We Are Orphans, Without a Father

“Until what age can a child, who lost a parent, be called ‘an orphan’? The answer is, as long as he still needs his father.”

This is the way Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, shlita, described the loss of his father, Hagaon Rav Yaakov, zt”l, when he was niftar 34 years ago.

Klal Yisrael was orphaned many times during the past few weeks. We have lost some of our finest leaders, young and old, who shined a beacon of light to lead their individual kehilos and our nation as a whole. We are orphans, who desperately need our Gedolim, our Rabbanim and others who were taken from us.

As we mourn our individual losses as well as the gaping hole our nation is left with, we must turn to Avinu Shebashamayim and plead, “Avinu—our Father—Malkeinu—our King—mna mageifah minachalasecha—remove this terrible plague from among us.”

May they be a meilitz yosher for our bereaved nation.