There are two essential acts which HaShem requires of us at this time: 1- To prepare our army to the best of our ability and resources, and 2- to pray to HaShem.
What should we pray for at this very fragile time in history?
On the 27th of Nisan, we commemorate collectively and on the national level the 20th century Shoah in Europe. New investigations have proven that the number 6 million is inaccurate, with the true figure closer to 7.5 million Jews who were murdered or died in the Shoah.
The people of my generation born in the 1920s and 30s bear witness not to one Shoah but to two, both emanating from the two faces of Aisav …
To be read aloud by the leader of the seder right after the main course has been eaten…
Part A: A frum family living in any one of the great Torah centers in the world; they could even be your next door neighbors in Boro Park, Flatbush, etc.
Part B: Pesach in the Holy Land
Today in the absence of the Bet HaMikdash only two Torah mitzvot prevail: To relate the Pessach saga to one’s offspring and to eat matza.
However there appears in the hagadda text the word “chayav” (obligated) with regard to an act which is not formally a Torah requirement, nor a rabbinic one – but it goes to the heart of the Pessah seder, it is:
(on this night) Every person (man and woman) is required to perceive himself as if he was present at the Exodus from Egypt.
As binding as it is, this obligation is only as vivid as one’s imagination. However, my wife and I (and others), have gone through a life experience which at the Pessach seder induces an authentic feeling of the enormity of the historical episode.
Tuesday, when it was 11:00 A.M. in Washington, it was 6:00 P.M. on the 13th of Adar in Eretz Yisrael – the beginning of the Fast of Esther.
We are witnessing a repeat of the Purim episode of 2500 years ago.
Persia is once again threatening to destroy every man, woman and child in Eretz Yisrael, in one day with nuclear weapons.
