Tuesday, March 26, 2024

 

Yesterday I awoke to the headline that Israel was poised to release 700 terrorists in return for 40 of the over 100 Israeli civilians held hostage in Gaza. I long for all the hostages, especially my children’s friends, to return home. My car and my purse bear yellow ribbons. Morning, afternoon, and evening I pray for their release. Still, that headline troubled me. Was it too high of price to pay? What terror would the released criminals perpetuate against Israel, and the rest of the world? How many more terrorist would be encouraged to take more captives?

This morning, I learned that there was nothing to be troubled about. Hamas had rejected the plan, deeming Israel was not making enough concessions. Not enough? Why should Israel be offering anything? Human decency demands the freeing of civilian hostages. If the UN wants a ceasefire, they should make sure the hostages are released immediately without any deals or brokering.

Please, take the time to call or write the White House, your senator, and representatives telling them it is unfathomable that The United States did not veto that resolution yesterday. Do it as if your life depended on it. It might.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

 Am I obtuse, totally naïve, or did I misunderstand the news? Britain wants to put an arms embargo on Israel if we don’t allow Red Cross representatives to visit detained terrorists? What about Red Cross reps visiting one-year-old Kfar Babis held captive in Gaza for 166 days? How about checking on the other 133 hostages? Does the world have a double standard? Me too unless you’re a Jew? Please world, wake up, see the truth.


Tuesday, March 19, 2024

 

Today it is thirteen years and a week since our family was blessed with our seventh grandchild. Our joy was limitless, and we looked forward eagerly to the baby’s brit. He did not come home from the hospital straight to Itamar, the village where his family lives. Rather, he and his mother went to his maternal grandparents. His father, siblings, my husband, and I joined them for the baby’s first Shabbat.

At the same time we were celebrating his birth, tragedy struck Itamar. Arab terrorists armed with knives and hate infiltrated the village. They entered the Fogel’s home and brutally murdered Rav Ehud, the father, Rut, his wife, and three of their six children. Yoav was eleven years old, Elad was four, and baby Naomi was only three months old.



Our mourning was limitless as we prepared for the funerals. Four days later our grandson was ushered into the covenant of Avraham and was given a name that had the initials of Rav Ehud, Rut, Yoav, and Elad.

My daughter-in-law has kept a connection going with Tali Ben Ishi, Rut’s mother, ever since. It was only natural that as our grandson’s Bar Mitzvah drew close the two women would speak. Tali requested that my daughter-in-law share some of her words with the ladies of Itamar. And so, after our grandson read from the Torah and the last Kaddish recited, my daughter-in-law gathered the women together. She read the letter Rut’s mother had prepared. I have taken the liberty of translating and sharing it with you.

To the loved and dear women of Itamar, this week, full of majesty before Purim, is the week our children, Rav Ehud, Rut, and their children, Yoav, Elad, and Hadas, hy’d, left this world in a sacred storm and went up to the holy palace of the people of Israel.

It is my privilege to bless you with much light and joy. Rut loved the village of Itamar so much! She would always tell us about your good character traits, especially the simplicity that was dear to her.

I miss Ruti so much and I’m sure you do too. As her mother, I want to hug you and wish for you to always see good and joy in your homes in Itamar and all of Israel.  May you be blessed with blessings from heaven and earth and merit soon to go up, all of us, as one person, to the house of HaShem and cry out in a loud voice “HaShem is G-d, HaShem is G-d”.  

Thirteen years ago, the country was horrified by the cold-blooded murder of the Fogels. How could anyone, even the most depraved terrorist, take a knife in his hand and knowingly stab a three-month-old baby to death. Now, 164 days into the current war, we have learned that was not an anomaly. Children, elderly, teenagers, men, and women were not killed by collateral damage on October 7th. Just like the Fogels, they were murdered in cold blood. That is why we must fight this war until the end. May we all be inspired by Tali Ben Ishi’s strength and faith.

