What they didn’t tell you about Dahlia
This brings us to the title of an article from Sherri Mandell last week about the murder of Dahlia Lemkus HY”D. As I was in the area not long before the attack, I also wrote a short piece last week to help work through the experience. But the reason that I thought to bring Sherri Mandell’s article in particular is because it answers the above question. What do I mean?
When we say that “a little light dispels a great amount of darkness,” we also imply the opposite that a “great amount of darkness” can’t stomach even a little bit of light. And so Mrs. Mandell detailed one point of light from Dahlia’s life after another that a certain newspaper couldn’t “stomach” to convey to their audience. While this doesn’t mean that these newspapers don’t have moments of light, in this instance, this is the explanation. That recounting Dahlia’s life, a life murdered al kiddush Hashem, for the sanctification of God’s name, presented what they likely viewed as an “unfair” advantage. If their readership would read even one detail, then there would be no question as to where the light resides. Thus the fact that this paper felt incapable to convey details from her life is a testament to Dahlia’s light-filled effect on the world.
What I have attempted to now provide is what we call a tikkun, a spiritual rectification or backdrop to the story. While it is upsetting that her details were not shared, now hopefully we have an understanding as to why this double-standard exists to begin with. Why they can relate many details about the terrorist, about darkness, but not a beacon of truth. From understanding the spiritual reason for the double-standard and the tikkun, then we can behind to understand how to fix the situation.
If the reason why Dahlia’s personal details were not mentioned is because her life details are pure light—from the accent she used when speaking English, to her artwork (shown in another post here)—then our responsibility now is to recognize the great power inherent in spreading light. As ended another recent article written after the murder of baby Chaya Zissel Braun HY”D, “Let’s all light a candle. It’s really dark here.”
Teshuvah Journalism
First, to be clear, we should never experience such tragedies again. Moshiach should come today and the true light of each Jew will be revealed to the world in pleasantness.
But while we can’t make calculations about the tragedies themselves, we can talk a little about their lasting legacy to this world. About the power of a Jewish soul, of sanctifying the name of God, and of the inability of secular papers to even go near a small portion of this light.
It is true that the paper Sherri Mandell mentioned has an incorrect journalistic policy. But according to what was now said, the way to spread the light of truthful stories is not by condemning darkness, but by increasing the intensity of the light. Sherri Mandell’s piece helped depict some small portion of Dahlia’s light, and as a result, both her and the other two essays linked to above have also gone viral for good reasons.
Confessional Writing
This now takes us back to how we began. When is it good to share personal details with the world? As we explained, in the case of someone who was murdered al kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the name of God, then every laugh and smile is good to speak about. And the more voices from those whose lives they touched, the better.