Tisha b’Av Under Fire
I wasn’t really in the 9-days mode these 9 days. I was more in summer-vacation, when can-I-take-the-kids-swimming-again mode.
And then on Friday morning my 20-year-old daughter got an urgent call to get to her Air-Force base ASAP. So I quickly gathered up all the food in our kitchen that could pass for Shabbat food, called her a taxi, and sent her off. It was only a few hours later that the rest of the world found out that the Breaking Dawn Operation had begun, in order to defend Israel’s residents from attacks by Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
I’m so proud of Maayan. Who is doing what she can to keep Israel and especially the residents of southern Israel, who are now being battered by Gazan rockets, safe.
But suddenly, since sending off my daughter, and hearing about another young man very dear to one of my daughters who might soon find himself in battle, the air feels heavy, dripping with Tisha b’Av. May Hashem bless us with security, peace, redemption–very, very soon.
