We all suffer the pain of loss when a loved one dies. We search for meaning in their lives and try to comprehend the unknowable.
For each of us, understanding is a journey of inestimable length.
Rafael Grossman was the successful rabbi of a prominent synagogue, the president of his state's rabbinical council, and the dean of a Hebrew Day School when his teenage daughter Shoshana became ill.
Shoshana, vibrant and energetic, a delight to her parents and everyone around her, died at the age of seventeen.
After her death, Rabbi Grossman was sure that he would never regain his faith in God or his joy in living.
But as the years went by, he began to understand how Jews throughout history managed to sustain hope in the wake of personal and communal calamities.
He penned this heartfelt letter to Shoshana as an expression of his love, and his never-ending sorrow, but also of his sense of renewal.
And the recognition, that with our memories, no one is truly lost to us.
Today, Rabbi Grossman counsels grief-stricken families and survivors of loss. He offers this letter as a "little book of comfort" to grieving readers everywhere.