Parshas Ki Seitzei 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
זכור את אשר עשה ה' אלקיך למרים בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים ... (כד-ט)
Rashi explains that this posuk is referring to the prohibition against talking Lashon Hara: “If you wish to take precautions against being stricken with tzara’as, then do not speak Lashon Hara (derogatory remarks). Remember what was done to Miriam, who spoke against her brother (Moshe) and was stricken with plagues (of tzara’as).”
One day, while discussing with a friend the precarious situation in Eretz Yisroel, I mentioned how interesting it is that the stories we hear about the victims of the Arab terrorist murderers have a similar thread running through them: The victims all appear to be very righteous and special, either great in learning or giants in chessed. It sends shivers up and down my spine whenever I think about it. My friend, usually very outgoing and gregarious, did not say anything in response. He got up from the couch and motioned for me to follow him. I was a bit taken aback at the solemn expression on my friend’s face and his unusual behavior.
He led me into his study and pointed to a picture hanging on the wall above his desk, “Look at that.”
I looked, and could not understand what he was trying to tell me. I tried to figure out what could be so special about an old red cell phone. After all, it’s one thing to want to own a nice red cell phone, but to hang a picture of one in your study above your desk?
“This is a picture of Malka Roth’s cell phone,” he explained.
“Huh? Who is Malka Roth,” I asked, “and why would you have a framed picture of her cell phone hanging in your study? I don’t get it.”
My friend pulled out his large leather chair, sat down and explained. “Malka was a sweet and good-natured, popular fifteen-year-old girl. She was so full of life and zest. She was especially devoted to her younger sister, Chaya Elisheva, who is blind and has other serious disabilities. She was also a very popular youth leader for nine-year-old girls. Her magnetic personality and propensity to always see the good in people made everyone want to spend time in her company.”
“That’s beautiful, but I still don’t get it. What does that have to do with having a picture of her red cell phone hanging in your study?” I asked him, still completely baffled as to what my friend was leading towards.
“On the twentieth day of Av 5761, she was in Yerushalayim with some friends, enjoying a slice of pizza in the Sbarro restaurant, when an Arab terrorist murderer entered with a guitar case full of explosives and nails - to ensure maximum damage. Hundreds of innocent people were seriously injured, many of them for their whole lives. Malka was one of the fifteen innocent people brutally murdered in that senseless terrorist attack. She was less than four months shy of her sixteenth birthday. The red cell phone in the picture is Malka’s cell phone. The police found it among the destruction and carnage and gave it to the family after they got up from shivah.”
I had tears in my eyes. It broke my heart to visualize parents sitting shivah for a murdered fifteen-year-old daughter. But I still did not understand the significance or purpose of the picture of Malka’s red cell phone occupying a prominent place on the wall of my friend’s study.
In response to the quizzical look on my face, he instructed, “Go and take a closer look at the phone and you’ll understand.”
I walked over to the picture and took a close look at it. My eyes welled up with tears that I could not contain. Malka had written on the phone in black marker "אסור לדבר לשון הרע" - It is forbidden to speak lashon hara. “That picture,” explained my friend, “does more than anything else could, to help me realize and internalize how much more there is for me to accomplish in life. It helps inspire me to see how great every day common people - even young fifteen-year-old girls - can become. I hung up that picture to inspire me to grow and constantly strive for greatness.” (Portraits of Prayer, Rabbi Eliezer Abish)