The Bibas Family Was Murdered And The People Of Israel Were Saved From Bus Bombings

My neighborhood has been covered in orange balloons since news broke last week that the orange-haired Bibas brothers, Ariel and Kfir, were brutally murdered by Hamas. Israeli forensic teams discovered that a month after the 9 month old and four year old were taken hostage (on October 7) the boys were strangled to death, their bodies desecrated with rocks postmortem, to make it look like they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. While the murders of the boys and their bodies returning to Israel were devastating on their own, that Hamas initially returned the body of a woman who was not Shiri (their mother), only added to the horror the Jewish people were facing.

By Friday morning, more major news broke out of Israel. A mega terror attack had been averted. (As we get our hostages freed, we are making a deal with the Devil. Hundreds of terrorists with blood on their hands have been released. Terrorists who were masterminds of bombings.) Multiple buses, a waterpark, and likely several other spaces were rigged with bombs that were supposed to go off in the morning on Friday. Except the terrorists set the timers to detonate at PM instead of AM. In the midst of deep national mourning and agony, we experienced salvation – a literal miracle. Who carefully places bombs in multiple locations only to set the timers incorrectly??

We are not able to understand the mind of God – why a beautiful family, including innocent babies were not saved – and yet the multi-bus bombings were averted, saving all the people who would have ridden them Friday morning. Sometimes, though, insights from the Torah can help us better cope with a world that seems to make no sense. I thought of the state of the Jewish people as we awaited the Bibas update. Jews throughout my life – both in personal and professional spaces – were bracing themselves for the horrific news last Thursday. We sat on edge and then had a few days of national mourning when our worst fears were confirmed.

There is a passage in the Torah that has always perplexed me. The passage has especially been gnawing at me in this last year, because it seemed relevant to the moment we are in, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. I believe I got my answer last week.

In the book of Exodus (17:7-14), it says:

“The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tried Hashem, saying, “Is Hashem present among us or not?” Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Pick some troops for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.” Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Then, whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur, one on each side, supported his hands; thus his hands remained steady until the sun set. And Joshua overwhelmed the people of Amalek with the sword.

Then Hashem said to Moses, “Inscribe this in a document as a reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven!”

The Jewish people have a tendency to fight with one another and doubt God’s existence or at least His presence in our lives. In those moments, we are vulnerable and our enemies (like Amalek or Hamas) are able to attack us with deadly blows. The answer to our salvation is simple – on paper at least. Hold up your fellow Jew. Hold him in his moments of joy, hold him in his moments of sorrow, of weariness, of helplessness. When we hold one another, Hashem will overwhelm our opponents and ensure our victory. And then the memory of those who try to harm the Children of Israel will blotted out for eternity.

Hold up your fellow Jew. This is not a time for pettiness or competition. Hundreds of terrorists have been set free and we will need Divine Intervention to remain safe. We are in this war together. Hold up your fellow Jew.

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Allison Josephs

Allison Josephs is the founder and executive director of Jew in the City has been involved in the field of Jewish Outreach for over twenty years and is the Partner in Torah mentor to actress Mayim Bialik. She was named one of NJOP’s Top Ten Jewish Influencers and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36. Allison has been quoted or written about in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, People Magazine, NYPost, Daily News, TMZ, The Daily Beast, and Hollywood Reporter. She has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including CBS, ABC, Fox5, TLC, Associate Press TV, and NPR; her articles have appeared in publications including The Washington Post, JTA, Jewish Week, Jerusalem Post, The Forward, and Kveller. Pearson Education, the largest textbook company in the world, produced a video segment on Allison’s life for the Judaism chapter of their textbook. She is a sought-after international lecturer whose corporate clients include Con-Edison and NYU Langone and hosts a weekly podcast on the Nachum Segal Network. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Philosophy and lives with her husband and four children minutes from the George Washington Bridge.