I was deeply moved and gratified by the letter from Jonathan Wolfson. I have been praying for his recovery every time I have been in shul for 4 months and am glad that he has at least partially recovered enough to communicate with the friends and family of his best friend Amir Lopatin.
On Tisha B’Av I went to shul to hear the chanting of Eichah. And I didn’t pay attention to the line by line recitation of Eichah. But the mournful melody of the chanting of Eichah allowed me to think calmly and sadly of Amir and to remember his kindness and his good deeds. As I sat on the floor, I was able to reach a different place in my mourning for Amir. Because to me Am Yisrael is incomplete without Amir, and one of the reasons the Beit HaMikDash has not been rebuilt is that we are missing wonderful neshamas like Amir. Amir practiced the kind of Ahavat Yisrael that most of us can only dream about toward ALL JEWS and all human beings. If every Jew showed as much kindness toward other Jews and all humanity as Amir, then we would be worthy of having the Beit HaMikDash rebuilt. So let us pray that the memory of Amir can inspire us all to practice Ahavat Yisrael toward Jews whose level of observance or political views may differ from ours.