Victim's names released, pray for the families:

[Rubystars]

http://news.msn.com/us/names-of-victims-in-connecticut-shooting-released

CHILDREN

Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female (age 6)

Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male (age 7)

Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female (age 6)

Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female (age 7)

Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female (age 6)

Dylan Hockley, 03/08/06, male (age 6)

Madeleine F. Hsu, 07/10/06, female (age 6)

Catherine V. Hubbard, 06/08/06, female (age 6)

Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male (age 7)

Jesse Lewis, 06/30/06, male (age 6)

James Mattioli, 03/22/06, male (age 6)

Grace McDonnell, 11/04/05, female (age 7)

Emilie Parker, 05/12/06, female (age 6)

Jack Pinto, 05/06/06, male (age 6)

Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male (age 6)

Caroline Previdi, 09/07/06, female (age 6)

Jessica Rekos, 05/10/06, female (age 6)

Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female (age 6)

Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male (age 6)

Allison N. Wyatt, 07/03/06, female (age 6)


ADULTS

Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female (age 29)

Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female (age 47)

Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female (age 52)

Lauren Russeau, 1982, female (age 29)

Mary Sherlach, 02/11/56, female (age 56)

Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female (age 27)

[muman613]

The Posner child was Jewish.... Baruch Dayan HaEmet... May the family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

[muman613]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163192#.UM4fsc-Rz0E

Posner Family’s Rabbi: Hug Your Children

“Hug your children. Don’t think life is somewhere over the rainbow,” said the rabbi of parents of massacre victim Noah Posner.
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

“Hug your children. Don’t think life is somewhere over the rainbow,” said the rabbi of the parents of Noah Posner, one of 26 gunned down in Connecticut.

Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel, told MSNBC that six-year-old Noah "was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and his little body could not endure so many bullets like that."

Noah’s mother Veronique, a nurse, fell apart emotionally after hearing the bitter news.

The rabbi told worshippers at Sabbath prayer services the following day, “Don’t think that life is somewhere over the rainbow. What you’ve got right now, with your family, your friends, your house: This might be as good as life is ever going to be.

"So hug your children, love your children… Life is not happening on the other side of the rainbow. We are on the other side of the rainbow.”

One friend of the Posner family told the Boston Herald that Noah’s mother “saw things she should never, ever have seen… Her son Noah should never have left the Earth.”

One area resident, who attended the Sandy Hook elementary school where Adam Lanza massacred his victims, told the newspaper, “I kept having memories of running around the playground and the soccer field. Going to class with our teachers, being little kids… and then watching on TV yesterday, seeing the FBI running through that soccer field.”

Rabbi Praver advised his congregation not to back away from facing reality. “We need to walk back into that school and as soon as the doors open up and go right back to school and continue on with our lives,” he said.

The Herald said that after prayer services, the rabbi told reporters, “I don’t buy the notion that only violence sells. Violence sells because someone chose to sell that product,” meaning violent video games and movies. “We can sell the product of peace.”

[Rubystars]

This kind of thing has almost made me into a recluse. I never know when some idiot is going to strike next because he's on those psychiatric drugs and should've been in an asylum. It's not safe to go to the theater, to go out shopping, etc. I'm glad I do most of my shopping online. There is one movie I want to see in 3d out there so I'll just have to pray nothing happens, but I may be somewhat insulated because I almost always go to the movies when it's not very busy because I have a low tolerance for crowds.

[muman613]

This kind of thing has almost made me into a recluse. I never know when some idiot is going to strike next because he's on those psychiatric drugs and should've been in an asylum. It's not safe to go to the theater, to go out shopping, etc. I'm glad I do most of my shopping online. There is one movie I want to see in 3d out there so I'll just have to pray nothing happens, but I may be somewhat insulated because I almost always go to the movies when it's not very busy because I have a low tolerance for crowds.

This is not the lesson which should be learned from these events. HASHEM is always in control, even in these terrible events. This is why there is a difference in the way Hashem, G-d, is perceived between the Jews and non-Jews. We see G-d as the G-d of everything, the Good and the Bad, only that Bad is not really Bad because we don't see the bigger picture. This is how the Jewish people have survived 3000 years of persecution and still survive today. We understand that Hashem works in mysterious ways, and that despite the apparent bad events, he is still protecting us from the most evil {spiritual destruction}.

