Amidst all the horrors, here are eight moments of grace

There may be nobody fiercer than Israelis in our loud and vicious opposition to each other when we disagree. And, thankfully, there is nobody fiercer than Israelis when we are targeted for destruction by our enemies. And amidst the horrors we began to see yesterday — 7 October — Shabbat, Simchat Torah — we had moments of grace where the gentler and happier face of the Israeli could lift our spirits as we fight for our survival once more in our ancient land.This may be the Iron Swords War, but we Israelis have soft, caring hearts.

Here I bring you eight moments of grace, in order of the oldest to most recent. I am sure there are many more.

1. Yoseph Haddad (CEO of Together-Vouch for Each Other) shares a post by Amit Hadar, introducing it by saying: “Also, and especially, in truly difficult times in this country, it is important to share this post.”

Amit writes:

We also took part in the rave in Kibbutz Re’im. The only reason we succeeded in escaping from there was because of the man in this picture — Yosef, a Bedouin Arab here in the south. Even as the terrorists were shooting at him from every direction, he didn’t think to drive away and leave us alone. He waited, picked us up, and rescued everyone he could along the way, including the injured who he took to the nearest hospital. A man who is larger than life. When we win this war, we will owe him so much. When, with God’s help, we see better days, save his number for the next time you need transportation — if anyone deserves this, it is this man. Yosef — 0524081490

*Share this and show a bit of love during thees dark days.*

2. Ezri ToBe, known for his films that raise awareness of Jewish life in Judea-Samaria, shared his film of solidarity shown toward reserve soldiers on their way to the front in Gaza.

He writes:

Am Yisrael [the People of Israel] cheer reserve soldiers on their way south to Gaza. Share and strengthen our People.

3. Yoseph Haddad brings a post written by an Israeli Bedouin student who was called up for reserve service:

I am an Israeli Bedouin student at the Technion, from northern Israel. Two days before my exam, I got a call-up to my reserve unit. “We are fighting for our homes.”

It’s not Arab-Jew, black-white, Ashkenazi-Yemini, it’s either Am Yisrael [People of Israel] or it’s nothing. We will win. Am Yisrael will win.

4.  מאיר אוליאל, Meir Uliel, writer for Israel News and Ashdod Online, posted a tribute of an older brother to his younger brother. He gets emails from people who want to share just such kinds of moments:

15 hateful terrorists tried to kill my little brother and were unable to. My little brother, Ziv, who was born only yesterday, and is, today, a company commander in Golani, protects the State of Israel with such heroism.

After hours of worry, he managed to call us and calm us down, telling us that his cellphone was lost when his jeep exploded in the fighting. From this moment on, he is my big brother.

5. Meir Uliel posted another moving moment, this one from a friend of a friend:

Dear soldier: Am Yisrael is happy for you. Congratulations.

This father is watching his son’s Brit Mila [circumcision ceremony].

6. Efrat Mayor, Oded Revivi, shares a video of a bar mitzvah in wartime:

Something a bit moving in this insane war. Roi Pond from Hadagan neighbourhood in Efrat was supposed to celebrate his bar mitzvah last night. Unfortunately [unfortunately, Oded? that’s the word you chose here? kind of understating it, no?], everything was cancelled. His father was called up to reserve service.

The family didn’t hesitate for a moment and took everything that was intended for the bar mitzvah guests and brought it to the Gefen Community Center where 200 soldiers were gathered. The dear soldiers showed their joy.

בר מצוה במלחמה מס’ 1

משהו קצת מרגש במלחמה הלא נורמלית הזאת
רועי פונד מהדגן היה אמור לחגוג בר מצוה אתמול בלילה לצערינו הכל התבטל.
אביו התגייס בצו שמונה
המשפחה לא חשבה פעמים לקחה את כל מה שהיה מיועד לאורחים והביאו הכל למתנס בגפן שהגיעו אליו 200 חיילים ושם החיילים היקרים שימחו pic.twitter.com/zF96Q2OUoE

— Oded Revivi עודד רביבי (@odedrevivi) October 8, 2023

7. h/t to my friend Avi Eisenman, who writes: “Very impressed by (anti-judicial reform protest leader) Moshe Radman’s show of maturity and unity here with his ideological opposite. We are at war and need to have a united front. Kol hakavod to him.”

The tweet reads:

Putting the disagreements aside and simply taking my hat off to MK Almog Cohen [Otzmah Yehudit] who is fighting in the south like a lion for over a day already. Almog, take care of yourself.

שם את המחלוקות בצד ופשוט מוריד את הכובע בפני חבר הכנסת @almog_cohen08 שנלחם כמו אריה כבר יותר מיממה בדרום. אלמוג תשמור על עצמך ❤️???????? pic.twitter.com/2lQaSC1fW5

— Moshe Radman Abutbul משה רדמן אבוטבול (@RadmanMoshe) October 8, 2023

8. These boys touched a lot of hearts.

I am not yet 18 years old and I cannot fight but I also cannot just sit at home when our soldiers are fighting for the country. With my twin brother and a friend, I published about our initiative and within a short time we collected hundreds of shekels and we are at the peak of our buying spree right now to pamper our soldiers.

I write this with tears in my eyes in the line in the supermarket as yeshiva students and the cashier, who broke out in tears, each in turn, takes out a credit card and contributes to this mitvah.

Only unconditional love will allow the IDF to win.