Wednesday, June 3, 2015

United By Love

On June 12th, 2014, Israeli teens Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. For 18 days, before we knew with certainty of their tragic fate, the pure love and unity that poured out from our Nation was both immeasurable and indescribable.All of our differences were left aside and nothing but our deep connection to one another mattered. For eighteen days, our Nation showed the pure love of brothers and sisters  On June 30th, the bodies were found. Today, on the Jewish calendar, marks a year since that dreadful day.

And at the request of the Three Mothers, and their families, today is Unity Day, in memory of the three beautiful boys who inspired an unprecedented outpouring of love, acts of random kindness, prayer and connection within the entire Jewish Nation both in Israel and abroad.

According to Rabbi Shais Taub, an American Hassidic rabbi and author that is also known for his work in the field of addiction recovery and is a weekly columnist for Ami magazine, "The Jewish Woman is called the Akeret Bayit, the foundation of the home...And since the whole Jewish people is made up of many homes,  the Jewish woman is really the foundation of the Jewish people as a whole" (Rabbi Shais Taub). This morning was proof of this.

This morning, I had the honor and the pleasure to unite with hundreds of my beautiful sisters, from young children to grandmothers, from National Religious, to Traditional and Charedi (Ultra Orthodox), in my town of Ramat Beit Shemesh. We first formed a human chain, hand in hand, on one of our circular streets(which happens to be the street I live on). We stood there singing, dancing, praying and then we all moved on to an incredibly moving, uplifting and inspiring gathering in a park down the road, where we heard inspiring words from Rabbis, from Naftali's sister and father, and from young women who knew the boys and their families.

As I stood there, both as a participant and as an observer, I was in awe of the strength and the beauty that defines my beautiful Nation. We carry so much national pain with us, and yet, we stand tall and proud as we raise our eyes and hearts to the heavens beseeching our Heavenly Father to hear our prayers to end the pain. And all the while, we never give up hope that that day will surely come and that all of our pain and suffering will come to an end, and we'll know nothing but joy.

To Eyal, Naftali and Gilad, I have no doubt that you were watching us and feeling tremendous pride in your strong and beautiful birth mothers who came up with the gorgeous idea of Unity Day and that you were smiling at the rest of your mothers and sisters who took their request to heart and followed suite with open hearts and tremendous love.

May the memories of Gilad, Eyal and Naftali be blessed and may our Heavenly Father continue to bless their families with love, support and strength wherever they turn.

Yehi Zichram Baruch.

With Love,
Cigal

No comments:

Post a Comment