Sitting Shiva

Many people have not heard of the Jewish concept of sitting shiva. This comes from shiva.com:

'Sitting shiva' is a term used to describe the action of Jewish mourners participating in the traditional rituals of observing a shiva. During the period of shiva, mourners sometimes sit on low stools or boxes while they receive condolence calls. This is where the phrase “sitting shiva” comes from, and it is a practice that symbolises the mourner being “brought low” following the loss of a loved one. For seven days, the family members of the deceased gather in one location – typically their own home or the home of the deceased – and mourns the loss in a variety of ways.

I love the idea of sitting shiva. Sitting in the hurt of the emotions of others and yourself. Shiva does not seek to answer why, but just seeks just to be. To be in the emotions of pain, loss, brokenness, and whatever emotion bubbles to the surface.

In the wake of the tragedy of Manchester and London, I have been left thinking and engaging with the pain of these events. It is a travesty and should be condemned at every opportunity. I am sitting shiva as many parts of the society I find myself a part of, come to terms with all that has happened.
A deep sadness has also been part of my sitting shiva. A sadness because people have not mourned the events, but, used them to impart their beliefs.

A classic example is what Donald Trump said about the London's mayor (Sadiq Khan). However, this has also reverberated throughout social media and news feeds. Minutes after the attack, people pushed their agenda. They started spouting off about how bad Muslim's were. Instead of saying let me sit shiva in your pain, we went to attack.

Could we not just allow ourselves to sit in the pain before we try to spout off?
Could when not sit shiva with the victims?
Could we not sit shiva with the communities ravaged by these attacks?
Could we not sit shiva with our Muslim brothers and sisters?
Could we not sit shiva and just be?

A lady from America who attended our midweek worship said "post-9/11 the country came together to sit shiva. We sat down for a week and all we could do was mourn. Although we were broken, it united us rather than divided us. Something which we in America have not been any good at doing."

It saddens me when we use death for our agenda's. Maybe the reason we don't want to sit shiva is because we don't want to face our own death? Maybe it is easier to blame than it is to sit shiva? Maybe it is easier to make people enemies than it is to make them fellow mourners?