One Heart

 No, your Israeli friends are not fine.
—Every Israeli

Check on your Jewish friends, they aren't ok.
—Good people everywhere

A Facebook friend, who lives out there somewhere in not-Israel, told me that the Jewish school where she teaches is being guarded, not only by a team of private guards, but also by three of the city's finest armed policemen. 

"They seem to be quite happy to be here," she told me. "They said it was the first time anyone ever thanked them for doing their job," referring to the staff and students' show of appreciation in protecting them against Hamas's proclaimed 'Day of being really really angry' (or something like that), when their followers around the world were instructed to target and harm (aka kill) Jews anywhere they could be found. 

"That's wonderful", I told her, "I'm glad the police are there for you. You should give them bags of Bamba in thanks", referring both to the ubiquitous Israeli peanut-based snack, and the overwhelming amount of bamba and other snacks (and entire meals, socks, underwear, watches, undershirts, bags, coffee pots etc.) our security personnel (army, police, civil guards etc.) were given within nanoseconds of the national call-up after Hamas's pogrom two weeks ago.  

"What a great idea!" said my FB friend, "only we can't. The school is a no-peanut zone."

And that, in a nutshell (no pun intended), is about the only difference between Israeli Jews and non-Israeli Jews, these days. 

Support has poured in from all directions, physical, strategic, and emotional.
Here in the Holy Land, individuals — right, left, secular, traditional, religious, haredi, old, young, middle-aged, married, single, gay, straight, rich, poor, middle class, farmers, teachers, engineers, cooks, hi-tech types, and everyone else — have put aside their disagreements, their bickering, their opinions, their differences, and have come together as one people with one heart.

Holiness has been displayed over and over in acts of bravery, generosity, and self-sacrifice that are, at the same time, both astonishing and unsurprising, but always awe-inspiring. Everyone is eager to give to the soldiers, to the displaced families, to those who have lost family and friends. Everyone has become an ambassador.

And from abroad, not a day goes by that someone isn't checking up on me and my family to see how we are coping — relatives, school mates, ex-teachers, friends I haven't heard from (even on Facebook!) in 50 years; and with the question 'how can we help?'

We are all still numb, in shock, grieving, hurting.
We have all been hurt, bruised, and battered.
We have all been, and are still being, targeted.
We are also determined, steadfast and unwavering, and united.
We are surrounded by grief and by miracles; our hearts are shattered but full. 

We are a people broken, yet never more whole.

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God, from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.
May the Almighty cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighters from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.
May He lead our enemies under our soldiers’ sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is the Lord your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness. Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: "Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers." Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.
Manifest yourself in the splendor of Your boldness before the eyes of all inhabitants of Your world, and may everyone endowed with a soul affirm that the Lord, God of Israel, is king and his dominion is absolute. 

Amen forevermore.