Am Yisroel Chai

The first thing I saw on the news this morning (Friday the 8th of Av, the 9th of August) was pictures of nineteen-year-old Dvir Sorek's funeral. Wednesday night, on his way back to school after purchasing end-of-the-year gifts for his teachers he was abducted and murdered. Although he'd  learned in the Shilo grammar school  I wasn't acquainted with  Dvir. Still, I know just ten minutes from my home, in Ofra where Dvir grew up, another family has been plunged into mourning. I also know that some of our Shilo boys are in deep emotional pain. It hurts all of us.

Also painful is the fact that tomorrow is the anniversary of the destruction of both the first and second Holy Temples.  Unless a miracle happens we'll be having a day of mourning Sunday. So much sorrow.

Then, though, my eyes caught another headline. This past week some four hundred people met together to honor their mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother. Shoshana Ovitz, a one-hundred- four-year-old Holocaust survivor, asked her descendants to gather at the Kotel. Most of them did: 

courtesy of algemeiner

When I looked at the picture I reminded myself that the Almighty will never forsake us. The Jewish people will continue to survive. Soon, we'll have full redemption. Soon our prayers will be answered.