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The memory of those lost on Sunday in Sydney, Australia. Um, I've lost friends and uh people I know are still in the hospital. A terrible, terrible tragedy took place, as I'm sure everyone here knows.
The very first Hanukkah festival in the world on the calendar on the timewise because Sydney is the first to celebrate Hanukkah was a big kabad event on the beach in Sydney, Australia and the two terrorist uh fired their rifles again and again and again and again for a long period of time until they were stopped. We lost 15 of our dear friends and 40 are still fighting in the for their lives in the hospital. We pray for those that are hospitalized and injured and our condolences go to the families of those we lost.
I had the privilege and the opportunity to go to Eritrol soon after October 7th together with Rabbi Elli Schlanganger who lost his life this past Sunday. We spent a week together. A very sweet sweet gentleman. But literally going with him to visit from hospital room to hospital room and Shiva house to Shiva house and army base to army base and hearing him console and hearing him tell people that we have to fight evil with light and with goodness and remembering his voice saying this. I am sure that this is what he's screaming out from up above from the heavenly world to all of us. And the only way to fight this evil is to bring more goodness into the world and more light to the world. And so we have intensified our Khaneka programs. This Khaneka the opposite of the effect that people thought that we were going to now scale it down. We have taken the other approach and as I mentioned Monday night at the shops, there are more Kabad Khaneka events taking place this year than ever before in the history of the world. There are more public manura celebrations taking place this year than any other time in the history of our world since the days of the original Khan. And that's the way that we have to respond. We have to respond by being stronger, standing taller, being more proud, not allowing the terrorists to win by making us be fearful, afraid to show our pride and our Jewish identity. And so, yes, we have to be vigilant. We have to make sure security is strong. We have to fight back for those that are in the business of fighting back. We have to support the IDF for doing what they're doing. But at the same time, we have to stand strong, proud, and tall. And that's the way we respond to such hate.
The day of the so-called ceasefire when the deal was made and the hostages were coming home. This was Hosan Raba. This was right before Simas Torah. That's when I was sitting and and there was a lot of thoughts going through my mind of reflecting over the past two and two years and three months and that's when the idea came of put it all down write it write everything that you're thinking and thus was born this series called reflections and resilience and we took this Wednesday lunch and learn time period where we normally study the text of the Bible which we'll go back to in our winter semester to really put a lot of mind thought into the reflection of what the last two years meant to all of us. This will be the eighth week that we have had this discussion, the ninth if you include the Monday night Thanksgiving pre-Thanksgiving talk about the modern day Mcabes. So, a series of nine lectures that we've had. So, I want to try to get in everything else I got left in this last class of the fall semester. So, I tell you now, we may be going slightly over time. If you have to leave, I understand. But there's a lot left that I I want to get off my chest.
First, before I I deal with the theme of today, there's there's so much of this garbage that you hear out there about genocide, right? Israel's guilty of genocide and targeting innocent lives and we stole their land. You just hear it again and again and again and again. Month of March, we're actually flying in a federal judge. He lives in Florida and he's going to make as as a judge the case defending Israel. And it will be a legal, historical, ethical, and moral case that he's going to bring to you defending Israel, defending the holy land of Israel. That will be in March. But I I just want to give you something brief and then now I want to move on to the subject that I've chosen to talk about today. We talk about you hear about ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing. Israel is guilty of ethnic cleansing. So I just want to throw out numbers to you and I I did this last year. I'm just going to go briefly. I want you to compare 1948 when Israel became the modern state of Israel is born to now. This period of time. I just want you to think of these two periods of time. In 1948, there were 63,000 Jews that lived in Egypt. There are three living in Egypt today. So, we went from 63,000 to three. In 1948, there were 40,000 Jews living in Syria. There are no Jews living in Syria today. The only Jews in Syria now are some of the IDF that are there to protect the Jews. Right. >> But other than that, the Syrian Jewish community >> is gone. >> Is gone. >> There were 100,000 Jews living in Iran. There's 8,000 today. There were 150,000 Jews living in Iraq in 1948. There's a handful today, maybe four. There were 20,000 Jews living in Lebanon in 1948. There's 29 today. There were 265,000 Jews living in Morocco. >> Over a quarter of a million Jews lived in Morocco. There's 2,000 today. There were 55,000 Jews living in Yemen. There are none today. There were 140,000 Jews living in Algeria. There's 200 today. There were 38,000 Jews living in Libya. There's none living there today. There was 105,000 Jews living in Tunisia. There's a thousand there today. There were 80,000 Jews living in Turkey. There's 14,000 today. You want to talk about ethnic cleansing a little bit more? [snorts] You really want to talk about the transfer of of of of human beings? Where did what happened to all these Jewish communities? Why aren't they there anymore? Who forced us out? Gaza that we hear so much about. There were 8,000 Jews living in Gaza in 1948. The only Jews in Gaza today are members of the IDF.
