It seems like Klal Yisroel is at it’s best when there is a lost child. Unlike most communities, our natural internal network allows us to mobilize hundreds or even thousands of people in a mere few hours. That, combined with our inheritance of Chessed from Avrohom Avinu, helps us to move quickly to look for our lost kinderlach.
Searches similar to the one for Yosef Shapiro the other night have played out over the years, including the tragic search for Leiby Kletzky, HY”D. Who can forget the search in the Connecticut woods for Suri Feldman in May 1994? Yerachmiel Begun and the Miami Boys Choir even made a song about it.
Our community is parent/child centered, so we naturally identify with the pain of a mother whose child has not returned from school or camp. What must those first few agonizing hours feel like when that feeling in a mother’s gut tells her something is just not right? What must the father be thinking when there are police dispatches, shomrim volunteers and command centers? And who can imagine the relief and elation when their child is found? Certainly, many in Klal Yisroel stopped what they were doing the other night to join the search or to say a perek of Tehillim for little Yosef. They likely had his parents in mind too.
Imagine for a minute that a parent hasn’t lost one child, but rather a number of children? What would happen if they lost nine out of ten children? Can we imagine the pain and agony that this parent must feel?
Rav Avi Cassel is the Director of Olami’s (the Wolfson/Horn network of international Kiruv programs) North American campus and young professional division and a Gerrer Chossid. He was once discussing the world of Kiruv with a Gerrer mashpia, Rav Avrohom Shia Lazanga. Rav Avrohom Shia turned to R’ Avi and exclaimed, “I understand what you are doing. It’s like when a person goes on a chol Hamoed trip with their family to an amusement park and they look away for one second and their child is missing. Imagine the fright of the parents, furiously searching for their lost child? What would happen if the child was lost for an entire day? The parents would be going out of their mind from fear. What would happen if they lost their child for a month? A year? Now, what would happen if someone brought their child back to them? How much hakaras hatov would that parent have to the one who brought their child back?”
Rav Lazanga continued. “Imagine Hashem’s pain as so many of His children are lost. Not for a day or two but for lifetimes and generations. How much hakaras hatov does He have to someone who brings His children back to Him, their Father.”
As we sing and dance and thank Hashem for reuniting little Yosef Shapiro with his family, let’s try to do the same for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Let’s send out hundreds and thousands to search, rescue and reconnect Hashem’s lost children with their Heavenly Father.
Rabbi Meir Goldberg is the Director of Meor Rutgers Jewish Xperience