Zahra Baker is Confirmed Dead

Sadly, the police confirmed that they have found enough physical evidence that they can say they have found Zahra Baker, and that she is dead.  It's horrifying. There are no words and no songs.

After my last blog post regarding Zahra Baker's abuse, parental anger and corporal punishment, this question of when to intervene still bothered me. I asked the Chabad Rabbi who teaches the Jewish ethics class I take if he thinks I should have said something to the Dad who was spanking his child on the beach.  He said that if the father was a stranger, and the boy was not being beaten, just spanked, it probably would  not have been a good idea to intervene.  As the father was a stranger, it could have escalated the situation in an undesirable way. He did say that if the father had been a person I knew, it would have been appropriate to say something, even if it was just a comment that spanking has been proven to be a poor method of discipline. He was very adamant that spanking was not something parents should be doing.

In addition he added one of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, that all of these experiences, where we witness or experience something disturbing and question our reaction, are important. They prepare us to do the right thing the next time we are faced with a similar situation.