But let's look at the reverse now. Let's look at the other way. In 1948, there were 156,000 Arabs living in Israel. There are 2,100,000 living there today. Who is guilty of any ethnic cleansing here? If in 1948 you wanted to have a fair exchange and you kicked out all the Jews from all these Middle Eastern countries, it would only been right for Israel to say to all of its Arabs, "Well, then you go take our places over there." But they grew from 156,000 to 2 million today living in Israel with more freedom and more rights in Israel than in any Arab country out there in the Middle East. And finally, the last, there were 80,000 Arabs living in Gaza in 1948. There's 2 million there today. If Israel would wanted to have been guilty of ethnic cleansing, if Israel wanted to do genocide against the Gaza Arab population, then they did a really bad job. >> That's just thoughts for you to have if you ever get into any of these debates.
My focus today, however, is on the heart of a people. And I want to talk about ordinary Jews, simple people, and show you how extraordinary the simple Jew is. My focus today is on the hostages, who were they, who are they? and time permitting the parents of the IDF soldiers. Let's start with the hostages. I don't want to talk today about the brutality and the torture. We've spoken about that before. I don't want to talk about the fact that the Red Cross did nothing for their release or even to secure their medication and their food as they have done throughout the world. Whenever there was a hostage crisis, the Red Cross was there to at least demand that medication be delivered. They didn't do it this time. I'm not going to talk about the silence of the world because we've spoken about that before. I'm not going to speak about the EU today. I'm not going to speak about the United Nations today. I'm not going to talk about our so-called allies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia who for 2 years did absolutely nothing to demand the release of the hostages. I find it interesting and noteworthy that it's only right after Israel sends a missile into Qatar that suddenly Qatar speaks up and demands the release of the hostages. But I'm not going to talk about that today. There are books, there are articles, there are documentaries, there are movies that tell the story of the hell that these innocent people were thrown into and endured, some for over two years. But what I want to talk about today is their simplicity, their courage, their heroics, their faith, and yes, their holiness. Some of these stories are those similar to what you hear about the holy men and women of biblical times. We hear stories of the characters of the Bible. We hear stories about ancient Jewish history, stories about the Mcabes, stories about Queen Esther and Mori. We have heroes of the past. We have stories about our great prophets and stories about holy sadik and sages and heavenly souls who were crafted from different material we thought than the average person. But today we're hearing these stories about regular people, simple Jews. In fact, I would say most of them raised in secular homes. So, you can't even blame it on childhood memories that they were committed to their bubby or to their parents' way of life because they weren't even raised in it. I want to show you the embodiment of the holiness of the simple Jew. Even when the soul lies dormant for generations, in its right time, there's something that triggers that spark and it radiates with lights the likes of which are unimaginable.
