- Home
- Spirituality
- Lori Almost Live!
- My Shabbat with Israeli Soldiers
Witnessing a miracle in our times.
Published: Sunday, September 06, 2009
Aish.com relies on your support. Click here to support us.
Visitor Comments: 11
-
(6) Nechama , September 8, 2009
RELIGIOUS GIRLS FROM AMERICA
Almost all immigrants from the U.S. are religious because they are idiealistic and despite the many trials and tribulations of adjusting here, they're willing to give up their American standard of life. Their daughters are no less idealistic than the women soldiers. The Religious Zionist girls serve in "Sheirut Leumi" " and the Haredi girls are instructed by their rabbis not to serve at all. Therefore, the fact that there was only one girl whose parents are from America doesn't mean that Americans aren't coming. On the contrary, they're coming more than ever. Without religious commitment Jews don't want to leave the "good life". (There are a few exceptions.) I've been living in Israel for 46 years, b"li ayin hara, and sincerely appreciate our soldiers, both men and women. However, rabbis from across the religious spectrum have given down decisions forbidding girls to serve in the army - including the chief rabbinate of the State of Israel. My husband served in the army and he can tell you why. G-d bless all our soldiers and Am Yisrael everywhere!
-
(5) ruth housman , September 8, 2009
Jerusalem of Gold
You made me nostalgic for Jerusalem. I was there not too long ago with my sister from Toronto and it was beautiful to walk those still ancient streets. We could hear the Biblical past. We could see the Biblical past. It was palpable in the moment of being. It's what makes this place so beautiful. So deeply sacred, to not just Jews but people from all over. It's not just a place, it's something called LOVE embedded in those cobbled streets, and I wish we could cobble a peace, that involves us all, meaning both sides now. I sense in all that you say, your abiding love for Judaism, for Israel, and Jews all over the world. It's in your beautiful way of being, and in your ways of self-expression, your particular smile. All I can say is, I feel your words, and I wish for peace, that everyone could gather here, like flowers, in the beauty of diversity of religion and drink together, from that one Well, that is the same well that nourishes us all.
-
(4) Dr B , September 8, 2009
What a beautiful and inspiring message.Lori tells it withsuch joy.
I loved your comments at the time of the Rv'a passing..."Hashem loves you the most"
-
(3) Wendy Narzem , September 8, 2009
Dear Lori, Thank you for recapturing that incredible evening with the soldiers at Pamela's house during our trip. It was so special as was the entire trip. I wish you could replay all of it for us! Missing it dearly, Wendy Narzem Dallas, Texas.
-
(2) neal A -wilmette IL , September 8, 2009
way to go Lori...
Thanks Lori for all your great videos...
-
(1) Chana Z , September 6, 2009
Come Back to Israel Lori!!
It was great seeing you....
About the Author
Lori Palatnik

Lori Palatnik is an author and Jewish educator who has appeared on television and radio and has lectured on five continents, illuminating traditional practices and life-styles for our contemporary world. She and her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Palatnik, live in Washington, DC, where she is the Executive Director of The Jewish Women's Renaissance Project of Aish DC.
Lori is the author of "Friday Night and Beyond—The Shabbat Experience Step-by-Step"; "Remember My Soul", which explains the Jewish concepts of soul and the afterlife and a guide to anyone who has ever lost a loved one; and "Gossip—Ten Pathways to Eliminate It From Your Life and Transform Your Soul", featured on "Dr. Laura" and FoxNews.com.




_(english).gif)







(11) koby , September 12, 2009
i cry for israel
thanks. it makes me cry to go home to israel.
(10) fernande cohen , September 11, 2009
beautiful
i love listening to you , lori, youre so down to earth and youre always smiling , then lori , can you help me here..please...i need to make a video ...and i dont know how...can you or anybody who helps you do yours call me or send me an email for him to explain to me how..thank you
(9) lisa , September 9, 2009
Count us in!!!
Some of us want dearly to go to our homeland, Israel, knowing all to well about America chipping at out soul, our neshama. But we all can't just go.....maybe we have elderly parents here, or our jobs have us here for a few more years..our spouses are not "ready"..and yes, the list goes on. Just bc we are not there yet...does not mean we do not want to go & yes, that hurts more!! I think as long as our heart is there..(& yes our wallets also) we will get there....save us some of that great view!!
(8) Anonymous , September 9, 2009
"...Jews run from danger..."
Same anonymous as before - my wife called me to dinner and had to interrupt. The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto bravely fought the Germans for eight weeks. Many nations (Poland, etc.) didn't last 3 days and their efforts were both brave and meritorious and these Jews didn't run from danger. It's a terrible stereotype.
(7) Anonymous , September 8, 2009
Part truth, part not truth, but non truth damaging
I suspect neither I nor any subscriber can deny the statistical incidence of the number of IDF soldiers whose parental heritage was from the United States. Nonetheless, I take umbrage at the statement that "...when there is danger in the world, Jews flee..." The record of herosim of American soldiers in the Second World War is almost unbelievable. We like to view ourselves as corpulent, slothful, indolent, and unfocused. Yet, incredible and inumerable incidents of bravery at Bastogne (sp?), and island hopping in the Pacific among just a few distinguish American soldiers as among the bravest in the world - and the American Jewish community was a large statistical component of these campaigns. Many goyim decry the absence of Jewish headstones in our national cemeteries, but this is not testimony to the absence in these campaigns, but Jewish soldiers wanting to be buried with family. I understand that the focus of your comment was Americans not participating in the IDF. I think this is more attributable to our national cultural consciousness than to lack of identifiication with IDF causes. America is a society of insant solutions. I returned from Italy, where many of the churches took four hundred years to build. The United States went from discovery of nuclear fission by Enrico Fermi in 1938 to the bomb in 1945 - 7 years later. We see something we like in a window, we don't ask the price and put down our credit card as an instant solution. Thus, I believe the long winded, wooly nd overinflated nature of the conflict, not absence of bravery has American youth recoiling from the cause, not it's merits. There are 81,000 American soldiers buried at Normandy and many Jews are among them. They didn"t flee in the face of danger _ I dare say we can celebrate Shabbat partly due to their efforts.