There is no need to search and rummage through the lexicon of horrors. There is no need to struggle to find appropriate forms of expression for the strange deaths of the martyrs of the terrible massacre.
One picture is enough.
A Jew of the form, wearing a tallit and tefillin, lies in disgrace on the synagogue floor, wallowing in his own blood.
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What is the place of sacrifices, the saints said in prayer just minutes before their murder. Immediately afterwards, one was slaughtered in the north, the other, the remains of the blood were on a southern foundation, but all were subjected to purification and analysis and ascended as individuals, offering sacrifices to God.
Two months earlier, the same place. Tremors gripped the entire community. The height of Yom Kippur. Everyone was weeping in tears during the Musaf prayer, how dare we do such a thing to the ten martyrs of the kingdom. No one thought that at that time such a decree had been passed on them as well.
In Rome, ten royal martyrs were killed. In the Temple, four Ishmael exiles were slaughtered.
'"And when he reached the place of tefillin, he cried out with a bitter voice to the Creator of his soul." -Rabbi Yishmael did not cry out for his soul, but for the commandments of tefillin that were emanating from him. The holy Rabbi Moshe Tversky was very fond of the commandments of tefillin, he kept several pairs of hands and heads in his pocket. He rushed to make this thing more efficient and slaughtered them as if his head and hands were the main part of his life.
Five kilometers from the Bnei Torah community stands the Yad Vashem museum. People travel to the horrors of the Holocaust to learn about blood-soaked, condemned animals. From dry, black-and-white documentation there, the community has moved to vivid, colorful documentation.
Then and today, inside the synagogue, sword-wielding, learned warriors slaughtered the Jews. Nothing has progressed in the culture of Esau since Kristallnacht. Maybe just the opposite.
Esau is a man who knows how to hunt. Not Esau the hunter. Esau knows how to hunt – the expert in the knowledge of hunting and slaughter. Thousands of years have passed and the hands are the same hands, the hands of Esau. Hands of hunting expertise.
The tears have not stopped, the stains on the heart have not been cleaned, and the sadness is overwhelming to the point of suffocation. The words 'shocking, shocking' will continue to accompany us for a long time. More precisely, the 'no words' 'no words' will be there for a long time to talk between us.
We will continue to hear the stories of the saints. We will continue to look at their smiling pictures to see their faces beaming with joy and smiling at us, but their voices will no longer be heard tonight.
The voice of prayer will no longer be heard in the minyan of the Bnei Torah community as in the past. The shir of Rabbi Moishe will no longer be heard. The evening voice of Rabbi Avraham from the Beit Midrash will no longer be heard. The famous kindness of Rabbi Aryeh will also no longer be heard. From now on, the nightly silence will no longer be disturbed by Rabbi Kalman's regular study.
''Vaidum Aharon' – silence. Quiet. From now on, only one voice will be heard. 'A voice of silence' – Rashi 20: "I heard a voice rising from the silence.".
A voice rising from the silence. This is the voice heard this week from the bleeding death and will be heard by all of us for many years to come.
• Yaakov Efrati's column, published in the community newspaper
