I wake up —as I’m sure you do— hoping that this is all a bad dream. I scour the news but it only keeps getting worse. Who could ever have thought that possible?
I stop scouring the news, there’s so much that needs to be done. Help that specifically can be given by those out of Israel —stretching their long hand to a place that is geographically distant, but feels as close as the dining room of our homes. One day morphs into another…
In ways, having the luxury to read these news reports from the comfort of our homes and living our lives relatively removed from harms way —presents its own set of challenges.
Is it right to steal away to go to the gym when our brethren are suffering elsewhere? Can one really go shopping for yet another item that we don’t really need or take a break for a mid-day massage when there’s been an enlistment of 360,000 soldiers in Israel? You can fill in the blank here — but you get the point …
Yes. Not only can one but one must! We must not let feelings of guilt nor despondency engulf us. If we do, we neutralize our greatest strength. We cancel out our greatest abilities of helping our brethren and divert the great resources of love, endurance and compassion from where it needs to be directed.
Each of us need to be physically and “mentally” strong. We can not equivocate for a second in both our physical support and importantly our moral support. This can only be done with full intensity when we are in good shape.. let’s say it the way it is..it’s not heroic to allow this to shlep us down nor can we slide into victim mentality. We are the Jewish nation which has endured the worst and created the best. Fact!
This week we start to read the Torah anew from the beginning. The first theme that’s introduced is “And G-d said, let there be light”! From that moment on, we’ve been empowered to partner together with G-d in creating light.
We must continue to create light despite the intense darkness that has been inflicted upon our nation and we must do this with strength. AM YISRAEL CHAI!
With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor