It Is Better To Go To A House Of Mourning...

The Torah says " it is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting, for that is the end of all man, and the living should take it to heart." (koheles 7:2)

This is what you might hear at a home in mourning:

"He was always calm and collected, strong and brave, witty and intelligent, handsome and caring, a remarkable individual who will be deeply and sorelymissed. We are privileged and proud to have shared our lives with him." (thus person was killed by a shark, while he was on vacation with his new wife.)

A funeral was held for Staff Sgt. Moshe Naftali of Ofra a"h, aged 22, who was killed in a gun battle with the terrorists. His commander called him "salt of the land," and said Moshe "had a sense of humor and was moral and professional... We will do anything we can to follow in Moshe's footsteps." (one of the very young soldiers who defend and protect our beleaguered people and country)

Whenever I read about someone killed in an unusual tragedy, something gruesome and out of the ordinary, and then the family or friends describe the personality of the deceased, they enumerate character traits of the deceased.

They are always positive and seem to capture the essence of the deceased's Neshoma. Quite the opposite of much sinas chinam that one hears on the street, reads in the paper, and is the basis for protests and aggression between Jews. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." (Newton's laws of Universal Gravitation)

For some reason, I imagine that these are messages to the Jewish People, especially when they appear in the media. Perhaps these are character traits that HaShem wants us to emulate. Like short SOS messages punctuating the fabric of life.