Pillar Of Defense

im confused, i thought it was called operation pillar cloud, not pillar defense

(Via email from a reader in Eretz Yisroel)

Dear Editor,

I type this letter from the holy city of Yerushalayim.

Last night, Friday night, about 15 minutes after lighting candles, my husband and I were leaving our building located in one of the biggest American neighborhoods, when we heard it. The dreadful siren.

PANIC!!!!

There on the stairwell we stood, as dozens of poeple, children, some in carraiges, came running into our building. There was screaming, chaos, and worst of all the shock that came with the unexpected siren.

Here we live our daily lives, going about routine so regurlarly, obviously aware of the terrible fighting thats going on in our country, but thinking that its so far from us. And than lo and behold, we found ourselves scrambling for shelter. Bichasday hashem, noone was hurt and the rocket unbelievably fell in Arab territory! But it was a real wakeup call for us!

Peace-seekers who look to negotiate with the un-reasonable Hamas terrorists were suddenly hit ha rd in the face of reality!! WAR MODE has made its way over, creeping into the alleyways of the sheltered, and closest communities. We’ve had 150 rockets aimed at our nation just TODAY alone! 758 since the beggining of the Operation Piller of Defense!!

Children know of a life of war, rockets, sirens and shelters! They are trained in school as part of their education to find shelter within 15 seconds. Innocent children who should know only joy and bliss, know of terror and death. Children who should be playing outside, climbing trees, riding bikes, splashing in puddles, catching frogs, and making carnivals, instead find themselves in the underground miklat seeking shleter form the rain of rockets overhead!! WHAT A LIFE!

And along with all the havoc thats wreaking our once peaceful country, we see nissim geluyim!! Like in the days of the yivanim, we see the Yad Hashem protecting us each and every moment. The head Hamas has been succesfully slaughtered, the siren that sounded in Yerushalayim, was the result of a rocket which landed in Arab territory, the iron domb has stopped many missiles from falling! All this and many more nissim is a result of our tefillos. Many shuls have made a break in middle of davening tehillim. Unfortunately there have been reported a few deaths r”l of innocent yidden. Let us beseech the heavens. Beg Hashem to stop the violent ways of the Yishma’alim yimach shemam! He showing us He’s on our side!! But we must stay close with Him. I implore all our brothers and sisters who have’nt yet made it part of their day to say a few perakim of tehillim for those of us in Eretz Yisroel- civilians, soldiers, those who were wounded nebach…Most of you in America know someone here in E”Y. Lets wake up NOW and do SOMETHING!! Quickly before it may be someone you know who…… r”l. It’s REALLY scary! But we have a HASHEM and a Torah and Tehillim that can save us. And just like the Yevanim who are no more, He will put an end to Yishmael with the arrival of mashiach so soon.

May the geula come quickly and be the ultimate end to all wars!

Your sister abroad,

Rochel

(Not edited by YWN in any form)

The Rav in my shul spoke about the conflict. He said that this is just a continuation of the ages-old conflict. The Parshah was significant. Eisav and Yishmael were closely connected – Eisav was Yishmael’s son-in-law.

So how does Yaakov defeat Eisav? Eisav uses his raw power. Yaakov wins by using the power of his mouth, and using it to draw closer to Hashem. The Rav told us that over Shabbos, we should make sure to use our mouths to get closer to Hashem, whether during davening, saying extra Divrei Torah at the meals, or simply singing extra zemiros. These all bring us closer to Hashem, and will help us triumph over Yishmael and Eisav.

Personally, I said an extra d’var Torah at each meal, and sang far more songs than usual. May this help us to triumph over those who wish to destroy us!

Tehillim is very important. However please make sure that when you say Tehillim, you know what you are saying and say it with heartfelt emotion otherwise you really take away from the efficacy of your well intended efforts.