Billboard of fallen soldier brings strength to Jerusalem

• Published date: 07 May 2024
• Author: SIVAN RAHAV MEIR
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Eden shared that when she contacted the Mega Media company to order the billboard, they unexpectedly offered to give her the first two days free of charge. "I hope to find a way to keep the message up until after Independence Day!" she said

Post-Passover Inspiration

"My Seder was nothing special, and I was irritable and stressed during the entire holiday. I feel like I missed Passover."

After reading this message, I was reminded of a quote I once heard:

"Our feelings are not the measure of the value of our mitzvah observance."

Regardless of whether we did or didn't feel anything special at the Seder, we all received a significant spiritual infusion that affected us and the whole world. As long as we ate matzah and the maror, drank four cups of wine, and heard the story of the Exodus from Egypt, even if we didn't feel the holiness, our ancestors' Passover experience became part of us and was absorbed into our souls. There was a dose of faith, hope, and meaning within every crumb of matzah and every drop of wine.

And now, as we go back to our everyday routine, let's try to find joy and elevation in the mundane. Most life is not made up of the dramatic closing prayer on Yom Kippur or the Seder night. As the prophet Ezekiel stated: "Does anyone scorn little things?" He was telling us not to minimize the little things in life. The days that follow a holiday are also holy and full of meaning.

Our Power of Choice

Rabbi Eliezer Silver, a leader of American Jewry in the 1940s, was the president of the Vaad Hatzalah, the committee established during the Holocaust to rescue Jews from Europe and to help the survivors.

Shortly after the war ended, Rabbi Silver arrived at one of the Displaced Persons (DP) camps. He organized a prayer service and invited one of the survivors to participate. This man adamantly refused to take part in the prayers, explaining his position by way of the following story:

"In the camps, there was a religious man who had somehow managed to smuggle in a Hebrew prayer book, which he gave other prisoners to use. At first, I admired his courage and...