Weekly Torah Portion

Every time I go on a teen trip to Israel I come back with powerful stories. But this time something happened before I even stepped off the plane.

As I stood up from my seat, in front of me was a woman with “Bring Them Home” tags around her neck and wearing a T-shirt with a photo of a smiling young man. Written in Hebrew underneath: “Ron, you will always be in our hearts.”

People wearing similar shirts are all over social media, commemorating those lost on October 7th. But it was obvious to me that Ron was someone she knew. I pointed to her shirt and asked, “Who was he to you?”

In a voice thick with emotion, she replied: “He is my son. He was murdered on October 7th.”

I had not anticipated such a close connection. My heart sank. As tears filled my eyes, I said the only meager words I could manage. “I am so sorry.

The amount of strength that exuded from this woman, Sigalit, was breathtaking. She spoke with unadulterated love about the kind of person Ron was, and with immense grief about how no mother should have to bury her son. She has been travelling around the world to speak at the Nova exhibits, testifying about the atrocities committed on October 7th.

Before we parted ways I hugged her and she tightly hugged me back. It was an embrace that bespoke love, grief, heartbreak, strength, and unity.

When I told my husband about what happened he was extremely moved. He noted that speaking to a random stranger is so unlike me, which is true. I am an introvert and while I love getting to meet people I’m generally more shy and not likely to make the first move. So what about this interaction was different?

After thinking it over, I realized that once I assumed this person must have been someone impacted by the horrors of October 7th and I looked into her eyes, I could not ignore the obvious pain that she was in and it did not matter that I did not know her.

In this week’s Torah portion there is a repeated command not to harm a stranger and to remember that we too were once strangers in Egypt. Since we were once strangers we should know and feel the pain of others in a similar situation and act accordingly, with empathy.

This woman lost her son for no reason other than that he was Jewish. It is a harrowing realization for every Jew that there are people who want to murder us simply because we are Jewish.

On October 7th it was Ron Shemer, but it could have been any one of us. Of course I cannot begin to fathom what his mother went through, but I can tap into that pain of what happened to us as a people.

This emotional response pushed me beyond my comfort zone, to reach out and tell her, “I see you, I hear you, I feel your pain and your love, and we are in this together.”

As you light Shabat candles or do any other mitzvah, please consider dedicating it in the merit of Ron Shemer and with an added prayer for strength for his adoring mother, Sigalit.