The right Mitzvah?

 There I was, finally on my way to a Shacharit Minyan at Moriah at 7:30, when I saw a soldier tremping at the bus stop I was walking past. I walked back to him and asked what was going on. He said his bus wasn't coming and he needed to get to the mall for a bus to base. I told him, wait here and I'll pick you up in 4 minutes. I ran home, put my Tefillin and Tallit down, and drove to pick him up. He was so appreciative and incredulous that someone who he doesn't know would do that for him. We had a great conversation on the way. I think it was a good way to begin the healing from the Dallas game that ended an hour before. 

Zayde says I did the right thing, even though that meant davening by myself in ten minutes at home. I also feel pretty good about it.

The Dallas Refs Again

 Sitting here stunned about what happened in Dallas just now. Luckily we already clinched but we could be the 2 or even 1 seed. I am disgusted and heartbroken for Taylor Decker. 

Literally, my big 2 were already up (I woke up at 3), we started jumping around excitedly (even Hadar who really enjoys tackles more than touchdowns). And then despair. 

Visiting my injured bestie

 Unfortunately, Matan was lightly injured in action this week. I immediately cancelled my plans for Wednesday, and got to drive up with Shai (so fun in itself). It was so needed to go visit. Even if he hadn't gotten injured, I would have gone to see him just from missing him and worrying about him since this all started. It was so good to just chill, hear from the inside what is going on, and just be there for him. You could tell he wasn't 100% with us, but that is understandable. 

He got a tiny piece of shrapnel in his arm. Luckily it didn't hit anything significant, which is why they will not be taking it out either. And he is foaming at the mouth trying to get back. We also ordered hamburgers, and got to see Tal and Hadar. 

Gosh I love that guy. Was so good to see him.  

A Crazy Day with Uncle Mo

 6:30: Moshe walks in straight from the flight with Yitzy, who I did not know was joining (great guy btw). Plays with kids

8:40: When I realized our babysitter was not coming (miscommunication between Shifra and myself).

9: When we drove down to Netiv Haasarah, ended up at Erez Crossing, and finally made our way to the Moshav through the fields (rental car)

10:15: A tour of Netiv Haasarah, A Moshav that had 3 paragliders come in. We saw the Migunit where a 78 year old woman was shot (the tiniest amount of blood still on the wall right under the bullet holes). We saw the place where a Kitat Konenut member was killed by a grenade. We saw a house where the family barricaded themselves in the Mamad for 5 hours. We saw a house that no longer exists because they shot an anti-tank missile at it, decimating everything. They couldn't even find any body parts to bury of the women. We saw the burnt out cars. We saw the Mamad where a heroic firefighter dad brought his kids, where he was kiled, and the bravery of his kids to run into the house with the mother. We literally saw smoke coming out of buildings in Gaza. And we stood the closest to Gaza in a Moshav that you can. We also saw the Wall of Peace which now seems cynical.

11:30: A tour of the remains of the Police Station. We heard testimoonies of the warfield that was there from policemen and Kitat Konenut members. Heroes who saved lives. They told us about rescuing two girls from a car after their parents had been shot, while under fire. They told us about the permission for an aircraft to bomb the police station because all Israelis inside were presumed dead. 

1: Visiting wounded soldiers in Barzilay hospital. We went to orthopedics, and heard stories, about bullets going into a hand, or grenades being blown up near them. All of them said we are winning in there. Yitzy is a magician, and he did some card tricks on them, which they loved. One of them was a magician himself, so he wasn't too impressed. But most meaningful was the one who we found out had literally not smiled since he came in a few days before, and was laughing heartily. We had a siren while in the hospital, and had to leave the soldiers to go to the shelter.

2:30 Lunch in a restaurant with heroes that are in charge of recovering bodies in Gaza. Somehow Moshe has a connection to a Rabbi who's son is in the unit. It was a delicious grill place, and was really fun.

5: Grilling for IDF barbecue in Reim (Ugdat Aza). It was fun, we were a lot of volunteers, and I did QA on the meat for my first time. Benjy came to say hi and get his herring (ew), was great to chat with him.

7: Drove to Sderot for another barbecue, met Dov and Ayala there, and also members of 613 acapella who I love. 

8: Drove back to Modiin

10: Collapsed and went to sleep

They Did It

 For the first time in my entire life, my Lions have won the division. We were watching the tight and intense game at the Segals. When Iffy got the interception, my dad and I jumped up excitedly and gave each other huge high fives. 

It is remarkable how far this team has come. From 0-16, to early retirements, to many screwjobs by refs, to Matt Patricia, to Stafford leaving, to SOL and now to this. Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes have their fingerprints all over this special season, with hopefully more to come in the future. I love this team so much. And this game was such a fun one. 

I remember every second of this regimes, from opening press conferences, to watching the drafts live, and every single play. From 3-13-1, to 1-6 to 8-2, and now to NFC North Champs. 

I bought myself a North Championship t shirt, and we donated a siddur to Shul in honor of the division win. Proud to be a Lions fan today. 

Go Lions!!

Barbecuing for soldiers - 10 live BBQ Milestone

 For the first couple of weeks of this war, we had anywhere between 10-15 grills constantly lit in Reut. You'd sign up for a couple hours, and go grill. It was fun, social, and felt like you were doing something positive. It was an impressive operation, and very necessary as the army prepared, but then it was time to go towards grilling on the bases. The org does it 8-10 times a week, I try to go 1-2 times a week. I loved to grill, and now I am enjoying being a team lead. Here are some of the ones that stood out to me, from oldest to newest. 

