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(click here for print version) This week's byte is based on words delivered this week in 2007 in memory of Major Benji Hillman (Binyamin Aharon ben Yehudit ve'Daniel she'yibadlu' lechaim ) H"YD, a Company commander in Golani's elite Egoz commando unit, who fell in battle, on the 24th of Tammuz 5756 (July 20th 2006). May these words serve to elevate his soul and his memory, and serve as a comfort to his family and loved ones. Yehi Zichro' Baruch (May his memory be a vehicle for blessing). It was 1939, the Nazis had already invaded Poland, but he was one of the lucky ones. Beloved by his entire generation and revered for his incredible knowledge of Torah he was given the chance to get out; safe passage to America had been secured and a new life was waiting and ready. And not just for himself, his entire family would be able to leave Lithuania as well. Indeed he actually visited America the...

(click here for print version) Does G-d Feel Sadness? Many years ago, when I returned from a trip to Israel, my parents picked me up at the airport and sadly told me that we were going to the funeral of my cousin, who had been killed in a car accident. At the funeral, the rabbi said something that angered me very much and challenged my faith in G-d. In his eulogy, the rabbi quoted a Yiddish saying: ...

(click here for print version) (reprinted from 2005) Somehow, the computers or the staff making such decisions had really fouled this one up; how could anyone have thought this fellow was suited to be a gunner? His name was Shachar, which means dawn, and the joke was with him around it was always dawn, because he blotted out the sun. He was a massive fellow, and watching him squeeze into the gunner...

(click here for print version) In 1986, an Israeli fighter-plane was shot down over Lebanon, and the pilot and navigator, safely ejected from the burning plane, found themselves trapped behind enemy lines. In one of the most daring missions of the war, an Israeli search and rescue team flew in under heavy fire, and in a classic retrieval operation, with an Israeli commando suspended from a helicopter by a cable, literally plucked the pilot from the jaws of the approaching enemy only eight hundred yards away. His co-pilot already surrounded by an enemy that was only fifty yards away, could not be rescued. Ask any Israeli air force pilot what his ultimate nightmare is, and he will tell you of Ron Arad, the navigator of that flight who had to watch his co-pilot whisked away to safety, while he was left behind. Years later, Ron Arad is still missing. This mission raises one of the classic questions in military operations: at...

(click here for print version) Can You Forgive G-d? How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~~ Anne Frank This imperfect world is the perfect place for a dynamic life filled with challenge, growth and love. That...

(click here for print version) Nineteen hundred and forty-one years ago, this week, the end finally began. After two and half years of siege, the Roman Legions broke through the ancient walls of Jerusalem, and began their savage rampage of pillage and looting through the streets of Jerusalem. Although the walk from the city walls to the Temple mount is a short ten minute stroll, it would take the Romans three weeks to actually set fire to the Temple and end the battle for Jerusalem. Amidst the fire and destruction, Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai smuggled himself out of the city, realizing the war was lost, preferring to begin the long and tortuous process of assuring the Jewish people...

(Click here for print version) When the Loser is a Winner The Talmud teaches that King Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes after he saw prophetically that his kingdom and the Temple that he worked so hard to build would be destroyed. Imagine what a devastating realization that must have been to know that what you invested your entire life will be destroyed. We can understand why he bemoaned, ...

(click here for print version) On one of my frequent trips, after a long flight, I suddenly realized I had forgotten my tefillin on the plane. I rushed back to the gates only to discover I could not get through without a valid boarding pass, which I no longer had. Personnel at lost and found (in baggage control)patiently explained they only dealt with items lost in the airport or in baggage, and sent me to the check in counters, where they explained I had no boarding pass and could not get back on the plane, which was now being cleaned, and did I have identification? Finally, a supervisor with a security guard came out to see what was going on and asked me to describe the lost object. And so, a few months after September 11th, with all of the heightened security, I explained it was a small velvet pouch, with two leather boxes and straps inside. Although my name was...