What We Don’t do when Children Die

Unlike the festivities that took place in the Arab world when the 3 Yeshiva Students were reported as kidnapped and subsequently murdered, there is no joy in the Jewish world over the deaths of 4 Palestinian children.  There are no Jewish children being put in front of a camera and told to hold up 4 fingers.  There is no social media blitz with a 4 fingered salute celebrating their deaths.  In fact, the Jewish way of thinking can be summed up with one finger, the pinky finger.

At the Passover Seder, the dinner celebrating the freeing of Jews from slavery in Egypt, when we recount the 10 plagues we dip out pinky finger into the wine and acknowledge the suffering of innocent Egyptians during each of the plagues.  Our respect is so great that we dip twice when we get to the last plague, the killing of the first-born.  The Egyptians were our oppressors and we were freed from this oppression.  We celebrate our freedom.  We thank God.  But at no time do we celebrate the death and suffering of Egyptians.  Next time you see a 3 fingered salute celebrating the death of innocent Jewish children take a moment to acknowledge a people who value life and despise murder, instead of the other way around.