Poem of the Day: "Mourner's Kaddish"

Earlier today, in Overland Park, Kansas, two people were shot and killed at the Jewish Community Center and a third was shot and killed at a Jewish retirement home.  My family and I go to the gym at that JCCC.  I've walked my dog past that retirement home.  The murderer was apprehended at an elementary school about thirty yards from my home.  One of the victims was a fourteen-year-old boy.  Rumor has it that the murderer asked the boy if he was a Jew.  When the boy replied in the affirmative, he was shot and killed.

The Songs of Eretz Poem of the Day for April 13, 2014 is the "Mourner's Kaddish," the prayer that Jews have recited for millennia in the face of senseless killing after senseless killing, reprinted here in translation courtesy of Chabad.org http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/371110/jewish/Text-of-the-Mourners-Kaddish.htm.  Note the message of hope and peace.  Note the focus on praising the Lord.  Note the affirmation of faith in the Holy One, Blessed be He, even in the face of tragedy.

Exalted and hallowed be His great Name throughout the world which He has created according to His Will. May He establish His kingship, bring forth His redemption and hasten the coming of His Moshiach in your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon, and say, Amen.

May His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity. Blessed and praised, glorified, exalted and extolled, honored, adored and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings, hymns, praises and consolations that are uttered in the world; and say, Amen.

May there be abundant peace from heaven, and a good life for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

He Who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.