Joshua Blatman: A Parent’s Reaction to the Shooting at Temple Israel
“Would you be interested in writing about how today’s shooting made you feel as a parent?” said the text message from my publisher.
“Oh man… I haven’t heard about it yet” I replied, startled.
“Really, check the news”.
I processed. “I’ll write something”, I finished, feeling like I’d just been given a traffic ticket for jaywalking after being hit by a bus.
My 6 foot 1 inch sister in law, who we hadn’t seen in 4 years, had just arrived only an hour before.
It’s my fault for looking at my phone during dinner.
WTF, I thought, as the shimmer on my soul frayed. I don’t even know what’s going on yet and I feel as raw as a freshly shorn sheep behind a fanboat.
Red pill or blue pill?
I’m still chewing and I feel like I’ve digested a whole day’s worth of news, and now I’m supposed to go look — intentionally?
Strap me to the rope bar and toe me barefoot. Let’s get blown.
Wait, which news source? How do we really even know what’s true anymore? I guess I have to look at a few… or I just ask AI. Yeah, I don’t even look at the internet anymore.
Wait, what’s the question I actually have?
To use my mind to confront my emotions…
“What are the facts around a shooting that happened today (I assume) that’s important to the Jewish people?” I prompted.
“The likely event you mean is the attack on Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, today, March 12, 2026. Authorities are treating it as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”
Oh geez, I thought, and watched the heart behind my eyes double check the buckles on my metaphorical life jacket so if I dropped the rope and sank down into the everglades of my emotions, at least I wouldn’t drown before the alligators got me.
“Here are the core facts as currently reported:
A man rammed a vehicle into the synagogue, and reports say he was armed. The vehicle caught fire, and a security officer was injured but is expected to recover. The suspect died during the confrontation with security; reporting still differed on the exact mechanics, but he was dead at the scene.”
Okayyy, I thought, confused, and read on. I thought I heard shooting. I looked back at the text thread.
“The most important human fact is that about 140 children at the synagogue’s preschool / early childhood center were unharmed.”
Whew. My body breathed as I sat — listening, watching — present to the coherence of my heart, mind, body connection.
The short AI report finished saying, “The FBI has described it as a ‘targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.’ Investigators were also checking the vehicle for possible explosives or other threats. Why this is especially significant to Jewish people is obvious: it was an attack on a major synagogue, during a period of heightened antisemitic threat concerns, and it directly targeted a Jewish communal institution with children present.”
They blame Israel for kids dying in Gaza, but they attack a pre-k?
It may be obvious why this is significant to the Jewish people, but it’s subtle too. It hits on a challenge we face just by being alive in the world – as souls with bodies.
To watch the news or abstain from the world.
To hold onto the tow rope while water skiing behind a tornado machine in an area with underwater snags and predators. To be pushed backwards by the thing that’s towing you forward.
To be in the world but not of it.
To care without being consumed.
Red pill or blue pill.
6. or 7.
IDK WTF.
What is there to do?
Let the fresh skin breathe.
Be proud of who you are.