Do not become disheartened by this, everyone who may be affected. While this is a horrible event the fact is that history is full of terrible events, and yet we do not turn our back on our creator. We all must take the Good with the Bad, and even Bless the Bad {with the customary 'Baruch Dayan HaEmet/Blessed is the true Judge'}.

I would recommend avoiding crowds of people of questionable Kedusha/Holiness. I have not been to a movie theatre in over ten years and do not go to places where crowds assemble. I suppose this is a way of avoiding any evil decrees which may fall upon such a crowd.... But we cannot live our lives in a bubble and we must be able to live freely to do what is right. I think very few movies produced today are worthy of my watching them, thus I don't see any loss in avoiding movies.

[Rubystars]

The Herald said that after prayer services, the rabbi told reporters, “I don’t buy the notion that only violence sells. Violence sells because someone chose to sell that product,” meaning violent video games and movies. “We can sell the product of peace.”

I don't really think that it's just video games and movies that caused this problem. I've played first person shooter games before, watched scary movies, read scary fiction, etc. and I'm not going to go berserk and kill a bunch of people. It takes someone who already has a marginal personality or is already nuts to be inspired by those types of things to do evil. Of course, they probably don't help because a certain percentage of the population will respond to those things in a negative way. It reminds me of kids who watch professional wrestling then try those moves out on their younger siblings or pets and end up killing them. The wrestling show isn't really responsible for that.

I do however think that an overall moral decay in society is reflected in the popularity of such things. The fact that people think starving to death someone like Terri Schaivo who couldn't defend herself was ok, that people think abortion and infanticide are ok, that people are talking about cutting off care after a certain age for the elderly, etc. shows how far we've fallen. It all devalues human life. I accept mainstream science but even so I can see the way the concept of evolution has been misused to represent human beings as if they were equivalent to nothing but animals. That's obviously a VERY wrong way to look at human beings. Human beings in the spiritual sense are most certainly NOT equivalent and must be given a higher moral status. Modern society sees human beings as nothing more than animals. Human life has been devalued overall and a culture of selfish advancement and pure individualism has taken over without regard to a person's place within society and their obligations to be kind to other people.

It all goes back to the fact that modern society has rejected the Bible and Biblical morality. We need to embrace the Bible again and look to God for moral guidance rather than to think we can each become our own little gods and answer only to ourselves. Only then can society improve.

[muman613]

It all goes back to the fact that modern society has rejected the Bible and Biblical morality. We need to embrace the Bible again and look to God for moral guidance rather than to think we can each become our own little gods and answer only to ourselves. Only then can society improve.

I agree with this 100%. But we can only bring ourselves to be better Believers and by doing so we can inspire others to do the same. We cannot force others to believe in the One G-d if our own faith is lacking. This is why I spend a good portion of my day studying and strengthening my Emmunah/Faith and my Bitachon/Trust in Hashem. I have seen that my own inspiration to learn and to teach others has had an influence on those around me, and this too strengthens my faith. While I too feel depressed and question things from time to time I am blessed to have a Rabbi I can call 24/6 who will go over Tanakh and Talmud questions and who calls me if I forget to call him. We do need to give strength to others in order to strengthen ourselves.

Being the "Or HaGoyim' or 'Light unto Nations' is not an easy task especially in todays upside down world. Judaism doesn't seek to proselytize others but it does intend on setting a high example which others should be inspired to rise to. Certainly it is difficult to bring a complete heretic to even begin to accept that there is a HIGHER power who has genuine care for the events of his world. But even with such a great challenge, a believer must rise to the challenge, as the great Tzadikim of our holy Torah have risen. The Torah doesn't present our patriarchs are perfect beings as they all had hardships and let-downs in life.... But their ability to see past the short-term downfalls and to see the big picture is what made them FOUNDATION figures for our beliefs.

[Rubystars]

I really like your post Muman