It is summer vacation and the weather here in Israel during the summer months is extremely hot. The air conditioning units are working hard cooling things down.

 

Last night in our cooled down living room in Pardes Hanna I listened to i24 News that is now offered in Hebrew. I also listen to channels 11 and 12 and 14 trying very hard to understand what are the many points of view that are boiling over during these times of war.

 

Recently I watched an interesting documentary of a journalist interviewing Yeshiva boys studying at the prestigious Yeshiva “Or Israel” in Jerusalem. Their passion and adherence to a rigorous ultra-orthodox study schedule can be admired or utterly dismissed. Before seeing this documentary for myself, I was out for a dinner with my husband Yossi’s 5 siblings and their spouses. It was a very hot evening and the air conditioning in the restaurant wasn’t working well. One of my brother in laws mentioned in disgust how he saw a program the other night that a yeshiva student stated that when he recites certain phrases from his Torah abiding curriculum it has the alchemy to kill a terrorist or to save an Israeli soldier. My brother in law retorted to those sitting around him that this was completely absurd and irrational and not to mention unfair that these young men do not serve in the army and reject this opportunity to defend their country.  Their belief is to study Torah zealously and by connecting to the Creator/Hashem they  guard, save and can combat evil.

 

I listened to these remarks of my beloved brother-in-law nodding my head, but it was not in full agreement. I rejected the nonverbal contempt in which the opinion was delivered.

It was not until I saw for myself this program that there was a larger context to the scenario.

 

When we feel very hot physically or emotionally we need to cool down and adjust the temperature so we can cool down and then there is an opportunity to feel or see something in a broader context.

 

When the society is polarized there is no room for the air conditioner to work. Things are indeed complicated, and we are entitled to our opinions and our feelings yet one thing is clear and that is our need to defend ourselves.

 

I know that there are young men from many religious homes that are defending our country on the battlefields and have fallen z”l.  I also am aware that there are around 60,000 young men in Yeshivot who defend our Jewish homeland spiritually.

 

More recruitment is needed and accommodations to that segment of our society is required so that we can defend with more manpower while honoring God’s power!