Thoughts on Israel

Some thoughts from before announcement of the possible cease-fire...

Out of Step Jew had complained that many Jewish blogs have hardly mentioned the war. He's right. I commented to that post that I simply have little intelligent to post on that subject. That notwithstanding, here are some things about the war that have been going on in my life:

1. Aside from the youngsters here, most of us here remember the first Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield), in which every Israeli carried a gas mask and spent countless hours in an air-tight room in case of chemical attack. The war began on Wednesday January 16, 1991 and Iraq started shooting Scud missiles at Israel the next day. I was in Yeshiva Ner Yisrael in Baltimore at that time. That Shabbos was one of great concern among everyone. Aside from the frequent emissary to the security guard to find out what he had learned from the radio, each meal had a moving rendition of the song Acheinu that still resonates in my memory. Since the beginning of this war, I've been singing it at every Shabbos meal.

2. For years now, whenever I am called to the Torah on Shabbos, I add to the end of the list of people mentioned in my mi-she-beirakh soldiers in the IDF (chayalei Tzeva Haganah Le-Yisrael). The gabbai in my synagogue knows to expect it. Last Shabbos, it caught on for the first time and the man who was called up after me also addded it to this mi-she-beirakh.

3. This past Shabbos I read, and had my wife and daughter read, R. David Eisen's account of some of his experiences in this current war, which he gave me permission to link here (link - DOC, prior journals of his: I, II - DOC).