Thanks so much to everyone for reaching out and sending their prayers! We're fine, thank G-d.
We had a series of sirens in our town.
We heard a number of faint booms that sounded really far away - potentially impacts or interceptions, fainter than what we heard during Iran's previous aerial assault on my Dad's yahrtzeit - anniversary of his passing.
On October 7 I heard medium-volume thuds before the early morning siren in my town - I thought our folding table had fallen over downstairs. Those I think were Iron Dome interceptions over a neighboring city.
And my loudest boom in Israel was way back before we had Iron Dome in Be'er Sheva in March 2011. That lovely 5:30 am wake up, the first air raid siren I ever heard, landed in my neighborhood.
As I titled this post, I recalled a Holocaust survivor with whom I worked in Jerusalem, who said she had waited for the All Clear message that she was used to from World War II. She waited for hours, cause she hadn't learned that here, we wait in the safe room for 10 minutes after the siren ends.
My people have endured too much! But we are resilient and we will prevail, with G-d's help!
Here's to all of our forces, and the US forces, fighting tirelessly to keep us all safe! And here's to our allies fully supporting us instead of fecklessly trying to deter us.
And here's to a phenomenal new Jewish year, 5785, starting tomorrow night. Peace and love y'all
Nasrallah is dead. Kids in another neighborhood in my town heard the news, and immediately started spreading it by yelling that on the streets. My wife came home from synagogue on Shabbat, said she was bearing great news, and then shocked me and the kids. I nearly fell on the floor. It's as if the Jews had been the ones to kill Hitler.
Deterrence.
Bibi and his cohort thought Hamas was deterred on October 6, 2023. In a country surrounded by enemies sworn to its destruction as part of their Jihad - holy war, all proxy puppets in the hands of the Iranian regime, only destroying them can amount to deterrence. The word just doesn't exist otherwise. This greatly complicates our nation's life in a region full of more bad actors than a soap opera.
After watching Bibi's Channel 14 interview about 6 months ago, I got the sense between the lines of his responses that Hezbollah had deterred us. Thank G-d I was so very wrong!
The Biden doctrine to my eyes: Deter your allies. Urge them, "Don't win too much." The same thing seems to be going on in Ukraine. America - deterred by its enemies. It sure would be nice, despite the great inconvenience in an election year, for the administration to actually help us win. We seem to be fully capable of winning regardless. But with real support, fewer of my friends and neighbors would be getting wounded and killed.
As someone from the home of the world famous Don't Mess with Texas ad campaign, I couldn't be prouder of my Israeli brothers and sisters, out there risking their lives and telling our enemies, DON'T MESS WITH US. You will not destroy us. We are, in fact, here to stay. We love life. We are better than you and your blind hatred. Your path is the wrong way.
I'll sign off with a quote from my 3 kids today. An air force plane flew low, right over us. I said, "Go get em, boys." Then my delicious children, brainwashed beautifully by my lovely wife, all yelled to the skies, "Kick their tuchus!"
1. In my last post, I wrote that my heroes in the Israel Defense Forces are bringing light into the world. With everything that many of you are seeing in the news, that may sound callous.
So I urge you to think of the kids in Sderot, a development town with the great misfortune of being across the border from Gaza, who were able to return to school recently. For me, the aging piece has the greatest power to tug at my heartstrings. Think of the older adults who were able to return to their adult day center - eating two hot meals a day with their friends, seeing the center's physical therapist and social worker, and celebrating the holidays with their peeps. Those kids, older adults, and everyone in between, were evacuated at the start of the war to locations across the country to ensure their safety. So many others still haven't been able to return home. But because of our soldiers putting their lives on the line, we have reduced evil incarnate terrorists' capabilities to attack us.
Great light into the world.
2. The far right in the US, and now the "progressive" left. Each has their own Big Lie. 2020 was not rigged. And no, Israel and its supporters are not the cause of everything that's wrong in the world. To state the painfully obvious, anti-Semitism is the opposite of progress.