I don't know if you saw the footage that was released Thursday night in Israel. It went viral. We all saw it. You're familiar. The kamas during these two years, they were videotaping the hostages and they were using it for propaganda purposes, right? You remember the hostage digging his own grave? They had various different propaganda things that they would release that would put a lot of pressure. The pressure was to put pressure on the families. What they wanted is the families to protest against the government. They wanted the families to be able to come to the United Nations and attack Netanyahu by putting these propaganda pieces out there. So, a lot of the propaganda we saw because they released it. But there was a lot that they didn't release because they realized it was going to have the opposite effect. So, they didn't release it. in the hospital where Sinoir had his headquarters where Sinoir was ultimately captured and murdered, shot, killed by the IDF. [snorts] There they found footage and some of that footage was released this Thursday night by Israel. So, this is propaganda material that Hamas took and decided not to release because they were afraid it would have the opposite effect on the Jewish community and would rally us stronger rather than weakness. And what was released Thursday night with the permission of the six families of the hostages that were there, this was film of the six, we call them the beautiful six. The beautiful six were six hostages that were kept together the entire time and they were executed by kamas soon before Israel discovered them. These are six that were eventually murdered. It was a videotape of these six. The footage was of the first Kaneka. So this is 80 days into them being held as hostage. They're in a Gaza tunnel and they somehow manage to put together what they need to light a manora. You're watching footage. You can see it after class today. You can see it on YouTube of them taking paper cups and finding the means to put together a manora. And the six of them together, they make the three blessings. The first blessing The second blessing and they make the third blessing. Third blessing is the blessing. What does that mean? They're thanking God for bringing them to this moment on this day. I've told the Holocaust story for many years about a story I've heard of those in a concentration camp finding the material to light a monora and the great debate that the rabbi had. Do you make that third blessing or not? And he ends up making that third blessing and he's challenged by someone there. I understand the lighting of the manora risking your life for that. I understand making the first blessing the second blessing, but how can you make a blessing thanking God for being in this place? And the rabbi says, I had that same question when I got to that blessing. But you know why I made the blessing? Cuz I looked around and I saw all of these people willing to risk their life to light a manor and I thank God that I live to see this holiness. And that's why I made the blessing. That's a story I've told this audience before, but it's an audience. It's it's a story that was passed on. I watched it on video happen. You could watch it in an hour from now. You're going to watch simple people risk their life to light a monora and make a blessing thanking God for bringing them to this moment. They light the manora. They sing together. They sing hane of halalu together. And then one says to the other, "Let us pray together for miracles. Let's bless each other that a miracle happens for us as it happened in Khan. You're watching simple people. They find the courage. They find the strength within themselves in a tunnel in Gaza to try to light the candles of the minor. Wow. It's not ancient people. It's not ancient prophets. It's not Daniel and the lion's den. These are six regular people. I'll say their names because they should be said and remembered. Alex Labanov, Al-Mag Sarusi, Caramel, Got Eden, Urishami, Hersh, Goldberg, Pollen, and Urid Danino. 8 months after this video is shot, they were executed by Kamas. But their families, their parents, their brothers and sisters got to see this and made the decision. Every Jew in the world needs to see this.
Omar Shento, the first family that I met after landing in Israel a week after October 7th was the Shentos. I spoke with his father, with his mother, with his family, and I kept in touch with Omar Shento's mother all throughout the two years, two years that he was in the captivity. I remember one of the times I had her speak to the audience over here. I had her on her mother, my cell phone, and we put it on the microphone. She spoke about her son and she said to us that when Omar left that morning that he didn't make his bed. He left his room a mess. And she said like a Jewish mom and I'm not cleaning it. I'm waiting for Omar to come home to make his bed. So when the news came out, when I saw the news that Omar was being released a few months ago, I texted her right away and they said, "Remember to tell Omar to make his bed." But Omar has been making his rounds talking throughout the uh the world. He said something that's so shocking. He said this, "There's something about being held hostage in those tunnels that I miss." And you imagine you're hearing this, the room has got a thousand people coming to him and he says, "There's something about it that I miss. I miss the relationship that I had with God while I was a hostage." Wow. >> It was different. It was unique. He would try to explain it to us and he would say all that the hostages were held in different types, different captives, different some captives were cruer than others and different periods of time they were transferred to another place. For a good few months he was held by such a rusher by some wicked captor who basically put him in a space where he could not move his hands. There was no space literally no space and in pitch darkness and that's the way he had to remain for months. He says I did not have space to stretch forth a hand absolute darkness. Imagine being that way for months. He says, "Suddenly, I felt I felt it. Can't describe it. I can just tell you I felt it. I felt all of your prayers. I felt the prayers of Jews all over the world. I felt it coming to me. And it gave me the strength I needed to live to survive each day. I literally would hear your tears. I would hear your cries. I would hear what you were saying to God for me. I heard it. My soul heard it. And it transferred the message right to me. and and I lived with it. On the very top, I saw this little little bleak of light if I looked up and that for me represented God. Light was God. And so I became his friend. It wasn't a regular like praying. It was very close. I called him Abba. my Abba father. And I would start my conversations not with get me out of here, but it was, you know, so many times for millions of prayers, everyone's telling you what they need. I want to ask you a question, God. What do you need? >> Wow. >> What can I do for you? >> How are you feeling today? And that began this relationship that I had with God of every day asking God, "What can I do for you today? Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do while here?" And then anytime I got anything, if I was able to get a a breath of air and it wasn't filled with with with with stuff that would make me choke, I would say, "Wow, thank you, God, for giving me that ear." When I got to one pa a day, I would say, "Thank you, God, for this delicious food." I got used to finding the little things to thank him for. And then when they transferred me and now I had some space to stretch an arm, to stretch a leg. Wow. Thank you God for the luxury of this new tunnel.
