Rav Yaakov Litman Archives

This past year since Rav Yaakov Litman and his son Natanel were brutally murdered, there has not been a week since our son who was in his first grade class last year brings him up. Our two oldest sons both learned with him. They like the rest of the students in their school spent the last year grieving and learning to grow past the pain of losing such a beloved teacher to a murderous terror attack.

It’s strange to find myfelf back at the same Torah portion as last year and see the exact same relevance as before. I wrote last year the following in connection with the murder of Rav Yaakov and Natanel and the Torah portion:

So how do you tell your son that he will never see his Rebbe again? How do you tell your 1st grader that arab murderers gunned his Rabbi and son down for no other reason than because they are Jewish?

Our son heard the news from us last night and processed it. In many ways kids are more resilient than we are. “Who is going to be there tomorrow?” he asked my wife. Our older son seemed to wonder the same thing. Rav Yaakov taught him two classes a week as well. The three of us decided to learn together. That was what Rav Yaakov would want us to do. We picked this week’s Torah portion to learn.

“And Yaakov left Beer Sheva…,” it began. Yaakov left. Rashi tells us that when a tzaddik leaves a place the people feel his absence

A year has passed and in that year I have begun to understand in a different way what our sages meant when a tzaddik (righteous person) is alive even in their death. They live through their students. To understand the impact this one man and his son had on a school and community is impossible without looking at the students in the school. Everyone who met Rav Yaakov was touched and lifted up.

This is how the great Tzaddiks like Rebbe Nachman, the Baal Shem Tov, Arizal, and others live in both worlds. Each student carries his life force with him. I only met him briefly, but Rav Yaakov’s smile on meeting me still stays with me. Seeing both of our sons who had the merit to learn with him still talk about Rav Yaakov shows me that he is up there with the greatest. His lifeforce is more than just a simple statement, he has given his strength and eternity over to his students and he lives on within them in a very real way.

To this end the entire school put together a video marking a year since he and his son were murdered. Watch and even without the translation you can easily see what impact Rav Yaakov is still having on his students and community.

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I have been searching the words to write this piece much of last night. I still have not found them, but I promised myself I would write something. And yet how could one be expected to make sense of a father and son murdered on the way to a Shabbat Chatan days before his daughter’s/sister’s wedding. How does one make sense of two beloved residents of Kiryat Arba, Father, husband, and teacher and his son, a Magen David Adom volunteer, looking forward to accomplishing so much in his life, both gunned down in front of their family?

I could try to reiterate that these murders are due to the fact that the government deals lightly with an enemy population squatting in our midst. I can point out that many of these terror cells drive freely throughout Judea and Samaria. The government seems far more interested in being perceived as “moral” rather than protecting its citizens. Despite the veracity of the above points they do little to connect us to the events that have transpired.

For me the most recent murders are far more personal, too personal now to draw in the necessary government rebuke. That is for another article.

You see Rav Yaakov was our first grader’s Rebbe. He was the first person he and his friends saw when they got to school. Everyday since the start of the year, Rav Yaakov has been there. He was their first Rebbe. He was their first teacher of Torah.

Recently I went to a school event and when my son saw his Rav, his face beamed and made sure to bring me over to him. Rav Yaakov shook my hand, said hello, and gave me a smile that stayed with me. His smile was filled with that simple joy, which is timeless. It was that joy of Torah and Mitzvot that he transmitted to his students.

So how do you tell your son that he will never see his Rebbe again? How do you tell your 1st grader that arab murderers gunned his Rabbi and son down for no other reason than because they are Jewish?

Our son heard the news from us last night and processed it. In many ways kids are more resilient than we are. “Who is going to be there tomorrow?” he asked my wife. Our older son seemed to wonder the same thing. Rav Yaakov taught him two classes a week as well. The three of us decided to learn together. That was what Rav Yaakov would want us to do. We picked this week’s Torah portion to learn.

“And Yaakov left Beer Sheva…,” it began. Yaakov left. Rashi tells us that when a tzaddik leaves a place the people feel his absence.

Rav Yaakov Litman; father, husband, and yes Rebbe to countless students has left us, but despite his leaving his presence will remain with us forever.

Originally Published on HaKol HaYehudi

Rav Yaakov Litman

“And Yaakov Left…” A Year Since Rav Yaakov Litman and His Son Were Mudered

“And Yaakov Left…”