Israel is the great light, fighting off pure evil. We will defeat them.
3. And yesterday, for the eighth time since this horrific war was forced upon us, we put up this beautiful monthly prayer to G-d. On the Sabbath before every new Hebrew month, we say ברכת החודש/the Blessing of the New Month. And we pray that this will be that month of victory and redemption.
6 months into this war, almost 7. On one hand, I'm the most blessed man on Earth with the most incredible wife that ever existed and the most amazing, delicious kids I could have ever wished for.
On the other hand, my nation is in immense pain and anguish. This post's title comes from a David Horovitz Times of Israel column way back in December.
The nations of the world pour symbolic bags of salt on our wounds. Never have we felt, to this extent, such a Jew among the nations (I use the word Jew with great pride; but here, sadly, as the age-old slur, as we experience it these days).
While we thank the Biden administration and Congress from the bottom of our hearts for the immense material and practical support (and let's not forget the Obama administration's role in spearheading the development of the Iron Dome defense system), it is accompanied with such consistently distasteful sentiment from our allies.
So, aside from our unwavering non-Jewish supporters like Yoseph Haddad, Douglas Murray, Congressman Ritchie Torres and MEP Assita Kanko (I 💗 THEM ALL), we just feel so very alone in the world.
So, my friends and neighbors have literally answered the call and risked their lives in Gaza, on the front lines of the war against fundamental Islam, aka (that's right) evil incarnate (the world seems to have forgotten that "small detail" about Hamas and all of our enemies). These friends of mine and friend's sons write a letter to their family in case they won't survive the war. And some undergrad at Columbia thinks they can lecture us and our soldiers about war.
One of the nicest families in town, the ones who hosted our farewell event from the previous neighborhood, lost their son Itai in Gaza, killed by evil incarnate who booby-trapped a building the unit he commanded was operating in. Another neighbor and friend, an absolute bulldog on the basketball court at the pickup game here, was wounded in Gaza - targeted by an anti-tank missile because he is an officer. Did everybody forget that evil incarnate Hamas fights in street clothes, yet uses our rule-playing against us to kill our finest? And wound my friend? Anyway, this friend miraculously survived, but he is now in rehab, hoping to be able to walk again. Please pray for his full recovery, in our tradition when we pray for a medical recovery, we say the Hebrew name of the person and their mother's name - it's Yisrael ben Aliza.
But these same friends, and all our brothers and sisters, the best people I know, have been doing so much to take down those who killed us, who avowed to keep doing it again and again until we cease to exist. So many who murdered, butchered, and did unthinkable things to our babies, women, and older adults, and who would do it all again, have been killed or captured. We have brought so much light and blotted out so much darkness.
Yet still, so many are still in unthinkable conditions, hostages in Gaza, including another neighbor's grandson.
Every one of the seemingly infinite TWHJ moments over the last half + year (I am truly sorry to link to myself, that's obnoxious, but, well... please forgive me) brings me back 26 years.
For any high school or college friends, who most vividly remember me looking like this, I am almost definitely their only friend who lives in Israel. I was That Jewish Guy for them back then, and I took it up many notches since. So way back before I actually observed Jewish law...
I went on a "walkout" with my fraternity to Columbus for the '98 Michigan - Ohio State game. Running around my off-campus house to pack up for the road trip, I broke my toe on a door hinge. So late that night, on the way out of a Columbus bar, I was easy prey (and the most visible Michigan man among my fraternity brothers, wearing this oh so Maize shirt) for a bitter bitter Buckeye fan, who shoved me into High Street, not checking for traffic.
In this picture, a mere 8 days later, I am unscathed, by the grace of G-d.
Where am I going with this, you ask? The foolish mistake on my part - a) wearing that shirt, and more importantly, b) screaming with my bros "1, 8, and 1" - ol' John Cooper's record against us at the time (the next day, he picked up his second, and last W). Obviously I had no business doing a) or b).
