Comforting Milka
Tonight, I sat with my neighbor, Milka Gueta, the mother of 19-year-old Yehuda Gueta, who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist while waiting at a bus stop on his way back to yeshiva.
Sitting with Milka at the crowded outdoor shiva, I was thinking how it sometimes seems that mothers who are tragically rocketed into the headlines after losing children are made out of different stuff. Kryptonite? Or at the very least rock-solid faith and unblinking ayin tova.
But sitting with Milka Gueta, I saw from up close a mother with great faith and remarkable ayin tova, but who is still made out of flesh and blood just like you and me, whose grief is overwhelming and heart is broken in two, never (I fear) to be whole again.
This Mother’s Day I’ll be thinking of Milka and all the other Jewish mothers who’ve tragically lost children over recent days, and sending them heartfelt prayers for healing from the One who gives and takes and is the only One who can possibly perform the impossible, comforting Milka among all the newly mourning mothers of Zion and Jerusalem, Amen.
