July 24

Sarah, an Ethiopian mom, and Shimon, her youngest son, are driving with me to Petach Tikva. Sarah is pretty religious as far as the Ethiopian women are concerned. She even covers her hair. But her children, influenced by the street and disturbed by their father’s abusive behavior, have left religious observance, one by one. Shimon, an eighth grader, has one foot out the door. He wants to leave his Bnei Akiva middle school – he has been playing hooky for a few weeks already – and go to a secular school.

We arrived at the AMIT dormitory school in Petach Tikva, a religious, coed school set in a beautifully landscaped garden enclosed with walls – a village in itself. There are many counselors, and most of the youth come from troubled or disadvantaged homes. This is Sarah’s last hope for her son to remain religious. A school any more religious would be totally unacceptable to her son. He seemed positive about the place, for now.

While the kid is taking some tests, the siren goes off. People stream from different buildings towards the central school shelter. Right before I enter, I see the exhaust trail of a Gazan missile overhead. Suddenly, a second exhaust trail going almost vertically intercepts the missile. The two trails suddenly spiral downwards. Two minutes later – a BOOM. We go into the shelter and wait; ten minutes later, we are told it is okay to leave. The missile remnants landed nearby, in Rosh Ha’ayin.

As many of you know, our beloved son Yoni served in the Israel Defense Force, in the religious unit, Netzach Yehudah. He finished his service but was called back for the Gaza Campaign. He was assigned to Yechidat Tzrikat Rabbanut, which he explained to me is that part of the army that goes out after someone is killed and retrieves his remains. It is a very big mitzva and requires bravery under fire, when enemies are still out there. They comb an area to bring the kedoshim to kever Yisrael and to save women from being agunot.

To pray for his safety, my family divided up Sefer Tehilim and undertook to finish the sefer daily. But Hashem gave me the zechus to do something else, which I will cherish forever and take with me to the Kisai Hakovod as a malitz yosher on the Yom Hadin. It all began with a phone call from Rabbi Yissocher Dov Eichenstein, asking me to come to his shul, Mercaz Torah U’Tfilah, and lead tehilim after Maariv. He said that since I have a son in Tzahal (Israeli army), I should lead the tehilim. I only knew the Rebbe casually, and this was the first time I had ever entered his shul.

The authors are members of the board of the Religious Zionists of America. This is the seventh in a series. To view previous installments, please visit www.phillyreligiouszionists.org/lessons-from-the-gaza-war/.)

A simple cease-fire in Gaza would give Hamas time to re-arm and renew its terrorist activities.
The demilitarization of Gaza would put an end to Hamas's terrorist activities.
Which goal makes more sense?

July 16th, 2014:

Our son Yoni , who lives in Israel and served in the IDF,called a little
while ago that he received a call and he is going to a meeting point and
then will be taken to Gaza. I asked him what his job is in the army and he
told me that his unit is in charge of making sure that no one is left
behind. Yonoson Dovid Ben Feiga besoch col hayalei tzvah Hagana L'Yisroel

Elchonon and Feigi Oberstein

Jewish Unity  Acheinu Kol Bais Yisrael (from the print WWW)

There is an anecdote from the early days of the Chasidic movement. The grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger was drawn to chasidus, and his family objected. Once, when he returned from a long stay in Kotzk, his father asked him what he had learned there. He answered “I learned that there is a Ribono Shel Olam (G-d).”

The father called in the maid and asked her if there was a G-d and she answered, “Of course.”

“You see,” the father said, “she didn’t go to Kotzk, and she knows, so what did you accomplish?”

The son answered,”Zi sogt, uber ich veis – She says, but I know.”

Hamas, the ruling government of Gaza, and, de facto, the most popular movement in Judea and Samaria, is in trouble. The financial support they thought they would gain by linking up with the Palestinian Authority has not materialized. Their hoped-for hostage deal with Israel fell through when the kidnappers killed the hostages. Their smuggling tunnels have been blocked off. The Egyptians oppose them, and are poised to execute over 500 protesters who, if not Hamas members, are similar.

Once more Hamas is desperate for some way to change its bad luck. They don’t like Jews, and, considering that they don’t terribly value their own lives, they have little to lose at this point by attacking Israel. Thus, after a few years of keeping their bombing of the Israeli South to an “acceptable” level, they have just now begun once more to provoke Israel by bombing the Israeli South massively. Worse, for the first time, their bombing is being accompanied by large-scale unrest in Arab areas of Israel, itself. In a word, Israeli Arab citizens are openly aligning themselves with the Arabs of Judea and Samaria. Israel seems headed for war.

Making the move from the town of my youth, Baltimore, to my new home in Kiryat Sefer, has been not only a huge physical jump but a huge jump in mentality and culture as well. Most people think of Kiryat Sefer as a cross between Meah Shearim and the European shtetl of old. In reality, Kiryat Sefer is a vibrant and lovely place to live, one that meets all the physical and spiritual needs of its residents. Come, let’s take a look at the city I love.

Kiryat Sefer was started in 1993 as a response to the severe housing shortage in the religious communities of Eretz Yisrael. The city is unique in that it was built from the start to be a Torah community. One hundred percent of its residents are frum, and its streets are named after sefarim; hence the name Kiryat Sefer! It began as a small town in the Western part Israel equidistant to Yerushalayim and Bnai Brak. Over the years, many other neighborhoods were built adjacent to Kiryat Sefer, such as Brachfeld, Green Park, Neot Hapisga, and Kiryat Avi Ezri. In 2008, all these neighborhoods, along with Moshav Matisyahu, part of Chashmonaim village, and some other surrounding villages, were joined together to form the new city, Modiin Ilit (Upper Modiin, not to be confused with the nearby secular city of Modiin). Because Kiryat Sefer was the original neighborhood, many people still refer to the whole city as Kiryat Sefer.