Baruch Dayan HaEmet

The teenager, Eliyahu Asheri, was killed shortly after he was kidnapped, and the IDF found his body last night buried in Ramallah.

I send my condolences to the family and hope G-d gives them comfort in this terrible time.

For those of you not familiar with Orthodox Judaism, it is customary to say when hearing of a death "Baruch Dayan HaEmet" which means Blessed is the True Judge (G-d). My understanding of this custom is to express, even in our sorrow, our belief that everything that happens is controlled from above, even tragedies.

There is also a very moving story told about Rabbi Aryeh Levin, a great tzaddik (righteous person) who was approached by a grieving widow who had prayed and said Psalms for her husband, and was heartbroken when her husband died anyway.

The widow asked Rav Aryeh Levin "What happened to all of my tears and the chapter after chapter of Psalms that I said?" He responded that G-d gathers every tear and cherishes it, and when a terrible decree is looming over the heads of the Jewish people, the tears come and wash away the decree and nullify it. The tears that we shed are a source of salvation.