* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin ([email protected])
Tears do not only come from sadness but from meeting remarkable people. In Jerusalem hotels in recent days I met with evacuees from the city of Sderot and from moshav Yakhini.
Yesterday I met evacuees from the town of Shlomit who are staying at the field school in Kfar Etzion. The town lost four of its residents defending the nearby community of Pri Gan. Two other residents were seriously wounded and are still in the hospital. I wonder when their stories of heroism will be told.
At the end of my meeting with the children and teenagers of Shlomit -- held in a temporary structure which serves as a school -- three girls approached me with a request: To make a video greeting for the "coronation" (an annual Purim event conducted with much fanfare in the religious sector).
"Ve-nahafoch hu" (the opposite happened) I told them. This, after all, is the message of Purim, the holiday which celebrates the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people. In the words of Megillat Esther: "The opposite happened and the Jews gained power over their enemies . . .The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor."
I cannot really explain the faith and hope and grabbing hold of life there is in this request, coming from girls of a wounded community who had to leave their homes. And yet, in the middle of a war, at the beginning of the month of Cheshvan, they are preparing a video for a party in the middle of the month of Adar, more than four months from now.
May we all hear only good news.
