When the ground operation began about a month ago, my younger brother called me and asked me for the name of a soldier I knew.
'"'For what purpose?' I asked him.".
'"We also started the "Adopt a Soldier" operation," he answered me, "Every young man from the yeshiva 'adopts' a soldier who enters Gaza and dedicates his studies and prayers to his honor.".
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''An exciting and special initiative,' I told him, 'I'll give you the names of two of my wife's cousins. They live next door to me, but entered Gaza yesterday. We don't stop worrying and praying for their safety. You have a great responsibility on your shoulders. Don't neglect the mission.'.
And so every time we talked, he would ask how his 'adopted soldiers' were and find out how they were doing.
On Shabbat, I hosted my parents and family members, and at the end of the prayer, I brought my brother and the fighters together. I told them about the operation they had carried out in the yeshiva world, and about the prayers and seders my brother dedicated to their benefit. "At every prayer and beginning of study, he mentioned your name. Every two days, he would ask how you were, and even promised that if you returned safely, he would donate a sum of money to charity.".
The excitement there is indescribable!
My brother shakes their hands warmly and tells them, "I have no words to thank you for your dedication to our security," and they sneer and say, "Are you thanking us? We have no words to thank you, you moved us, we are certain that the right to pray and study stood in our favor and protected us. Thank you very much, please pass it on to your friends from the yeshiva as well.".
They are excited, and I am in tears.
They thank each other, and I'm jealous.
I was reminded of what Major General Ofer Winter, commander of the Givati Brigade, said in an interview with one of the newspapers: "Precisely in a time of war, when the desire to join the fighting forces is strong, we need to reiterate and emphasize that what is most needed for the people of Israel is for the children of the Torah to sit down and study Torah with greater strength and vigor. Studying Torah protects the people of Israel more than anything else. Whoever can sit down and study – that is their duty"!
In moments like these, you realize that politicians can talk cynically about equality of burden, the marginalized from both camps can belittle each other's contributions, but in the moment of truth, soldiers and Torah scholars know how to appreciate each other and recognize their place.
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And in the meantime, Rosh Chodesh Elul 2014 is coming.
The war is over, the soldiers return from the battlefield and the Torah students march to the yeshiva.
Tens of thousands of young men are beginning the time of Elul today, the short but most important time in the yeshiva world.
There are no 'days of adaptation', no gradual return from the 'between times', there are forty consecutive days of consecration and preparation for the High Holy Days.
There are no words to describe the spiritual ascension that a yeshiva student experiences during the "time of Elul," the serious "steigen" in the seders, the prayers that come from the bottom of the heart, and of course the conversations of the mashichich who every year repeats the stories of Rabbi Israel Salanter, who would faint at the announcement of the new month of Elul, and of the fish that return to the sea trembling from the terror of Judgment Day.
Forty days of the terror of judgment that begin with the Rosh Yeshiva's 'Shiur Fithi' and end with the 'Shichat Maschig' (supervisor's conversation) before the closing prayer on Yom Kippur.
A stranger will not understand this, seven years later, missing the 'time of Elul' of the yeshiva and realizing that a person can leave the yeshiva, but it is impossible to take the yeshiva out of a person.
Yeshiva students, the Levi tribe of the generation, love you and are proud of you!