But all these TWHJ moments, and there are way too many to count, feel like that - getting shoved into the biggest street in town. Tom Brady got absolutely hammered by the Ohio State defense that next day, and very impressively kept bouncing up despite our never having a chance in that game.
That's what the Jewish people have always done. Bounce right back up, BUT, we win the big games even when we have no business doing so (as Brady would of course go on to do in the NFL). But it is really hard, exhausting, and man, we could use a hand to pick us up off the mat some times.
Don't let anything I've written lead you to believe that I think our government is perfect. It is abundantly clearly anything but.
But our army is a pack of lions, of my heroes. One of those neighbor-friends said towards the end of a months-long stint in Gaza - "We're the world's Special Forces Unit in this battle against fundamental Islamic terrorism. But instead of thanking us..."
For now, I must catch some zzz's before the Seder tomorrow night, recalling Pharoah oppressing our people, and G-d saving us, miracle after miracle.
Everyone here experienced the miracle of our air defense against the evil incarnate Iranian regime's onslaught last Sunday morning. We're talking Grade A, biblical level miracles, folks. That fell on my father's yahrtzeit (Hebrew anniversary of his passing) - Israel and our international and regional partners working in harmony just like the best of his performances with so many bands and ensembles and choirs over his decades-long career.
I'll wrap up with my pitch for you to listen to Shemekia Copeland - one of my favorite blues singers. Paraphrasing this heartfelt number, "Don't Whisper that you support Israel, say it out loud." The good guys will prevail, with G-d's help, and your support. G-d bless y'all.
We're grinding along. One soldier was rescued last night from Hamas captivity, another died in service defending our North.
A friend's nephew was murdered on October 7. A grad school classmate/colleague in elder care's aunt and uncle, themselves older adults, were as well.
We mourn and pray for the return of all the rest of our captives and do our best to keep on truckin.
What to Pray For - Part 2:
Pray for the mental health professionals (including my lovely wife). Those providing care are themselves mourning, anxious, fearful - experiencing the whole gamut of emotions. May G-d help them to help their clients, supervisees, etc.
Pray that my people of Israel never undergo this terror again.
Pray that G-d perform miracles enabling those who are risking their lives to ensure this never happens again to completely succeed in their mission.
Our entire nation is one big miracle, all the way back to Abraham and Sarah (in this week's Torah portion, VaYeira) miraculously giving birth to Isaac in their ripe old age. Please keep the miracles coming!
From the Artscroll commentary on last week's Torah portion, Lech Lecha:
As the story of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs unfolds, we see that infertility was common among them, but that prayer and Divine intervention resulted in the emergence of the nation. This was G-d's way of proving that the Jewish people are not a natural phenomenon; without miracles we could not have existed, nor could we continue to exist.
Ain't that the truth.
Please of course keep up the prayers I asked for in my last post. About that post, Yossi Klein Halevi (link to his TOI piece below) wrote a book "Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor." So along those lines, with my high school friend Lauren's permission (she also quoted me in her blog back in the day!), I bring you the first installment of:
"Emails with my Presbyterian High School Friend."
Sammy - Just wanted to write and tell you that we are continuing to pray and remember and cry out to God on your behalf. Goodness, the words in your blog, "Our Father, Our King, accept - with compassion and favor - our prayer." What beautiful words.
I’m doing a bible study on some of the Psalms right now, and this week we read Psalm 5 which starts like this:
“Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice…”
The assurance of: “You hear my voice” is so powerful.
So we are praying and trusting that Our Father and Our King hears our voices as we cry out to Him.
There are lots of conversations happening that are making me reconsider the privilege I have - as someone who does not feel persecuted (at least here in Dallas, TX) for my faith. It breaks my heart to see my friend write the words, “The world hates Jews.” I cannot comprehend what it feels like to type those words, so I want to make sure you know without a doubt that you (and your beautiful family!) are loved and worthy and valued, and that the world is a better place - my life is more full - to have a friend like you. I am so grateful for years of friendship and conversations about how we both walk out our faiths. You are a gift to me, Sammy.
