Can we change an evil decree? A rabbi and father finds divine mercy, compassion in Oct. 7

Three years ago, it was decreed that over 1,200 people would be murdered in the largest and most barbaric pogrom since the Holocaust. Unfortunately, our beloved son, Daniel, was one of those killed and then taken captive on that tragic day. Many of the dreadful and horrifying deaths that are mentioned in the famous and haunting Unetaneh Tokef prayer tragically happened on that fateful day. Who imagined that in the year 2023, and in an independent Jewish state, so many Jews would wantonly be burned and tortured by hideous terrorists who harassed, tormented, and caused immeasurable suffering, as the stirring prayer emotively expresses?! They were both in the army over Yom Kippur and with us at different times over Sukkot. Fourthly, he died 'al kiddush Hashem' – dying as a Jew and for being a Jew. This, according to our sages, is the highest spiritual level that a Jew can attain. Lastly, he died saving many other lives – hundreds, according to the head of the Southern Command of the IDF around the Nahal Oz base and kibbutz, which amounts to generations of people. Rabbi Doron Perez is the president of the World Zionist Organization and the executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement.