Grandma's army

According to the   National Insurance Institute of Israel, the number of civilians murdered in enemy activity - since Israel declared its independence in 1948 - stands today at 3,134. In a country with only 6.4 million Jewish citizens, this is a staggering figure. Enemy terror attacks have left 3,175 orphans in their wake, among them 114 who lost both parents, 822 widows and widowers and 926 bereaved parents. Last week, another 12 orphans were added. The father of the twelve siblings, 47 year old Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, was murdered by a 19 year-old terrorist. The other two victims of the tragic terrorist attack were two 19 year old soldiers, one of whom was killed and the other is fighting for his life. Adding to the number of bereaved parents.    As the result of a grassroots campaign, the Israeli government agreed to   recognize civilian victims of terror as it does soldiers who fall in the line of duty.  In the 1970’s,   the campaign ...

Although we parents and grandparents are proud of our youth, we can never forget that these youngsters of 18, 19, 20, have to put their life on the line so that the Jewish people can have an independent state of its own. This commitment – passed on from parents to son and daughter – is the existential equivalent of an unspoken answer to the question: “is there something you would give your life for?” It is true that the procedures developed within the hospitals, community, etc., in order to deal with the many terror attacks, have become “routine procedures”…that is the only normalcy about them. But every attack creates grief and mourning, not only for the victims’ families, but for the whole nation. When, all too often, Israel mourns another victim of Arab terrorism, everyone has long faces, softened voices, pained expressions. To live in Israel today is to be connected by radio and TV, phone and word of mouth. It is to take part in the tragedy of yet another lost life. We ...