Posted on 03/17/26
Last week, in a single moment of terror, a missile fell near the home of the parents of the Peretz family in Beit Shemesh. The house that had been filled with memories and warmth was reduced to a pile of rubble.
Yet within the total destruction, a great miracle occurred: their beloved mother had been inside the house and survived. And it happened precisely on the yahrzeit of their father. In the midst of everything, the family felt they had received the greatest gift of all: life.
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Here is an excerpt from a letter they sent me:
What happened afterward also felt like a kind of miracle.
The walls of our parents’ house collapsed and the windows shattered. But through those broken openings, something else entered the house: the spirit of the Jewish people.
Countless volunteers—complete strangers! — offered to help. Moments of unimaginable pain, of clearing out belongings and dismantling an entire lifetime of memories, became moments of pure kindness, unity, and brotherhood.
Looking around, we saw an extraordinary scene: Uri the kibbutznik was standing next to a “hilltop youth”; beside them a chareidi volunteer, and nearby a group of teenagers from Beit Shemesh. So many good people who worked tirelessly lifting boxes, clearing broken glass, gathering debris. In such painful hours, their presence brought deep comfort.
We felt that we were witnessing what we read in the parashah, how all of Am Yisrael came together in remarkable harmony to build the Mishkan. When everyone accepts a sacred task and joins together to fulfill it, the Shechinah rests among them, and it can be felt!
Thank you to the Creator of the world for the privilege of being part of this extraordinary people.
—The Peretz Family, HaNasi Street, Beit Shemesh
The Driver Is With Us
I received a message from Ilana Steiner of Kfar HaRo’eh. Her daughter, Ora, was traveling south by train to her in-laws to mark her husband Amichai’s release from reserve duty. During the trip, an alert sounded. The train stopped safely, and all the passengers got off and entered the station’s protected area.
Ora told a woman standing beside her that she was worried the train would leave without her. In the rush to get off, she had taken only her baby in her arms, leaving her stroller and suitcase behind on the train.
At that moment, a man standing nearby joined the conversation and said, “Don’t worry, the train won’t leave. I’m the driver.”
Ilana wrote that this conversation made her realize: the Driver is always present, always close by. In the midst of all our rushing and worrying we do not always notice Him, but in truth we see so much hashgachah pratit these days. The journey is turbulent, but we can be calm in the knowledge that the Driver is always with us.
Cleaning for Pesach? Remember This
Every year, in the midst of Pesach cleaning, I’m asked to repeat the following idea (even this year, with all that is happening around us). Dr. Miri Kahane recommends adopting a different approach to Pesach cleaning:
“I would like to share a thought that I keep reminding myself as I prepare for Pesach. The reason that we need to do so much cleaning is because we’ve been blessed with an abundance of everything — I’m not only speaking about me personally, but all of us. Most of us are living in our own home with a separate bedroom for parents, a shower, and a bathroom. Our homes are filled with furniture, clothes, dishes, and food. Our children are so well fed that they leave whole packages of snacks in their drawers and sandwiches in their school bags which they didn’t feel like eating. Our current reality is so different than that of our ancestors who needed to ask halachic questions about the one communal oven shared by several families, or washing their one item of clothing for Shabbat.
Despite the difficulties and challenges we face today, I’m sure that each one of us has at least one great-grandparent who would be ecstatic to see the prosperity of their great grandchildren. So, every now and then, I stop myself from thinking about all the cleaning and cooking that still needs to get done in order to appreciate how much we have.”
You’re welcome to share this idea with others as we prepare for Pesach.
Do We Keep Going When It’s Hard?
These are challenging days. Pesach is steadily approaching, and this Shabbat we begin reading a new book of the Torah: Vayikra.
Most of Sefer Vayikra deals with the korbanot, the offerings brought in the Mishkan. It does not have the sweeping drama of Bereishit or Shemot. There is no gripping storyline here.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning American Jewish author Herman Wouk once wrote about this uniquely Jewish quality: our loyalty to every part of the Torah, and to every part of life, even when it is not easy, exciting, or immediately rewarding; even when it requires effort, patience, and commitment. This is what he wrote:
“One writer decided to publish an easy version of the Bible. He adapted the Five Books of Moses by simply keeping all the stories and omitting all the laws. As a result, the book of Leviticus was reduced to about half a page, and that was that. But the Jews never cut a single word from the Torah. The lengthy plan for building the Tabernacle and the dramatic story of the splitting of the Red Sea were of equal value in their eyes.”
What a powerful idea. It can change the way we live.
Commitment and loyalty are not meant only for the moments that feel inspiring or enjoyable. They are tested specifically in the daily routine, in the effort, in the parts that do not come with instant satisfaction.
And these, after all, are challenging days in Israel. There is so much that wears us down: sirens, Zoom meetings, safe rooms, reserve duty, Pesach cleaning, and the strain on both body and soul.
And yet, year after year, we return with love to the preparations for Pesach. We return to Sefer Vayikra. We keep going.
Because this too deepens the bond. This too is part of the bigger story.