Author Reflects on War's Toll During High Holidays

During the Rosh Hashanah prayer service, specifically the priestly blessing, author Yehuda Wald was moved to reflect on the profound impact of the ongoing war. As children gathered under his prayer shawl, his thoughts turned to the orphans, widows, and families grappling with severe physical and psychological injuries.

Wald recalled Major Harel Birnstock, a neighbor from Gush Etzion, who was killed by a Hezbollah explosive device in Lebanon a few weeks prior. He thought of Birnstock's children, who would no longer experience the comfort of their father's embrace during such prayers, a fate shared by many children who have lost parents in the war.

The author described the grief of wives who lost husbands and mothers who lost sons, contrasting their sorrow with the synagogue's prayers for life. He also highlighted the silent suffering of fathers experiencing severe post-traumatic stress after witnessing the October 7th atrocities or enduring intense combat, as well as families caring for sons with severe head injuries or spinal cord damage, with holiday meals often taking place in rehabilitation wards.

Wald referenced the late Rabbi Elisha Wilschansky, who, before a surgery, requested to read from Isaiah, "He sent me to heal the brokenhearted." This, the author stated, is the mission for this generation: to heal broken hearts. He urged readers to listen to those suffering, embrace the children of fallen soldiers, support the widows, and comfort families dealing with loved ones' injuries, metaphorically bringing them under their own prayer shawls and praying for divine healing.