Alexei Nikov, who was killed when his Israeli army jeep thwarted a terrorist attack against a busload of 40 Israeli schoolchildren, learned his love of Judaism and commitment to the Jewish People and Israel at the Orthodox Union's Joseph K. Miller Torah Center in his hometown of Kharkov, in the Ukraine. Though his parents are Jewish, Alexei had no knowledge of his Jewish roots or heritage before entering the Lycee. His commitment to Israel, and his decision to make aliyah, were a direct result of the education he received at the Lycee. The Orthodox Union joins the world in mourning the tragic loss of this courageous soldier who willingly sacrificed his young life to preserve the future of the Jewish people he so loved.
All tragedies elicit a tinge of anguish.
Only if, G-d forbid, we know one of the victims in the disaster, do we relate to the tragedy on a personal level. With the tragic loss of a fellow Jew, however, our anguish is deepened, our sorrow is somehow intensified. Our Rabbis explain that one of the primary reasons for tearing one's garment at the loss of a loved one is to express the grief similar to that felt over Torah shenisraf, the grief felt upon seeing a Torah scroll consumed by fire. We grieve over our personal as well as the loss of the potential that one of G-d's creations could have contributed to the world. When a Jew dies, we mourn the loss of a conduit for mitzvot that is no more.