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Rabbi Seth Gordon, whose nephew and niece were in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting on February 14, 2018 reflects on the tragedy from personal, religious, and public policy perspectives in this powerful article published by the Saint Louis Jewish Light.
I heard about them well after the shooting ended. What I understand is that Zachary was able to run out quickly; Zoe was barricaded in a classroom and was one of the last to emerge. She was near the shooting, and several of her friends were killed.
Using Cain’s killing of Abel as a springboard, a midrash amid a Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:8) teaches: “One who destroys a single life, it is as if he has destroyed an entire world.” With Abel’s death, half a world was lost. The rabbinic phrasing is once again vividly, though sadly, on point.
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But even as this has happened too often, it has apparently not happened enough — not enough to do enough.
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Rabbi Seth D Gordon received his rabbinic s'michah from Rav David Weiss Halivini from the UTJ and has served congregations in Annapolis, Maryland, Bethpage, New York, and St Louis, Missouri. His emphasis is Jewish education. Rabbi Gordon has worked across the board, co-founding a day school in Annapolis, and founded the now defunct African American-Jewish coalition of Anne Arundel County. He also taught in a Jewish Day School on Long Island, NY. He serves on the executive board of the UTJ and is the past Chairman of MORASHAH, its rabbinical organization. He and his wife are blessed with five children and eleven grandchildren; two of their sons, their wives, and five of their grandchildren live in Israel.