if you can forgive the mother pride, sharing a bit of my child's wisdom.
a few years ago, it was the first time i had to explain the holocaust
to Y. i think he was probably about 5 or 6. i gave him an edited
version, as one would tell a child that age, drawing heavily on his
prior knowledge of the purim story. when i finished, he asked what
Hashem did to hitler to punish him. i said that at the end of the war, he killed himself. and i waited for him to respond that that was not really fair.
instead Y said 'that';s so stupid! what a stupid thing to do, to actually kill yourself! that's a big punishment.'
it's funny. lots of people 'complained' when arafat died of natural
causes, and maybe also complain that hitler didn;t suffer as he should
have. but sometimes children see things more clearly than adults do. To
Y, at age 5-6, the idea of ending your own life is a very big
punishment.
(pls note this is not a comment on any other people who may have killed themselves.)
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