By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried
Dear Readers,
I feel fortunate to share with you my feelings during an emotion-packed visit to Israel. Israel is so much on our minds and in our hearts these days, with mounting pressure from the U.S. and abroad to make wide concessions and give up significant portions of our beloved homeland.
The purpose of this trip is to celebrate the wedding of my son Benny with his bride Ranit Gottsman. Peripherally, much has transpired before getting to the wedding.
We visited the Wall at night, as tens of thousands streamed to the Old City and Wall Plaza to joyously celebrate Yom Yerushalayim. It was the 42nd anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, retaken from the Arabs in the Six-Day War of 1967. It took on special meaning in the midst of powerful attempts to re-divide our Holy City, making it the capital of an Arab state, G-d forbid.
That evening my family joined a festive “vort” engagement celebration of our longtime friend and student, Benji Cheirif, and his fiancée Leah Snyder. It was so exhilarating to join in dancing in an entire large circle made up of yeshiva students from Dallas!
As we prepare for the “oif-ruf” (calling up to the Torah) of our son, we all proclaim: There’s no place like Israel!
Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried, noted scholar and author of numerous works on Jewish law, philosophy and Talmud, is founder and dean of DATA, the Dallas Kollel. Questions can be sent to him at yfried@sbcglobal.net.