Almost every morning we receive the painful news that follows the words 'authorized to be published.' Each name carries with it a sea of pain, for the young lives that were cut short by their enemy. Behind each name stands an entire family, whose lives are completely changed.
From now on, there will be a bereaved family, and it will carry in its heart the pain of loss, which will remain forever like an open wound.
We are a people who sanctify life, in contrast to our enemies who sanctify death. The Torah is a law of life, and almost all of the Torah is rejected out of concern for life. Every soul of Israel is a whole world, and we are commanded to do everything to save the life of even a single Jew.
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It is precisely the high cost of living that so intensifies the dedication of the fighters, who throw their lives aside to eradicate the satanic evil that has arisen on our southern border. There is immense heroism here of young men, who fight fiercely to ensure the safety and security of the citizens on the home front. To eradicate the horrific monster of evil whose dimensions they encounter in almost every home throughout the damned strip.
Heroism
The soldiers' heroism is also reflected in their reaction to the sight of routine life they see in the country's cities, during their short vacations. They are repeatedly asked about the gap between the heavy fighting in Gaza and the routine in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and they respond that this is how it should be.
They are fighting so that civilians in the home front can go to work and school, to shopping and to events.
Indeed, this is an admirable way of seeing things, but the civilians on the home front do not need to adopt it. It is certainly appropriate for us all to be determined that these are not ordinary days. While tens of thousands of our best sons are actually risking their lives in hard fighting, when at any moment fire could open on them or an explosive device could explode on them - we too need to behave differently.
Life must go on, but the feeling must be different. We all know family members of soldiers who are not concerned about the safety of their loved ones. They are terrified by every unknown number on their phone screen. They wake up in panic at every creak of a car at night near their home. They pray morning, noon, and night for the safety of their family members at the front.
A similar feeling should fill the hearts of all of us. The fighters are also our children. We care for their well-being and pray for their safe return to their homes. We do not storm bomb sites in Gaza, but it is our duty to do what we can. To pray, to increase our mitzvot and good deeds, to strengthen ourselves in studying Torah, in doing good deeds, in loving Israel.
The gravity of the responsibility
Yeshiva students and kollel elders should feel these days the weight of responsibility placed upon them, as those who serve in the Torah army, which protects and saves. If every day they must be careful of abrogating Torah, especially these days. This is the time to reduce the hours of rest and leisure and devote themselves even more to Torah study, with the belief that the voice of Torah protects our soldiers and sends blessings and success in the works of their hands.
This is the Jewish guarantee, in which every action, every prayer, every moment of Torah that one Jew does contributes to, influences, and assists another Jew, and brings strength and power to the entire Jewish people, in a war that is more just and vital than any other.
