When I was a young child growing up in America in the 50’s, every Sunday morning my father z”l would read aloud from the New York Times, all the headlines pertaining to news in Israel, installing in our hearts a caring feeling for Israel. As I grew up I continued to follow events about Israel. In my early adulthood, I began to also take on Mitzvahs and eventually moved to Israel with our young family in 1983.
Our pride in the IDF to protect us in what we always said “never again” was blown away on Oct. 7, 2024. We see that Hashem can blind our leaders, despite our military strength, and even hurt us in ways reminiscent of the Shoah, right under our noses.
We as a people lost a lot of confidence in the ability of our government to protect us. We learned we could not rely on the military might of Israel and cracks were formed in our impermeable Zionist Ideology.
This Yom Atzmaut was not joyous as in early years and certainly not a day to make barbeques in the parks with our families and enjoy fireworks. So many families are suffering loss, displacement, mental disease and continual pain , all of which overshadows all the political banal speeches about how we must keep fighting and destroy the enemy.
No one is fooled. The loss we suffered was a wake-up moment. The “never again” cry has been muffled.
In realizing this, we embark hopefully in a better direction, based on the knowledge that only Hashem can redeem us.
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