Then Omar tells tells this story. You see this? It's calledu. Okay. What this is? They started this a number of years ago to make it a lot easier for us to study the weekly portion, the weekly part of Tanya. It's got weekly teaching. So, we're able to take it with us wherever we go. So, if we're in the doctor's office and we're in the waiting room, we don't complain anymore because we have our hyena with us and we could just study the portions that are allocated for that day to study. We get this in the mail. We use it every single week. It's a great guide for us to a mobile guide. Obviously, one of the IDF soldiers that went into Gaza had this with him cuz he left it behind. And Omar's captor, his kamas guy that was in charge of him found it. He looks through it. He doesn't understand the Hebrew well. So he says to Omar, "Here, I found this. You got something you could read?" Omar had one of these. Do you know the portion that he had was the portion of Joseph in prison? >> He said, "I read it every single day from cover to cover cuz I had nothing else to do. But every day God spoke to me through that cayenne pamphlet about Joseph in prison and I realized I'm going to get out. That's the message that God is saying to me. I'm going to get out." Amazing. Amazing. And he says that aspect of that close relationship that I had with God, I haven't been able to find again once I got out. >> Yeah. >> It was there. I was one with God. You would hear this about ancient prophets, but you're hearing this from a regular kid, not religious, but something triggered within him.
Let me tell you about seaf. He says on Shabbat we made Friday night kdish together. How we did it on water but we then started singing all the Friday night melodies and we were screaming it and we didn't care what it meant as far as risk for ourselves. Those of us that were in our tunnel Friday night, that was our concert night. And we would sing the Shabbat songs with such strength that the tunnels would shake. Sheavir shared something else. He said that during his captivity, he asked his monstrous ham kamas terrorists guarding him to let him watch the release of his buddy Ohad. March 2025, they're going to release another hostage. They go into his tunnel and they pick his buddy Oh. They're going to release Oh. So, Sev says to his captor, "You know what? Could you put me in a car nearby so I could watch my friend get released?" They liked the idea. Why? cuz they made a propaganda video of it showing them torture Sev that he should watch his friend be released and then be taken back into captivity. So Kamas liked the idea but Sev was the one that actually asked for it. We didn't know that at the time when they released this propaganda. We said how cruel of them. It's only later that we found out that Sev actually asked for this. He wanted to see the joy of his friend get released. That's a hard thing to do. you're captive and your friend is getting released. I mean, it's hard emotionally to think that could have been you. They just came in and it was eeny meenie miny mo and they picked him. But he wanted to feel that joy for his friend. Now, remember during the some of those ugly releases what they did to our hostages, they put him up on the stage. Do you remember that? They did this whole crazy ceremony and they needed to kiss the kamas guys and say goodbye to them and thank them for taking such good care of them. Do you remember these things? Okay. See saw all of that and he made it a determination and a promise that when his turn came and he was put up on the stage and he was given the lines that he needed to say, he was going to yell out loud Shama Israel. Hashem alu hashem aud fellow uh hostages and they said you're crazy they're going to kill you on the spot if you're that close to being released don't do it say what you need to say but you'll be in your parents' arms an hour later he said no I want the world to know what how we felt the the declaration of faith I'm going to Sev was released on that last day during that final uh release of hostages and the president of the United States made it one of the conditions that they're not allowed to do the ceremonies. So he never had a chance to say his ro in the presence of kamas but that was a promise that he made.
