#it hit me a few days ago that Shlomo was the same age as Ariel during the farhud

[greco-roman-jewess]

I want to tell you about two 4 year old boys.

The first one is named Shlomo. He was born in Iraq. His family was part of the 2600 year old Jewish community of Baghdad. His daughters remember him telling happy stories of his early childhood helping people and sneaking into movie theaters.

Then in 1941 when he was 4 the Arabs who were in charge of Iraq read the thoughts of an evil man named Hitler and decided that Shlomo and his family were a problem to be solved. They destroyed homes and businesses. They murdered 1000 people and drove 10,000s more like Shlomo and his family out of their homes.

They came to Eretz Israel along with thousands of others escaping from a “final solution.” They built a country where Jews could be safe and truely home for the first time. Shlomo grew up and helped build the nation by participating in the founding of Kibbutz Kissufim. He met a woman named Mazal and had five beautiful proudly Israeli children. Shlomo loved this country and almost never looked back.

Ariel Bibas was born in Israel a third generation Israeli citizen. He spent most of his life Kibutz of Nir Oz- which his grandfather had helped build. He was the beautiful red haired child who made his parents mother and father. He loved Batman and watching butterflies on picnics and playing with his friends.

In 2023 bad men who decided that Jews shouldn’t exist in their country attacked his kibbutz as well as many other places along the boarder. The bad men had guns and they destroyed the kibbutz. When it was all over they had killed 1200 people Ariel’s grandparents and Shlomo were among the victims. The men also stole 251 people from their homes in Israel. 4 year old Ariel was taken away with his baby brother Kfir in their frighted mother’s arms. Shlomo and his wife were taken too. Shlomo was already dead.

It was in the home of one of the bad men with guns one month later where Ariel and Kfir would be strangled to death with bare hands as their mother was forced to watch by people who thought they were a problem to be solved.

In 2025 Ariel and his brother were returned in coffins without their mother Shiri. She would be brought home a day later ripped from her children one final time.

Today a 4 year old boy was buried. His name was Ariel.

Today a 85 year old man was taken home. Soon he will be buried 16 months late. His name was Shlomo.

When Shlomo was 4 years old he was driven from his home by people who didn’t think he deserved to live. 81 years later he would again be removed from his home by people who thought his life was less than dirt- along with a 4 year old boy named Ariel