Mothers of Soldiers

A wonderful blog to read is A Soldier’s Mother. A mother in Israel writes about her son Elie and about being the mother of a soldier: the fears, the desire for connection with other mothers, dealing with journalists, the waiting.

On one of Jack’s latest round ups of posts and articles on the war, I found a link to articles by Chabad (yes, this is the same organization that was attacked in Mumbai), including a mother of an Israeli soldier. She asks the mother of another soldier about her son, and the mother responds: “But he has always said to me, ‘Our brothers and sisters are in danger. Someone has to go to the front line to protect them.’”

My cousin’s wife is also the mother of soldiers. She has five sons, with four that are of military age. Her eldest chose the military as his career. When I hear of the Golani brigade, I think of them.
(I also have relatives who were in the U.S. military…long since retired).

May the soldiers do the job well so the children of Sederot will no longer need fifteen seconds to rush to a bomb shelter.

Today is a fast day in the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the day long ago that the armies of Nebuchadnezzar lay siege to Jerusalem. More on Asarah beTevet here.