Libi BaMizrach

As I mentioned in my earlier essay , I had fully intended to write a full travelogue of my very recent and wonderful experience, the OU Solidarity Mission to Israel. I found, however, that (a) it was difficult for me to write during the trip, and (b) several other participants have done a wonderful job summarizing our adventures, including Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb , Rabbi Barry Kornblau and Rabbi Binyomin Ginsburg (reproduced below), not including others that I am unaware of. There is a Facebook page that provides many pictures and perspectives. For me to provide another version of that experience would be redundant, at best. I did, however, want to add a few thoughts to those already expressed, in the hope that they have some merit. After saying goodbye to all the new and old friends that joined me on the journey, I stayed in Israel for another few days (still here!) in Yerushalayim, mainly to spend time with my mother and children and extended family who live here,...

Wednesday Evening, July 23 Well here I am on an airplane, flying over the Atlantic on the way to London. I hope that I'll be able to continue on to Israel, but that remains to be seen. As of now, other than El Al , the only airline not cowed by Hamas from flying to Israel is British Airways. Maybe they're brave, maybe foolish, but I am hoping that they maintain whatever it is at least until my flight goes But the idea that they continue to fly, despite the fact that virtually all others have stopped, appeals to me. After all, am I foolish to be going now? Is it not foolhardy to go to spend Shabbat in Sderot, 2 miles or so from the Gaza border? One of my daughters is frightened. I joke with her that she'll be better off if I die; we'll finally have some money from the life insurance (actually, I'm not sure that they would pay if I took the risk of going to a hazardous area) and what do I think I will accomplish, anyway? What do these brave people...

בס"ד My congregants know that I have a “delusion”; I feel that the Parshat HaShavua – the weekly Torah Portion – always has surprising relevance to current events.  In the many years that I have been looking for something to say Shabbos morning, I have virtually never been disappointed in finding that the Sidrah can be used to find inspiration or guidance for what we are going through at any particular time.  This, of course, makes my job as a Rabbi much easier, for which I am eternally grateful.   But sometimes, I am just astounded and sit back in awe.  This past Shabbos was one of those times. This past Shabbos, as we all sat in trepidation over what was going on in the part of Eretz Yisrael known as Gaza, I spoke among other things about Moshe's exclamation to the tribes of Reuven and Gad.   They had proposed to Moshe that they would like to stay in the trans- Jordan , and forgo their share in the land of Israel , a proposal that infuriated...