A Communal Sacrifice

In the same address, the speaker called it a pure offering that rose to Heaven in a storm, an atonement for Klal Yisroel. An accident of this kind, he said, had not happened in decades and was plainly a message to Klal Yisroel. The proof was that these three belonged to the entire community. For them the idea of self simply did not exist. They gave to others and took nothing, and they had no agenda of their own.

Someone remarked that had it been announced that a disaster threatened Klal Yisroel and a communal sacrifice was needed to avert it, there is no doubt who would have volunteered first: Rav Shimshon Pincus.

The speaker said there was no need to worry about the departed, since they are in a very good place. Yet their work in this world is unfinished. They had come to raise the level of spirituality in the world, and anyone who carries on that work can count on the help of their souls. "We must show Hakodosh Boruch Hu that we understood, that the sacrifice was not in vain."

The family sat shivoh on the Friday before Pesach, the only day available, and could not take in the scale of the tragedy. Miriam's friends suddenly walked in, and one of her sisters broke into tears and let out a terrible cry: "Do something that will make Moshiach come today."

"That cry still rings in my ears," the speaker said. "Each person should truly take something upon himself, so that another week does not go by with life continuing as usual. It cannot get worse than this. May there be no further cause for such blows, and may this sacrifice not have been for nothing. 'Do something that will make Moshiach come today.'"