Winning The War

לרפואת מרת הענא מרים בת חנה בתוך שח"י והצלחת חיילי צה"ל

In sports, if your team scores more points than the other team - you won. There is always a winner and a loser.

War is different. The are ALWAYS two losers [or more, depending on how many nations participates]. NOBODY ever wins. Baruch Hashem and b'ezras Hashem, Tzahal has killed hundreds of the enemy and they have lost far more than we have. But that doesn't compensate for the loss of life among our people. If the ratio would be 10,000 to 1, we would still be considered losers. Today, I saw a sign up in the Ramban shul in the Old City that a shiur gimmel student in Yeshivat Hakotel was killed. I think of his parents and family who will never be truly happy again and my heart bleeds. We go on, work, eat, live, laugh, go on vacation etc. etc. but there are so many people who just in the last week had there lives shattered forever.

Our job is NOT to fall into a מרה שחורה - melancholy. Depression is a key tool in the hands of the Satan. But maybe a curtailing of our summer-fun plans is in order so that we identify with our brothers and sisters at war. האחיכם יבאו למחלמה ואתם תשבו פה!? "Are your brothers going to go out to war and you will sit here", said Moshe to the Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuvein. Can our family members be at war and while we are having fun in the sun? Where is the נשיאה בעול - partaking of the burden. Not everyone can actually go out to the battlefield but everyone can feel in his heart that he is part of the battle effort. And of course, lots of tehillim, tzdaka, limmud hatorah etc. etc. to give our side more and more merits to deserve special shmira from Above.

Food for thought.