It is not often that I will give over a public piece to my belief or faith in G-d and His presence at times of need. For sure He stood with me and Gerry as we sat in crisis with our firstborn, even till today, and has made His presence known in many a moment in our lives and the lives of our friends. But why am I writing this now, today?
I have been following the crisis in Israel intensively, with many friends and family there. It is a life there now filled with uncertainty and difficulty in planning. One has to know where the nearest shelter is and how long it would take to get there. One has to know where loved ones are, where the son, or brother, or grandson, or husband or uncle is stationed and the likelihood of combat for him. It is not knowing if the house will remain intact as the rockets and missiles rain down on heavily populated areas of Israel's cities.
Then this morning I read several stories. Two were videos that accompanied the stories and it was heart bursting time seeing these boys, really, 18 -22 year old kids, in the prime of life, marching off to the Kotel (the Western Wall) with a song about their reliance on G-d, or to see them interact with small children or elderly Arabs whose hands they hold as they guide them to safety. These things - the destruction of property, the shredded fabric of life, the constant danger and yet the ever present faith in G-d and the knowledge that they must extend help to those in need - are heartwarming indeed. But what was even more amazing to me was the realization of how few casualties we have taken.
With roofs being blasted, with walls of homes crashing inwards, with rockets landing in yards and pieces of rockets landing in busy streets in between cars - the deaths are there, several by now, and there are children with severe injuries, but the numbers are few - why? I believe because Yad Hashem, the hand of G-d, had been held over the land, shielding its citizens for the most part. I know it aggravates the world as they keep comparing numbers of Gazans with numbers of Israelis, but that is too bad. Must we die, more Jewish blood be shed, before the world is happy and accepting? Ahh, will they say, now it is fair. More of them have died?
Well, not with the shield of that hand. There was a Grad rocket that came down in the Negev, landing beside a passenger filled bus. A piece of the rocket, hot and ominous, shredded a window and flew through the bus. No one was injured. No one was hit. A miracle. 13 - 18 terrorists came climbing through a tunnel near a kibbutz close to the Gazan border with a goal of infiltrating the kibbutz and wreaking death and havoc and leaving with hostages. End result? they were seen and they ran back to the tunnel entrance but were blown up, along with the tunnel by Israeli fire. Luck? Good equipment? Alert watchmen? Capable artillery crew? All this and more. Israel makes sure that its citizens have safe rooms in their homes and access to shelters or knowledge of what to do if necessary. The rockets they are shelled with go astray, are shot down by Iron Dome, or in a crowded populace somehow miss wreaking fire and death and injury. And why - because I firmly believe the hand of G-d is with us. For that, I thank You, Lord. For that, I humbly request that You continue to hold Your watch over us and keep us safe and bring us to a time of peace.
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