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Parshat Vaetchanan:

Kids Martial Arts

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MARTIAL ARTS

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Deuteronomy

3:23-7:11; Isaiah 40:1-40:26.

Let

me

share with you

from last

year's

vignettes

in

war

Gaza,

which confirm the Divine

assessment of the

He

only

was

struck on his

two of his soldiers

leg, and he and

were

wounded

and knocked unconscious.

uniqueness of our

When the soldiers

regained conscious­

their first words were, "How is
Elyosef? Please God, he's alive!" And

people.

ness,

One of the first sacred korbanot (vic­
tims) of this war was Lt. Yuval Heiman,

when Elyosef opened his eyes, his first

•

born in Efrat, whose great -grandfather,
along with three other members of

the Heiman

family,
Independence.

fell in the War of

question was, "How are my boys?" An

army in which the first thoughts of the
commanding officer are for the welfare

of his

Yuval was circumcised and

men,

thoughts

and the first

of the men are for

"bar mitzvahed" in Efrat,
graduated with distinction

manding officer is bound to

from Ohr Torah Stone's

be successful.

Derech Avot School, won
many trophies and med-

day before my visits,
my daughter Elana was in a
Judaica shop where a mother

the welfare of their

•

als for excellence in sports
and volunteerism, and was

The

and her young son were

outstanding member of

an

com­

inquiring about large, cro­

the IDF's Officer Training

cheted kippot, which would

School. Yuval was slated for

cover

a

shining future as a great

Jewish leader, but then

the entire head. She

explained to the store owner

that her

...

When 1 entered the shivah home

one

son was one

of four

observant boys in their Gaza army unit,

year ago, Yuval's grandfather Yehuda
greeted me with a warm embrace. We

pot jostled-under the large army helmets

both wept

and made it uncomfortable for them.

silently. Then Yehuda caught

himself. "In this shivah house,

we

do not

and the usual small-style crocheted kip­

The

owner

searched around

a

bit, and

weep; of course; we are overcome with
grief, but the dominant feeling in our

brought out four large kippot.

hearts is

pride and zechut, the privilege
of being able
in our generation
to

you said there were four observant
soldiers in the unit, so why would you

sacrifice for the

want 40

-

-

Jewish future:'

Moshe and Zohara, Yuval's parents,
both explained that of course they cry

-

but privately, at night into their pil­

lows. The profound message

is the merit of living in the

of rebirth, of their ability

past generation

do

-

to

-

they convey

generation

which the

of the Shoah could not

take Jewish

destiny into their

hands and pave the way, albeit with
heartbreaking commitment and sacri­

own

fice, for Jewish future and redemption.
Also, last year, 1 went to Sheba

•

Medical Center at Tel Hashomer to

visit

Elyosef Malkieli,

outstanding
commanding officer who suffered a
near-fatal wound in his leg. He and two
of his young charges were standing by
their personnel carrier when a hand
grenade was thrown in their direction.
Elyosef instinctively reached out to
deflect it away from a large group of his

soldiers.

an

"I need 40:' smiled the mother. "But

kippot?" inquired the store­
keeper. The mother explained that when

the other members of the unit heard

her son's request for large kippot, they
inquired about the reason for wearing

kippa;

verse

her son

explained

in Psalms that

that there is

avers

Presence is above each

a

a

that the Divine

individual, and

this Divine Protection is

symbolized by

the kippa.

All the soldiers then

requested large
kippot for under their helmets, claiming
that they are all desirous of continued
Divine Protection, especially in Gaza.
The storekeeper managed to find 40
large kippot, for which he refused to take

any money.
"Who is like unto Your nation,

nation

unique
17:21). D

on

earth"

a

Memory Care Community

24005 West 13 Mile Road

Bingham Farms,

MI 48025

(248) 644-8100

most

(1 Chronicles.

Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah

Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

IN

Ju!y 30

•

2015

43