What is the Divine Message in Two Executions on the same day?

Two men were executed on city streets, on August 9, 2014, one in Miami Beach and one in a small Missouri town, on the same Sabbath morning, one at 9:00 am and the other less than three hours later. One has been determined by the police to have “no evidence of a hate crime” committed against him, and the other has received overwhelming worldwide media attention for exactly that, because a White police officer riddled with bullets the face and body of the unarmed Black teen.

The other unarmed victim of execution was a 60-year-old Rabbi walking in a placid Jewish Miami Beach neighborhood on his way to synagogue, assassinated by two Black youths carrying a loaded gun, while on foot, clad in brightly-colored shirts, proud to kill and walk away from the dead grandfather. Is there anything wrong with this picture, other than the assassinations of unarmed men? Is this merely a chance coincidence of tragedies, or is there a Divine message here?

The teen’s execution is the object of intense scrutiny by multiple law enforcement agencies and government officials, including the President of the United States, the FBI, the Missouri State Police, the Governor of Missouri, and the United States Department of Justice, operating under the banner of a “hate crime.”

On the other hand, the Rabbi’s execution is being investigated by the local police, claiming there is “no evidence of a hate crime.” The investigation has produced no suspects. The investigations of the entire string of crimes against Jews in North Miami Beach likewise remain unsolved. No FBI agents have been brought in to scour the confined area for clues. No Department of Justice officials are assisting the local police in locating and forcefully prosecuting the predators who first attacked Jewish cars on the Sabbath of July 26, writing “HAMAS” and “JEW” on the vehicles.

There is no concern about the federal prosecution of the next crime committed a day later in the dead of night, when the majestic front pillars of a Miami Beach synagogue were defaced with bright red swastikas and the word “HAMAS” once again appearing.

Without the heat turned to red hot pursuit of the criminals brazenly desecrating the synagogue, with their crimes being investigated solely as “criminal mischief” versus hate crimes, the felonies escalated days later to assassination of a Rabbi on a sunny Miami Beach street, just two blocks from the synagogue, while his grandchildren walked behind him as he was executed.

At the Rabbi’s memorial service the next day, August 10, the car of a mourner was marked with a now-familiar word, “HAMAS,” in the escalating stream of crimes against Jews.

Is there a climate of hate against Jews that is producing hate crimes in Miami Beach? Of course. To deny this premise is to obliterate the pattern of escalation of the crimes against property and person, the textual clues used like “HAMAS” and “JEW,” and the temporal contiguity of the crimes… July 26, July 27, August 9, and August 10.

In the brief span of two weeks, multiple Jewish-owned cars in proximate Jewish neighborhoods have been assailed with eggs, cream cheese, sharp objects, and anti-Semitic words; a stately synagogue was defaced with swastikas and “HAMAS” painted permanently on its pillars; two blocks down the same street, a father of six was assassinated in front of his grandchildren on their way to synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath; and the car of a mourner attending the memorial of the Jew massacred in broad daylight was marked with “HAMAS” upon it.

In conclusion, even if there were “no evidence of a hate crime” and serial hate crimes now being committed against Jews in the United States, in Miami Beach, perhaps there is a Divine message here – that Jews should be as protective and as prominent in defending the precious lives of our People as are other minorities victimized by hearts and fists bursting with hate. If we Jews do not heed this message, we bring upon ourselves the world’s disrespect for failing to descry the grave injustices that lead men to put other men into early graves because of their face or their faith.

Our voices should be a chorus against injustice to our own People … a chorus that rings around the world and all the way to Heaven.