Simple people. Ellie Sharabi he wrote the book hostage that's out there. He shared how all week they would get one pitha a day. They would all take a little piece of that pitha. They would put it away so that on Shabbat they would have double. That was their way of honoring the Shabbat. We all did it, he said, cuz we wanted to keep in mind Shabbat has to be a special day for us. Aliyah Cohen shared how each morning he would stand in the corner of the room and because he didn't have to fill in, he would imagine himself putting it on. He would go through this in a virtual mindset of him putting it on and putting it on his head and saying the shama. Aam burger describes how kamas tried to coersse her into conversion to Islam. At times they put on what's it called the hijab. They put it on her head and she said keeping the mitzvot I can keep kept me free. I refuse to give in. They would promise me food. They would promise me that I would have a bed, that I would give me a mattress, that they would take much better care of me. All I would have to say is that I convert to Islam, but I refused to do it.
Let me tell you about Bar Cooperstein. Bar Cooperstein sang a song when he came out and he said, "This is the song I sang every single day of the entire day." It's a very popular song and it's Hebrew words. In English, it means even in the darkest of places, when you do not find God, when it seems that he is hiding, he is still here and he is with you. I would sing this song over and over and over nonstop for 2 years in captivity. Let me tell you about Barb Cooperstein's mother, Julie Cooperstein, a real heroin in Israel, loved now throughout the entire land of Erit Israel. So what was Bar Cooperstein doing at the at the festival that day? Why was he there? Two years earlier before that his father suffered a stroke and his father could no longer go to work and Bar Cooperstein at a young age needed to go ahead and support the family and he got a job being he was a paramedic and that's how he earned a living to support the rest of his family. He was the bread winner of his family now. So he was at the Nova festival >> as a as a medic when the terrorist came in and obviously many people were wounded. He refused to leave because he felt that his duty was to be there to take care of the injured and he would go back into the field and find another injured per them bring them back and go back again putting himself in harm's way until he was captured and taking hos taken hostage.
One day his mother gets a phone call. She answers her cell phone and she can say see the voice on the other end was different. It was a voice of a stranger. He identifies himself [snorts] as a member of kamas and I am the one that's holding your son. If you ever want to see your son again, you're going to write down this information what you must do. [clears throat] If you follow through on our instructions, you'll see your son again. If not, your son will die. What was the instructions that were given to her? She was told she needed to hold a press conference. She needed to denounce the Israeli government. She needed to denounce the IDF. She needed to travel to New York and make the same speech at the United Nations. She needed to find any member of the press to denounce the Israeli government and the IDF. on and on this list of demands were made if you ever want to see your son again. Julie is listening to this and she feels this inner strength come over her. She says it was the strength not just my strength but it was the strength of 4,000 years of the Jewish people and all the persecution that we went through but it was at the same time it was the strength of all the heroes of the past thousands of years. And I said to this fellow on the phone, you think you think you have power over my son? You have no power over him. My son is not in your hands. He is in the hands of the creator of the world. And you want to know something else? [snorts] So are you. You're in the hands of God. It was quiet on the phone. She didn't know how this terrorist was going to respond. And he ends up saying three words in Hebrew. >> An honor to you, madam. That you have the strength to speak that way to me. That turned Julie into this loud spokesperson in Israel for the opposite. And Julie decided that her son's tilin shouldn't sit idle the entire time until her son comes by. She wants her son's fillin to be used every single day specifically by people who don't regularly put on to fillin. That's what she wants. So she knew social media and she put out this request. My son's film is sitting in this room. I don't want it sitting here. I want it used specifically by people who don't regularly put on film. while some lawyer that lived close by who didn't know her before but saw the post came right away over and said I am willing to take a few hours off every day of my work set up a stand on the street let it be known where the stand will be each day so that people can come and put on film and thus began the Capristine stand and people started coming hundreds of people to put on her son's film every day but then it spread why should it just be one place and so additional pairs of film were purchased and this started spreading throughout the world. People putting on film for her son and obviously you could understand the first thing her son asked for when he was released was bring fill with you to the hospital so I can put on my til. It was an amazing thing because even the president of Israel went online and said I need to be a part of this. I want to set an example for everyone else. This is how we respond. It traveled literally his toll traveled throughout the world was taken from continent to continent to continent from city to city to city and people were lining up to put on his tofillin.
