle you experienced—that on this day you were given a new lease on life.”
The young man listened and stopped shaking. Libman continued: “But I also want to request something else. You tell me that for the entire year you’ve been tormented by the question of why your friends were killed and you survived, so I want you to answer this question for yourself. Why am I still here? If you survived, there must be a reason for it—there is more work for you to do in this world. So how can bring more meaning into your life? If you have been given another chance, how are you going to fill your days with purpose? Ask yourself: What am I doing with the tremendous gift that I received on that day?”.
The young man nodded. After a flood, we need to dig deeper into ourselves in finding meaning and purpose in our lives to begin again.
