The death of Kobe, his daughter, and the other victims of the crash is a very, very sad tragedy. I keep thinking of Kobe's Rebbetzin. She lost her daughter and husband in one shot. No words for such a loss [although I suspect that there were many times that she wished not such good things on her husband. They had a very complicated marriage. There is almost no such thing as an athlete who is on the road and spends his free time reading philosophy books.... Kobe was not an exception in this regard].
But the press coverage and the degree to which people are stunned, broken, devastated etc. etc. is a little much. More than a little. If EVERY death was met with such emotion then it would be justified. The reality is that every day roughly 150,000 people die. So yesterday 149,999 other people died and nobody is talking about that. Just Kobe. It would also not be a stretch to say that he was not a Tzadik Gamur nor was he a partial Tzadik [despite the revisionist history we are hearing that portrays him as a Tzadik].
Here is the reason: In America, the prevailing religion is "Sport". The temples are the stadiums. The Kohanim are the players.
Kobe was the Gadol Ha-dor.
The Gadol Ha-dor was niftar.
THAT is what everyone is talking about.
So let us get perspective: Being able to put a ball in a net does not make one a valuable person. Every human being has value but being able to run fast or jump high does not increase his value. In western culture it does because western culture is obsessed with entertainment.
For us - what matters is what the Navi said:
הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם מַה טּוֹב וּמָה יְ-ה-וָ-ה דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ כִּי אִם עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ.
He has showed you, man, what is good; and what does the Hashem require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your G-d?!