 

Friday, March 15, 2024

Payback

 On the nightmare of this past Simchat Torah my daughter and her family were spending the holiday with us. The call-up of her husband only added to the trauma. I, in a typical Jewish mother fashion, gathered up every chocolate chip cookie in the house and sent him off to war with those treats.

I knew those cookies were not going to protect him. Hopefully, my prayers would do that. However, the baked goods were my way of sending love. Once he was inside Gaza, though, it became impossible to send him any goodies.
There’s a scene from the classic movie, Gone with the Wind, where Melanie is handing out food to soldiers making their way home after the end of the war. Scarlett complains about the drain on their resources and Melanie’s answer is beautiful.
Maybe if he’s (Ashley) alive he’s on some northern road right now and maybe some northern woman is giving him a share of her dinner and helping my beloved come back home.
I know no Gazan mothers are giving any food to our troops in Gaza. Instead, I rely on the good-hearted Jewish people who travel south to feed our soldiers whenever those soldiers get leave to cross the border. Meanwhile, I try to do my payback by sending in treats from my kitchen to the soldiers stationed nearby.
May they all come back home. Safe in body and safe in spirit along with the hostages, the injured, and evacuees.
Shabbat shalom

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

A Purim Miracle


My first experience with war was the 1991 Gulf War, the war when Iraq invaded Kuwait triggering Saudi Arabia and America to ally with England and Egypt against the invader. Somehow, in the world of politics, Israel was caught in the crossfire and over forty missiles were fired at us for a period of six weeks. Iraq had declared those missiles would be part of chemical warfare. Therefore, in Israel we all walked around with gas masks and sealed a room with plastic in every one of our homes. Every time a siren sounded, signifying an approaching missile, we would scurry to those rooms and don our masks.
It was a tense time but, as always, we coped using humor. On Purim day one of the neighbors dressed up as a sealed room with plastic wrapped around his body. As the radio announced that Saddam Hussein had surrendered and we could unseal our rooms, our neighbor didn’t miss a beat. Tearing off the plastic he cheered loudly, and we joined him in jubilation.
That was twenty-three years ago. Purim is now twelve days away. How wonderful it would be to have another Purim miracle. Please HaShem!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Is It Possible?

 

At our table this past Shabbat we discussed how so many of our historical tragedies were followed by positive growth. Prime example is after our servitude in Egypt we received the Torah. Also following the destruction of the Holy Temple, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled despite the exile. Jumping ahead to modern history we all know that the establishment of the State of Israel came on the heels of the Holocaust. Thirty years later the Yom Kippur War was the impetus for the settlement in Judea and Samaria.

What, we wondered, would be the aftermath of the horrible Simchat Torah massacre and subsequent war? We let our imaginations flow and our favorite vision was the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.

Who knows? As I’ve written before I often marvel during my visits to the Kotel that my grandparents couldn’t even dream of making it to that spot and here I am. Is it so improbable that my grandchildren will go to the Holy Temple remembering how their grandmother once longed for the opportunity?

Anything is possible if we work and pray hard enough.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Did you call the White House today?

Please call this number at the White House: 202-456-1111
Tell them the idea of a Palestinian State is suicidal for Israel.
Tell them a ceasefire is untenable w/o the return of all the hostages, dead and alive, and a commitment from Hamas to recognize Israel's right tp exist.
Imagine the impact if they would get hundreds of such calls daily.

You can do something w/o leaving your home. 


This was in the Jerusalem Post:

Hamas official Basem Naim said on Monday to AFP that the terror group did not know which of the hostages were dead or alive.
My comment-If they don't know who does???
Basem also added that the hostages were held by many terror groups in different locations in the Gaza Strip.
My comment-sounds like bedlam to me, not a cohesive group that can make peace with anyone.
According to Basem, a ceasefire is necessary for Hamas to ascertain how many and which hostages it is still holding.
My comment-Is this blackmail?
Continuing the BBC interview, Naim asserted that information relating to the hostages was "valuable" and could not be given "for free."
My comment-and the world thinks we should reward this morally bankrupt group with a state???
Did you call the White House today?