Praying for light to shine in the darkness. For love to have the final word. And for the Rangers to win.
Lauren - as I wrote "the world hates Jews," I thought of you. I knew that would be painful for you to read. Your reply was just so thoughtful and gorgeous and so appreciated.
But, alas, after all these years watching the world do its anti-Semitic thing time after time, knowing what was coming this time... shoot, I honestly felt numb when I typed that. I'm gonna even make it into TWHJ to tighten it up in future reference here. There is no other explanation.
But here's to that light and love winning out, and yes the RANGERS BABY!!!
--
Why did I lose it a few weeks ago upon reading "Our Father, Our King, accept - with compassion and favor - our prayer"? Let's look at some of these requests to our King. Nobody had any illusions that our haters' designs needed nullifying, that our enemies' counsel needed thwarting (heck, the day I moved here, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made one of his infinite statements about how Iran would destroy us). But these (full prayer book text at bottom)?
Exterminate captivity, destruction, iniquity and eradication (aka the Holocaust) from the members of Your covenant.
Take pity upon us, and upon our children and our infants.
Act for the sake of those who were murdered for Your Holy Name.
Act for the sake of those who were slaughtered for your Oneness.
Act for the sake of those who went into fire and water for the sanctification of Your Name.
Avenge before our eyes the spilled blood of Your servants.
Israel was founded to render these requests irrelevant (certainly at the kind of scale of October 7, at the bare minimum), first as recent history from the Holocaust. As the 7.5+ decades passed, harking back to Sukkot, just 5 weeks ago, before this war, it felt like these things were only relics out of the history books, things that could never happen to us again. But they did.
And as our citizens mourn... our soldiers are out there, spread all across our beloved, beautiful, holy land, looking clearheadedly into the future and giving everything they've got to make it a glorious one.
That brings me back to a 2006 Birthright trip that I staffed. These groups, bringing young Jewish adults from around the world to Israel, always include about a handful of Israeli soldiers.
I'll never forget what my Israel Defense Forces soldier roommate, his emotions riled up as he experienced seeing Israel "for the first time" again along with the American bus-mates, said to me as we watched my Mavs' lose in the NBA Finals - "I LOVE this land! I would die for this land." He said that to me in the very corner of this beautiful land that was scorched by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
Some 200,000 Israelis have flown back here, with that love of land and nation etched all over their hearts and souls. Each one of them is our answer to Hamas, who believed they were on the cusp of either murdering us all, or watching the rest of us run away screaming and crying. This is our land, world. We're staying here, more than that - we're coming back. Don't mess.
--
Times like these, so very trying for us, help clarify the importance of emotional intelligence when reaching out to loved ones who are suffering.
From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's "Growth through Torah", about last week's Torah portion: The Almighty told Abraham to travel away from his father's home, his birthplace, and his land. Only now when he personally experiences being a stranger in a foreign place will he know firsthand what it is like. This will give him a greater appreciation of what he can do to help his guests...
Whenever you personally suffer any kind of pain or sorrow, remember carefully every aspect of your experience. When other people are in similar situations, you will know with greater depth what they are experiencing. This will help you to help them with greater sensitivity and kindness. Moreover, it will make your own suffering easier to cope with. You will view it as a meaningful learning experience that will assist you in becoming more effective in helping others
I so appreciate all of you checking in.
My brother from another mother and former roommate, Rabbi David Fain, struck a chord when he checked back in with me this week with this message: "prayers are with you my brother! Stay strong"
That's an emotionally intelligent man telling me - "This is Week 4. I know this is hard for you. I got ya." Love you too Dave!
--
A few words about my family's part in the war effort:
Over the last 3 Shabbats, we've hosted for meals 3 families with a combined 3 husbands and 3 sons called up to reserve duty and out defending our land.
