Jerusalem daycare Disaster
"I Rushed to Judge": Bereaved Father's Heartbreaking Confession After Daycare Tragedy
Bereaved father Hagai Luber admits he blamed the parents in the Jerusalem daycare tragedy, until he realized one mother had comforted him during his own son's Shiva. Read his heartbreaking confession.
In a raw and painful admission, actor and bereaved father Hagai Luber has publicly apologized for judging the parents involved in the Jerusalem daycare disaster, revealing a personal connection that shattered his initial perspective.
Writing against the backdrop of intense public criticism regarding the unregulated nature of the daycare where two toddlers died on Monday, Luber turned the spotlight on himself in a viral social media post.
"I, too, clucked my tongue at the 'irresponsible parents,'" Luber wrote, referring to the initial reports that the facility was unsupervised. "I, too, rushed to pass judgment and take a stand."
However, Luber's perspective shifted dramatically when he realized the identity of one of the grieving mothers. He discovered that Chani Katz, whose infant son Aharon passed away in the tragedy, was the same woman who had come to comfort his family after his own son, Yonatan, fell in battle.
"She arrived during the Shiva for Yonatan and brought my wife a heart necklace with the image of our son," Luber recalled. "Suddenly, from a 'difficult event' that requires commentary, they had names and faces."
Faced with the image of the grieving mother who had once comforted him, Luber realized his mistake.
"For me, there should have been only one angle, sharing in the sorrow. And pain in the soul," he wrote.
Luber emphasized that the investigation into the negligence should be left to the police and professionals, while the public's role should be one of empathy. He expressed deep shame for getting swept up in the discourse.
"What happened to me, a bereaved father, that I joined the 'celebration'... that terrible dance of accusations, while the dead are still lying before us?" he asked.
He concluded his post with a poignant expression of remorse: "And I regretted it. I almost tore *Kriah* (the traditional Jewish act of mourning) over myself."