This week is one of the most enjoyable weeks of the year for me. Each year, thousands gather in Gush Etzion, at the Herzog College in Alon Shvut, for a 5 day Bible Seminar. Herzog is a religious college which began as a Bible School and then expanded to include a full range of academic … Read more
Tomorrow, my husband Ed and I will celebrate 40 years of marriage. It is really hard to believe that it has been that many years already. We met at university in 1975. I had just returned from my gap year in Israel and he was already a 3rd year student. We were part of a group of Orthodox Jews that celebrated Shabbat together each week and over time, we paired off. We got married just a few weeks after I received my BA.
I stayed up past midnight to watch the Knesset vote to disband itself. And the entire time I could not believe what I was seeing. I could not understand how it was that leaders of this country would go to elections, for the second time in less than a year, with the enormous expense to the taxpayer, and not find a way to avoid it. What became inordinately clear is that too many politicians care more about their seats than they do about their country.
There are two different kinds of sirens in Israel. An urgent rising and falling sound warns of an attack and is the signal to flee to the nearest bomb shelter or safe room. A mournful steady sound is for remembrance.
Imagine being woken up at 5 in the morning by a wailing and threatening siren whose menacing tone rises and falls with the known signal of impending attack. It is the same sort of feeling that is experienced by families living near Gaza — those families have been experiencing sirens like this for years.
We are all children of an Awesome G-d Who has enabled us to witness the fulfillment of prophecy in our own lifetimes. We have seen the restoration of the Jewish people after the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. G-d is orchestrating the final redemption and we have been invited to take part. Let’s let Him run the show and we will all be blessed in the process.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick is a special man indeed. I have not known him long — just a few years actually. But as our paths have crossed more and more in recent years, I have come to appreciate him as a very special person and a unique advocate for the Jewish people.
Just two months ago, I wrote about elections that took place in the US and in Israel — national elections in the US and municipal elections in Israel. And now Israel has entered its own national elections season. But in Israel, there is always drama surrounding elections.
As I write this newsletter, we have just learned that the IDF has launched a military campaign to identify and destroy a series of tunnels along Israel’s northern border that have been dug by Hezbollah to enable them to invade Israel and wreak terror and destruction. We must constantly be vigilant against ongoing threats to our lives and our very existence as a nation.
As Republicans battle Democrats for control of the Legislative Branch, Israel is looking at these elections as well. It is no secret that Trump has been unusually supportive of Israel in these past two years and that his natural tendency is pro-Israel. Republican representatives and senators have also usually been pro-Israel although there have also been some outstanding pro-Israel Democratic legislators as well. We cannot begin to comment nor understand the ins and outs of domestic issues in these American elections, but I can turn to you, our American friends, and ask that you consider Israel when casting your vote today.