Fry's Pilbox - Was a very fun one, Shirli and I drove down (of course with red alert app and google maps on our phone) to south Har Chevron, and brought a ready made barbecue to Fry and his guys.

Neriya - My first live onsite one. We got to grill for the Kitat Konenut, who had already lost 4 guys since the operation started, truly bringing smiles to their face. It was fun to sit and eat with them.

Tel Nof - The biggest one, at a huge air force base. With 50 volunteers, and about 20 grills, we served 1300 soldiers over a 5 hour period. Was very fun, at times a littte stressful. My main takeaway was that I was on the grills for the entire time, and didn't get to interact with the soldiers at all, so I need to prioritize that.

Tene - We were supposed to grill somewhere, and it ended up needing to move. Luckily enough, it got moved to Ephraim's base. It was great to hang out with him and his friends again, and with Rav Lau and MoKo. 

Reim - I was sick so I missed that one. Really bummed.

Kiryat Shmona - I couldn't go, but I missed a rocket landing on the other side of the street. 

Aveni Chefetz - our old home, literally grilled outside the apartment we own. Got to meet our tenants for the first time, which was cool. It was fun to grill for soldiers (who were previously in Gaza and now sleeping in the shul there), and AW and MD, who happened to also be in AC at the time, came and hung out while we grilled. There was some crazy delicious Oreo desserts that VI made.

Mishmar Haemek - My first one for refugees, of Nachal Oz. See here.

Mitkan Adam - Just a 15 minute ride from Modiin. Strictest security policy to get in so far. I had a grill, and also got to sit with soldiers. A musician came and played music, it was beautiful to all sing together. The soldiers were shooting instructors.

Beit Chagai - A very small one in terms of volunteers, where we drove between Chevron and Halhoul to get there. It was for Miluim soldiers. It was fun to hang out with them by the grills, and hear about their activity. It was ES, RS, and me in the van. We gave extra food to soldiers at Tzomet Hagush

Yerucham - A chanukah party for displaced people and girls in Officer's training who came to put on the party. There was a DJ, nails, face paint, etc. I got to drive the van, and I had the pleasure of driving my in laws in it, which was tons of fun. It was great to interact with the people there, and hear about their lives now, their October 7th experiences, and show them that we are thinking of them. We made way too much food, and so we brought the leftovers to a nearby base of Handasa, who happened to not have gotten dinner that night. 

Beeri - My first as a team lead, which was fun. We didn't go as close to the border as we were supposed to (closed to Gaza than Beeri. because the Ramatkal was there, but we still got pretty close and got to cook for about 100 soldiers. Only 35 soldiers were on the original order, but I suggested we bring for 100 because there are tons of soldiers down there - and we had a great amount. It was fun to lead, and so special to feed soldiers literally 10 minutes before they were in Sajaeya (however you spell that). See here.

A tremendous Zchut and the appreciation and love we feel from them due to the appreciation and love they feel from us is incredible. Hoping to go to many more. 

Are we really doing this??

 With the war and everything going on, it is hard sometimes to focus on anything else. And the Detroit Lions have been something else that I could focus on. They won their tenth game of the year for the first time since 2016 I believe, and are on track to win the division for the first time in my lifetime. 

Beeri - get in the game

 I've been in the tunnel at Ford Field with the Detroit Lions, excitedly giving them high fives, waiting for them to run out onto the field. It's really cool to get the limited, behind the scenes view, and give them motivation to go do their best, and feel like you are part of the team.

And today, I felt a similar, though much more powerful and meaningful feeling. I got to lead a team of 20 volunteers at a Grilling For IDF BBQ for 120 IDF heroes between Be'eri and Gaza. Some soldiers were on their way into battle, while others had just come out.

It was fascinating to hear their stories first-hand, from the heroic ones, to the interesting medical ones, and all the way to the painful tragedy with the hostages on Friday. It was heartbreaking to see the burnt down houses in Be'eri, and the bomb shelters nearby sprayed with bullet holes. It made me jump every time we heard the biggest booms ever, only to realize that those ones were good booms each time.

But most of all, it was good to feel part of the team who is protecting us all. When we saw how these soldiers who had been through so much (these stories are mind-blowing), were so happy, thankful, and amazed that we would drive so far and to that location, just to tell and show them we love them. We brought smiles to the soldiers' faces, and the meat to their tummies.

Perhaps my favorite part were giving desserts to the trucks leaving right when we got there, who's soldiers would already be in Gaza by the time the grills were hot enough to cook on. They were incredibly grateful, and the love from Israelis will be as fresh in their mind as those delicious chocolate chip cookies (of course I had to taste one before I gave them out to make sure they were good).

What a Zchut to live in Israel, and to be players in the game, as my Daddy told a nervous 9 year old boy back in 2005 in Detroit.

10:02

10:02 PM, Saturday Night: 

What we said to them:

*soft voice* 

Hi Eitan and Hadari, Chaim Bibas is telling us to go into Meitali's room. Do you want me to carry you? 

What actually happened:

Hamas, a terror organization that lives close by, shot 10s of missiles at us, trying to penetrate through the iron dome defense and kill as many *actually innocent* civilians as they can. 

We can, and will, handle this. But let's ensure that by the time they are old enough to understand, they won't have to. 

תנו לצה"ל לנצח.