There’s nothing good we can take away after last week’s horrific fire claimed the lives of seven children of Gabriel and Gayle Sassoon in Brooklyn due allegedly to a hot plate’s electrical malfunction. In this week’s edition of the Jewish Link, we remember with Phillys Seidenfeld the four children she lost due to a fire in her Teaneck home some 10 years ago.

Who can guess what Hashem has in plan for any of us? But what Hashem has provided for us is technology that, if used safely, can keep our homes comfortable and our meals warm over Shabbos or a Yom Tov. If those unattended appliances for some reason spark or become dangerously hot, smoke detectors can often pick up the heat or smoke in its early stages and with a shrill noise warn us or awaken us.

Sometimes it’s a matter of purchasing new smoke detector units; sometimes it’s just replacing batteries.

Many of us, as we get ready for Passover, are meticulously searching out that last crumb of chametz from the back of a closet or underneath a car seat. It’s with that energy and care that we should go over each of our home’s needs for smoke detectors and a fresh change of batteries. Our spiritual lives want to be cleaned of chametz. Our daily lives require us to remember that blechs and smoke detectors and other well used electrical devices wear out.

We should never know of such sadness that comes with a house fire.

Take a moment or two from your cleaning.

And keep your family safer.

May Hashem bring comfort to husband and father Gabriel Sassoon during this very difficult time.