How to feel God's love after October 7 How can one reconcile what happened with a loving God? Rivkah Schwab The pain of so many precious Jewish souls being held captive by savage terrorists is beyond searing. How can one reconcile that with a loving God? Perhaps this is one analogy that can provide some solace. It helps me a bit. God is our loving Father. As a parent myself, I have sometimes been told by experts that the best way to educate adolescent children is to allow them to experience the natural consequences of their actions. Out of love, we seek to cushion our children from the results of their poor choices, but if we do that forever, they will never learn. The entire paradigm of the Israeli security establishment imploded on Oct. 7, 2023. For years, chiefs of staff, generals, rival prime ministers and our own convinced themselves that tame observant Jews, whether "settlers" or haredim, posed a greater danger to the State of Israel than our hostile neighbors and our fifth column within. For decades, our Mossad and Shabak spent precious time and resources persecuting and trapping boys with peyot whose greatest crimes were occasional graffiti, trivial property damage or putting up forts on hilltops, while ignoring the massive stockpiling of Iranian weapons on all our borders. While Israeli Jews regularly lost their lives in terror attacks, the State did nothing to collect the masses of illegal weapons in the Arab sector, let alone prosecute the bearers. In a play, when a gun appears in the first act, it will be fired before the curtain falls. For decades, our loving Father in Heaven protected us from the consequences of our folly. We had plenty of warnings in the periodic tragic loss of Jewish life in prior terror attacks and skirmishes with our neighbors. Perhaps, like a loving Father, God withdrew His constant benevolent Providence (Hashgacha) for one terrible, infamous day to allow us to experience the agony of our myopia. If only our military and political leadership will learn the dire lesson. | 