Yseph moana was kidnapped by kamas on October 7th at the Nova music festival. The two were forced to listen to Muslim prayers and messages all day long. That's what they blasted for them. At one point they went to the radio themselves and they turned the channel and they picked up an Israeli radio station. At that exact moment, Yoseph Caim is listening to his father being interviewed on the radio. He never knew if his father was still alive, if his father survived. Now he knows his father's alive and this gave him the strength that he needed to stay alive. Again, he says, "This was God talking by way of his father sending me a message. Stay the course. You're going to survive this."
Matan Angress was kidnapped by Kamas on October 7th from his tank on Nal Oz was a fierce battle. Everyone in his tank crew tank crew were killed. He was the only survivor. He was severely injured and then he was subject to severe torture because that's what they did to anyone that was an IDF soldier. And yet he maintained strong faith and he described that it was miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle that he and he again you listen to these guys talk and they're talking about God on such a personal level. Again what's most shocking is these are not from religious homes. These are people that found God found faith while being held hostage there.
Rahm Braslaviski is 21 years old, kidnapped by Kamas on October 7th from the Nova Music Festival. He worked there. He was reported to rescue two women that were being taken by Hamas. He grabbed her. He grabbed them from their hands, saved their lives, and then was taken hostage himself. When he came back home, the words that he kept on saying to his mother over and over and over was, "I am a Jew. I'm a strong Jew. I am a Jew. I am a strong Jew." She didn't understand why do you keep saying it? And then when he went through therapy and everything else that he went through came out again, they were forcing him to convert to Islam. Same thing like the woman I told you about. And it was constant pressure with torture that you need to publicly convert. Again, they wanted to make a video of this and put it. And he says, "I wouldn't break. I wouldn't break. I wouldn't give in. Not from a religious home." But at the same time, first thing he asked for is I need to put on to film and I need to start doing this every single day.
Eton Horn, 38 years old from Kibuts near Oz. Uh he was visiting his brother Ya that day. Uh he reported a few weeks ago that he decided despite his weakened state and severe lack of food when he figured the calendar out which day was Yum Kipper that he was going to fast on Yum Kipper. You know what's the interesting thing? It was the first time he fasted in Yum Kipper in his life. >> It's like it's mindboggling. You hear these stories. That's where they found their faith.
There's a hostage named Maxin Hurkin, originally from Russia, immigrated to Israel. He was held hostage just a few days ago. There was a uh ceremony taking place. He flew back to Russia for this where the chief rabbi of Russia and the chief rabbi of Israel joined together for his brisma. He never had a circumcision in his life and his dream while being held hostage is when I come out and I find my freedom I'm going to finally have a brit. So he had a circumcision and he put on filling with the chief rabbi for the first time in his life and he says I found God while there as held as a hostage.
