Pinchos .. Heshev es Chamasi

This is a hard topic to post ; somehow , writing on the fast , at the beginning of the 3 weeks , seems to be appropriate.

Last week , klall Yisrael was hit with an incredible pain, a pure nishama pulled from our midst , brutally murdered . And if that was not enough, the murderer wears a yarmulka!

10,000 people reportedly attended the levaya of the yeled Leibe Kletzky A"H. Yidden feel with one heart. Yet at the same time , the questions remain ,'how? How could someone do such a horrendous crime of no purpose?And a "frum" person? How is it possible? What happened ?

At the fall of Yericho , one Yid, took from the cherem, and as a result , at the battle for Ay , they were defeated - 'chata Yisrael and they have transgressed my bris' .

If the chazal teach us 'if one of the chabura dies , all the chabure should worry', how should we feel if there has been a dead yid wandering amongst us for years , and we never even  realized ?

Two days after hearing the shocking news, still trying to digest it, I received an email from a friend. He had lived in the area for 11 years , knew the boy and his family, and had tried in some ways to help. His reaction ? 'Never reject a misfit'! Also, he placed some blame at the goyim in our midst.

We spoke some , on moetze shababas, and a really , sullen ,unhappy picture of the whole family arose. Levi Aron had gone through 2 divorces , his mother died 8 years ago , and  his sister 2 years ago. My friend believes that both the mother and sister had issues. He was slow as a youngster, dropped out of yeshiva at a young age, and (according to an ex) shy, due to an early accident.

The picture arises of a yid, slow, quiet, dying (but active on FB).

Amongst us , but not with us.

I never enjoyed visiting the Kensignton area of Brooklyn. I knew some beautiful families there , but the filthy clash of the streets always took away that pleasure.I don't know if in golus we have the  same responsibility one to the other as when we return speedily to our place. Nor do I know what a true Bes Din would do in this case. A person can't make himself a rasha , cannot testify against himself, and if there would have been witnesses to admonish , nothing would have happened.

But  somehow, neither can we let this drop ,'shalom aly nafshi'.That attitude itself is what we must rid ourselves.

Did anyone see  (or care ) when Aron Levy fell out of yeshiva (or 'Hebrew school) ? Are we sure it is better here in clean and quiet Montreal ? A few years ago , I talked to Mrs. Polter from 'Ahavas Chesed." She told me that there is (was ) about 100 Jewish children under youth protection in our midst. When was the last time you heard a rabbi make an appeal for a Jewish home?

There is today, boruch haShem,  a  tremendous amount of Torah being learned and taught, but  does it come with the same amount of 'heart?' We have specialists and professionals , but if someone doesn't "fit in" , well, they will disappear to the professional goyim and the 'frei ' establishment.

This is why we have been  trying for years to establish for years , a center l'iluy nishmas my wife Brocho Nechema bas Moshe Yisrael A'h, Foundation Nechema Werner.  After a great deal of frustration we found a place to start (Sdei Yitzchok) (which now seems to be in question).  The network system is setup , and hope going int the new zman to be able to start our first small programs.

Our goal ? Nothing less than that "No one is let out".