From the Rabbi

Were we a community that compiles, prints or announces names to be acknowledged as Mourner’s Kaddish is recited, last Shabbat I would have offered the name Malek Merabet, and those of the four men killed inside the kosher supermarket in Paris — Yoav Hattab, Phillipe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada — and also police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe, killed by the same Hyper Cacher gunman.

Merabet was the police officer who was killed outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the magazine where twelve souls lost their lives, whose names I would also pronounce. At his funeral on Sunday, his brother Ahmed Merabet, surrounded by family, spoke briefly. He began:

“My brother was French, Algerian, and of the Muslim religion. He was very proud of the name Ahmed Merabet, proud to represent the French police, and to defend the values of the Republic: liberty, equality and fraternity.”

Even in his sorrow, he declared: “Devastated by this barbaric act, we associate ourselves with the pain of the families of the victims.”

He concluded: “I address myself now to all the racists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites. One must not confuse extremists with Muslims. Madness has neither color nor religion. I want to make another point: stop painting everybody with the same brush, stop burning mosques or synagogues. You are attacking people.”

Bless and protect all those hurt and affected by the violence in Paris. May God send calm and courage to all who are living in fear, healing and well-being to all who are injured, comfort to their families and communities, and good counsel to those acting for the public safety.

May all those whose lives have been cut short be bound up in the Bond of Life; May peace fill the earth as water fills the sea …

Oseh shalom bim’romav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, ve’al kol Yisrael ve’al kol yoshvei tevel, ve’imru Amen.

(Prayer excerpted from truah.org)