You know, we we spoke at length two weeks ago or three weeks ago at the Monday night lecture about the modern-day mcabes of the IDF. And in conclusion of this series, I want to focus on the parents of these mcabes because I would venture to say that at times it might be more difficult to be the parent of a member of the IDF than to be in the IDF yourself. When you're in the idea, if you go through training, you have a mindset, you're young, you're courageous, so you're not filled with fear, but your parents don't go through that training. >> No, they're filled with fear and anxiety [snorts] every single minute of every day, nor do they sleep. So if your if your kids in the IDF and they're just doing some some security check somewhere is one thing, but when they're going into Gaza, you can't sleep. So I want to bring you close up and again with this I'll conclude this this entire series to one parent. I want you to hear it from her. I want you to hear her words and through her words that she shared in an article that went viral. She's a dear friend of our family. She's married to my wife's cousin. She's raised right here in Southern California. You may have heard of her father. His name was Schwarzy. Rabbi Schlommo Schwarz. >> Yes. >> Okay. Known known throughout the world as Schwarzy. And this is her this is the story of Hindel Sword love. She wrote this article. She made aliyah to Israel soon after her marriage to Yasi to Mati's cousin. I want to set the scene first for this article cuz I'm going to read her article in its entirety to you, but I need to give you some background. Two of her sons, Mosh and Shia, joined the IDF right after October 7th. That was their response. They immediately enlisted in the IDF. There's another piece of information that I need to share with you about Yasi and Hindel. 15 years ago, their three-year-old daughter, Schula, was hit by a car and passed away from her injuries. Again, some background that you need to know about this family that they've already lost someone. This article was written a few months ago when her son Mush, who's 22 years old, had completed 8 months of training in the IDF and was told that in a few minutes he's heading into Gaza. So, he calls his mother. It's happening. [clears throat] I'm going in. In the home at the time when Hindel gets the call from her son Moish is her son Shia. Shia is 24 years old. Shia is a member of the special forces, but he's home with his mother at the time because when when Shia's group got called up to Gaza just a few weeks earlier, the day that they're going into Gaza, a piece of equipment fell off a tank. It fell on Shia's leg and broke his leg in three places. So, he now has a cast on. He's home with his mother waiting for his leg to heal so he can join the rest of his group in Gaza. His younger brother, however, is getting into Gaza before him.
So, I'm reading now the article to you written by Hindel Swedllo. And Hindle, if you're going to watch this and see that I'm speaking about you, I'm sorry I didn't get your permission to do this, but hey, everyone else in the world saw your article and you made me cry when I first read it and I'll probably cry again now. She writes, "My Mish, our soldier's son in the paratroopers, age 22, called me with a soft launch. He casually mentioned that in 2 hours he'd be switching bases. this time not just near Gaza but inside Gaza. Tears of fear immediately slipped out when he told me but my voice stayed strong and I told him how proud we are of him as this is exactly what he had trained for. Our mitain he was the top soldier of his unit. A designation Mish had been awarded the month before when he graduated from basic training into actual active duty soldier. He even got an extra award. He received his head commander's personal beret, which is considered a high honor. I knew I couldn't let the tremble in my voice slip through, but it was cracking. So, I called Shia, my special forces soldier son, in the other room where he was lying with a leg cast from the tank accident the week before and said lightly, "Hey, come talk to Mush. He's heading into Gaza and somehow getting there before you. Can you believe that? Shia scooted into the room, saw my tears, and took over the call. He stayed calm, encouraging, and wish my safety for him and his team. And then he added, "Don't get near a tank today because with how mom and dad pray for us to not go into Gaza, one might fall on you, too. It's true. Hindel writes that we did pray for something to go down so that he would not have to go in like a broken leg. True story. [snorts]
When the call ended, Shia leaned over his scooter leg and cast and looked right at me. Were you lying to us and to everyone you post for when you say how proud you are of your sons in uniform? You're sitting here crying when he tells you that he's finally doing what he trained for. Do you not have faith in your soldiers that they will actually do what they signed up to do? Shia was frustrated. He continued, "I trained for 14 months to get into Gaza and help my country. My guns, my drones, my uniform. This isn't some PUM costume. What did you think was going to happen after we both finished training? Shia finished his training around the same time Mish wrapped up his eight months of basic training. So technically they were both heading into Gaza just a week apart. But Shia stayed back because of his broken leg. We continued our our conversation where I mentioned that I wouldn't mind if, God forbid, if someone in Mosha's unit were to get hurt, that Mosha would be the one to be selected to escort the poor lad to the hospital outside of Gaza. I admitted that I pray for that. Shia then accused me of being no different than either the ultraorththodox moms or the leftist ones who hold their kids back from serving. To generalize, the leftists hate the government more than they love their country, so they don't let their kids serve. And the love their religion more than their country, so they don't send their kids in. Was I any different? I told them, I'm just a mother. I'm a mom. a mother who has proudly supported not one but two sons in uniform even with the firthand tragic and ongoing experience of what it means to bury a child. We continued our dialogue. I explained that my faith is strong. So strong that I have never in 14 months of their allegiance to the IDF lost a single night sleep worrying that God would take one of my boys as a fallen soldier. Deep down, I've always believed that God couldn't and God wouldn't. But that week, with both boys finished their training and set to Antagaza, I found myself reaching for a sleeping pill for three nights in a row. And when Shia broke his foot, I felt relief. I was happy he was home and not in Gaza where bloodthirsty terrorists pop out of tunnels to hunt our soldiers down. I explained to Shaya who at this point was already so upset with me and I said I will not be the parent of soldiers like I see on TV standing at their child's newly dug grave giving a strong proud eulogy how even in his death this soldier's life was worth everything. I haven't ever been able to say thank you God for taking our three-year-old daughter who was killed 15 years ago. Though I know that by now I'm supposed to be at that place of release and acceptance. And I certainly won't be the parent who says, "Thank you, God, for the years we had with our soldier son. He fulfilled his mission. It's okay that he's with you now." No, I'm not there. Nor do I plan to ever be there. God can do better. He can end the pain and bring our soldiers home safely, even while rescuing our hostages. I kept saying, "I'm a mom. Can't you see where I'm coming from?" And he kept replying, "I'm a soldier. Can't you see where I'm coming from?"
