by Rabbi Joshua Knobel
Though many of us observed the tragic news this past Sunday night with horror, few of us experienced the terrorizing mass murder in Las Vegas in the same fashion as Caren Teves. Teves, whose son, Alex, was killed in the Aurora shooting, keeps in touch with hundreds of survivors, people who escaped mass shootings unscathed, as well as the loved ones of those killed or injured.
“Today on my Facebook, I had so many direct messages: ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Please take good care today.’”
Following the violence in Las Vegas, our spirits may easily wander between expressions of grief, anger, fear, resolve, and disillusionment, as beckoned by the scope and nature of the crime. Unfortunately, such emotions often leave little room for examining the full human impact of domestic terror upon our communities. We see the dead. We see families torn asunder. And we subconsciously respond.
But the sounds that follow these sights are just as deserving of our attention. Long after the media turns its gaze from Las Vegas, silence will ensue, summoning our awareness elsewhere. But that silence contains voices, too – the voices of thousands of survivors, all learning how to deal with a new reality in their lives, survivors like Caren Teves.
Like the still, small voice that murmurs to Elijah, theirs are the voices that carry the Divine promise. Theirs are the voices we must invite into our thoughts and our conversations, and theirs are the voices that will imbue our responses with purpose and our grief with meaning.
May our prayers be with all those affected by this incomprehensible tragedy. May our thoughts remain with them in the years to come.
