At the funeral, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that he did not come to make a speech, but "I came here to cry with you."
This was a valuable gesture. Neither Yitzchak Rabin, nor Shimon Peres, nor Binyamin Netanyahu, nor Ehud Barak, ever bothered to attend the funerals of the victims their peace has created. Until yesterday, neither did Sharon. But his attendance at yesterday's funeral, as well as his emotional visit to the hospital to visit little Yehuda the day before, represents a vital connection to this nation that is suffering such great sorrow over so many losses. Such visits can only serve to drive home the point that Sharon is not doing enough to guarantee our safety.
Then there is the story of little Roi Hershkovitz, who lost his father Assaf to a terrorist's bullets in May, and his grandfather Arye to those same bullets in January. Roi is five years old, and he is scared. He has begun taking little plastic machine guns, cap guns, toy pistols, water guns, and toy walkie-talkies with him to school in order to protect himself in case the bad people come while he travels the same road that claimed the lives of his father and grandfather.
Baruch Cohen, a 60-year-old building superintendent, was killed in a dirve-by shooting on his way to work in March. Last week, Baruch Cohen's daughter gave birth to a baby boy. This week, Baruch's son is getting married.
Children are the most precious commodity this Jewish nation has. They are the only guarantor of our future, the only pure element of our present, and the strongest link to our past. Children are our answer when our enemies seek to destroy us. For through all the tears caused by our anguish as the death toll mounts, happiness also takes hold as more Jewish children are born. These children do not fail to smile, do not hesitate to brighten our day, and do not cease giving us the ability to continue dreaming.
Ariel Sharon's tears are important. He cried yesterday for a child who will no longer smile, no longer dream, and no longer play. But at least Yehuda Shoham no longer needs to fear attack. He has suffered enough.
It is all fine and good for Sharon to cry with the mourners of Zion and Israel. But his tears will not protect Roi Hershkovitz from the bad people. His tears will not protect Baruch Cohen's grandson. His tears will not ensure the security of any of the other hundreds of thousands of Jewish children in Israel as he pledged to do when he was elected.
Crying is good, Mr. Sharon. Perhaps it gives you a tiny taste of what the rest of this nation is going through. But until something far more concrete is done to defeat our enemies, the mourning will not cease.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