When we're cooking for said meals (that's me grilling), we make a little extra as a nice treat and deliver to a celiac soldier whose gluten-free army grub is less than ideal.
In wartime, the most trivial things turn into defiant acts of Zionism. Our economy is hurting. Just going to the supermarket or the fruit stand is our small part in keeping our beloved country going.
Last week I celebrated at my friend's son's Bar Mitzvah, which didn't go as planned, but was nonetheless a raucous celebration of his coming of age, of our tradition, of our land.
Focus on family and supporting the wife and kids is always my main thing, even more so now. That's my role here in a nutshell.
We are so blessed. I am here, getting amazing quality time with my family, all sorts of extra hugs and cuddles. So so so many of our brothers and sisters are not - either tragically never will again, or will be missing husbands/dads/sons (mostly men; we do have one female friend who volunteered to serve) for probably many months. My last post was on the 20th anniversary of my 3:43 performance in the Chicago Marathon! We're running, as my kids would say, a super-muper marathon.
Our evil incarnate enemy that we seek to destroy doesn't have to worry about scaling their startups, or developing their social services. They have an economy of death and destruction that's given a blank check by the likes of Iran and Qatar.
Our effort to destroy them means so many of our software engineers, teachers, you name it have to hit pause on all that to focus their skills, talents and genius against the evil.
Hey enemies - we're not only smarter than you, better than you, we're also WAY better at multi-tasking than you. Those loving fathers and husbands spread love to their families, students, coworkers. And yea, kick tuchus (to quote my wife) on the battlefield.
Yedidia Stern's suggestion to call this the Genesis War.
My friend Sara Hirschhorn on the rotten state of affairs on campuses. About that, 20+ years ago at Michigan, I got treated to a weekly diatribe against Israel disguised as an "Op-ed" in the student paper, hateful anti-Israel protests, and the big winner: someone took a key to Israel on the globe at the Ugli (undergrad library) and wiped it out, then did the same with a marker in the atlas.
My classmates back then probably have their own kids now in the same dorms and classrooms, with a decades-long heaping of anti-Semitism surely leading them to celebrate evil incarnate.
As for the Samantha Woll (we overlapped at U of M) murder investigation, it seems WAY too convenient for that to be coincidental in a metro area awash with Hamas celebrations. I hope I'm wrong (how awful is that to hope for a random murder), but I highly doubt it.
So much attention has justly been placed on our murdered and kidnapped babies and children. University of Haifa professor Issi Doron, a huge leader in Israel's gerontology world and an elder law expert, has started Older Lives Matter, an initiative to shine light on the older adult victims of Hamas crimes.
Along with the prior running recommendation to read David Horovitz pieces on Times of Israel, I recommend everything by:
If you do take my recommendation and financially support Times of Israel, I'd love to hear that you did. They are doing such crucial wartime work and, again, really deserve it.
I'll wrap up with a very timely Israeli love song, from Danny Sanderson - in my eyes Israel's Paul McCartney, the brainchild behind Kaveret, the closest thing we had to The Beatles. This one goes out to the love of my life:
לא יפריד דבר בינינו לעד גם אם העולם ייפסק ביום אחד מקומי תמיד יהיה לצידך לאורך כל הדרך אני אהובך
את תמיד היית הכל בשבילי בזכותך למדתי מה ומי אני מתנה כזאת של פעם בחיים צריך לשמור עליה עולמי עולמים
הנהר סוחף אותנו ישא אין לדעת לאן או את אורכו של המסע וכשנגיע אומר בוודאי זו הנסיעה של חיי
גשר מזהב סלול אל ליבך מחבר את שנינו בכל אשר נלך ברוחות הקור סופות וגשמים אני צמוד אלייך עולמי עולמים
הנהר סוחף אותנו ישא...
לא יפריד דבר בינינו לעד...
Nothing will ever keep us apart
Even if the world ends in one day (it certainly has felt like the world is ending twice now in our last few years together - Covid and now this war)
