{Originally posted to the author’s Inspiration from Zion website}
Tonight, Israel mourns the loss of one of her great lions.
This morning I wished him G’mar Chatima Tova, the blessing customary before Yom Kippur – may you be inscribed in the Book of Life. Shortly afterward I discovered that a terrorist had murdered him.
This leaves each and every one of us with a burden – in addition to grieving the loss of a member of our tribe, a friend to many and a defender of us all – we are left carry the weight that he carried.
Ari passionately defended Israel. He loved this land and her people.
He helped everyone he could.
He tried to shake us all out of galut mentality, to free minds so we can grow strong in our land.
He was unashamed and unafraid to counter hatred, making sure to arm himself with facts and a gun – which today we saw him use to protect others, even after he was mortally wounded.
When others describe us with words like “settler” and “right-wing Zionist,” as if these words are ugly excuses to justify our murder, we need to respond with our own words:
father, husband, friend, proud Jew.
We are humans, not statistics and not their caricatures.
Every Jew murdered is Ari Fuld.
Every Jew alive is Ari Fuld – whether they know it or not.
Now that Ari is no longer here, it is our responsibility to carry on where he left off. Whatever part we have been doing, we all need to stretch ourselves a bit more, close ranks and do more, to do what he no longer can.
Now we must all be Ari – in his memory and for our future.