In this moment of such deep sorrow for the Jewish people, one might crave escape. Often in my life this has taken the form of science fiction or fantasy, but not today. So forgive me for a moment if I geek out for a moment and share a reflection I had of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from 1989. There is an episode captures how I am feeling today.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In the Survivors , the Enterprise reaches a Federation colony where all but two of the 11,000 inhabitants have been killed by a mysterious attacker. The two survivors, Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge, an elderly couple, refuse assistance and do not want to be rescued. The crew of the Enterprise must determine why only two survivors remain on an otherwise obliterated planet. The team, finding nothing of interest save for a small music box, insists that the Uxbridges return to the Enterprise for safety, but they refuse. Aboard the Enterprise, Counselor Troi begins to hear the music from the music box in her mind constantly, each repetition slightly louder than the last, which eventually reduces her to screaming hysterics. Dr. Crusher is forced to place her in an induced coma.

An unknown spacecraft appears and attacks the Enterprise, then flees. The Enterprise gives chase but is unable to overtake the spaceship; eventually Captain Picard orders the Enterprise to return to the planet. Picard transports to the surface personally; Kevin suggests they were spared because they are pacifists. Upon the away team’s return, the spaceship appears in orbit again, but Picard orders the Enterprise to leave the system first, believing that the crew is being toyed with. Returning to the planet again, Picard transports to the surface to plead with the Uxbridges to leave with him. After being refused again, Picard tells them the Enterprise will remain to protect them as long as they live, and returns to the ship. The alien spaceship appears again and destroys the Uxbridges’ home. Picard orders an attack on the craft, and unlike the previous encounters, easily destroys it. Playing on a suspicion, Picard has the Enterprise move to a higher orbit; after a short time, the Uxbridges’ home reappears.

Picard orders the Uxbridges beamed up to the Enterprise and confronts Kevin with his suspicions: Kevin and Rishon’s house was destroyed in the attack and Rishon was killed, but Kevin, who is not human, has recreated them both, and created the alien warship to dissuade the Enterprise from investigating. Kevin admits the truth, and the illusory Rishon disappears. He removes the torturous music that he had placed in Troi’s mind to prevent her from telepathically identifying him.

Kevin reveals that he is a Douwd, an immortal energy being with vast powers, who fell in love with Rishon and settled with her on Rana IV. When the planet was attacked by an aggressive, destructive species called the Husnock, he refused to join the fight in accordance with his species’ pacifism. Rishon, however, died defending the colony. Watch this clip:

Stricken with grief, Kevin lashed out with his vast powers and wiped out the Husnock. As I recalled from a show I saw once over 35 years ago, Kevin says:

No, no, no, no, no, you-you don’t understand the scope of my crime. I didn’t kill just one Husnock, or a hundred, or a thousand. I killed them all. All Husnock, everywhere. – Are 11,000 people worth… 50 billion? Is the love of a woman worth the destruction of an entire species?

Horrified by his crime, he chose self-exile to the planet, creating the replicas of Rishon and their house to spend the rest of eternity.

What kind of “mysterious attacker” would kill 11,000 people on that planet? What was Kevin’s rage? I am not sure I understood it until today when Israel received the bodies of 4 hostages from October 7th. The bodies of Oded Lifshitz, 84 year old peace activist, Shiri Bibas, 33, her sons Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 and nine months at the time of their capture. The Bibas family and their two small redheaded children had become a symbol of the hostage struggle in Israel throughout the war, with posters of their faces plastered along city streets and commemorations held on the children’s birthdays. In Kevin’s rage I could only imagine Yarden’s reaction to today’s news.

Photos are released from the IDF’s ceremony in the Gaza Strip earlier this morning honoring the four slain Israeli hostages returned by Hamas.

The ceremony was led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, who read Psalm 83 as IDF troops saluted. There in Psalms he read:

O God, do not be silent;
do not hold aloof;
do not be quiet, O God!
For Your enemies rage,
Your foes assert themselves.
They plot craftily against Your people,
take counsel against Your treasured ones.
They say, “Let us wipe them out as a nation;
Israel’s name will be mentioned no more.” ( Psalms 83: 2-5)

We are not God, but we cannot just let them wipe out our children. We desperately want God to put our tormentors in their place. It goes on to say:

O my God, make them like thistledown,
like stubble driven by the wind.
As a fire burns a forest,
as flames scorch the hills,
pursue them with Your tempest,
terrify them with Your storm.
Cover their faces with shame
so that they seek Your name, O LORD. ( Psalms 83: 14-17)

I deeply feel the rage of Yarden, all of Israel, and Kevin Uxbridge today. In many ways we are all survivors of these Husnock-like terrorists. There are many moments when I could just imagine the entire destruction of Gaza, but is it ultimately is it good for us? Will be isolated in the world? You might say we cannot be any more alone than we are right now. Israel seems like the Uxbridge house as speck of green amidst the wasteland of the Middle East dust and destruction. We need to ask ourselves, in the end, is it good for us? Who can judge us at a moment like this? But, we need to live with ourselves. Terrorist win when they kill us and also when they make us kill them. Where is the intergalactic moral voice of clarity today? Palestinians and Israelis alike need to be liberated from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Shame on world for normalizing the killing of Jews and innocent Palestinians.

• In a not sci-fi space, here is a source sheet I put together in memory of Ariel and Kfir Bibas z”l. Here you can explore our waiting for David, waiting for the hostages, and the pain of not waiting anymore for these two red headed boys. Where is the hope? Love to hear your thoughts on this.