I left the house to catch my breath. The conversation weighed he heavily on me. I don't actually have arguments with my kids where we vehemently disagreed. We passed out when they were teens. I decided to call my friend Patric who is a hypnotherapist. I knew my fear was blocking something, but I couldn't quite name it or work it through on my own. How could I totally not understand my child? And how could he totally not understand me? Within a few hours, I was scheduled for my session. And within 40 minutes, she guided me into a semi-conscious, relaxed state and helped me see something clearly. Fear blocks blessings. Where there is fear, there is no room for joy, for productivity, for love, for devotion, for clarity. It robs us of the ability to show up fully for others. She said that Shaya wasn't just upset. He felt hurt, insulted. As his mother, I should have been the first to believe in him, that he could and should do his job in Gaza and cheer him on, especially after he was singled out for excellence in his special forces unit. And yet there I was doubting their makabe spirit, their strength, their merit to help the Jewish people to Shia. This was gross and deeply insulting. Patrick and I talked through ways I could face the fear and how to begin letting it go. But more than anything, she gave me the courage to cross a threshold. from trying to will my son out of the war to seeing the light in their eyes, their pride, their joy, their sense of mission that they had the merit to serve and to honor that. It took 7 hours from the moment Mo drove off towards Gaza, beaming with the biggest, proudest smile I've ever seen. He sent pictures in their tank as they rolled out to when I finally was ready to talk with Shia and explained that I needed to apologize, that I'd been seeing their service through the wrong lens. I cried. I smothered him with my hugs and my kisses, and he had to gently peel me off so that he could breathe. I told him how proud I've been of him and Maisha and their choices throughout their military journey, but that the fear of loss had made made it impossible for me to process it all in a healthy way. But now with the fear shifted, replaced by pride and faith, I can even, but still, heaven forbid imagine how a parent could stand at the foot of their child's grave and speak words of love and gratitude towards God in that moment. Pride wins over fear. Gratitude wins over sadness. May Mo Mish and Shia accomplish all they set out to do when they signed up to the IDF on October the 8th. May Shia heal fully and feel strong enough to rejoin his comrades and bring every last one of our hostages home. Eliminate our enemy and restore peace to the world which has lost its moral compass. Our soldiers are sadikim. They're righteous people. My boys teach me daily to be real, to be honest, and to strive for generosity and excellence. One day, I'll give myself the excellence award. Meanwhile, I'm just trying my best. That's a peak of the life of a parent of an IDF. There are so many heroes in Israel. So many simple people that have demonstrated for us and for all of the world their heroism and they are worthy and they deserve our support, our love, our applause and our prayers.
Thank you so much for joining me these last nine weeks. It's truly been a pleasure. A happy Kaneka to everyone. We'll be back January 14th where we'll go back to text Torah based study. We're middle of the book of Deuteronomy. I look forward to seeing you again on our winter semester January 14th. And again, please remember the seminar on January the 18th, beyond a doubt, the rational case for God, creation, and the divine origin of Torah. Have a good afternoon and a great week and a happy Khan.