Missile Fire Sends Two Million Citizens Scrambling for Shelter
We began this week with a jolt.
Whenever there is a warning about incoming missile fire, the Home Front Command immediately announces the cities that are within range of the incoming missiles. In addition to the sirens that sound in the affected areas, the names of those areas are broadcast on the media as well. The Home Front Command notifications are broadcast on every possible medium, including radio stations. Even if a news interview or music program is in progress, it will be automatically cut off as the names of cities are announced; the broadcast will be punctuated, for instance, by a voice announcing, “Ashkelon. Ashkelon.” This usually takes only a few moments, but this time, a long list of cities was rattled off on the radio, including some in the center of the country. A total of two million Israeli citizens were forced to run to bomb shelters or other protected areas due to this alert.
It was Sunday morning, at 6:32 in the morning, and the following list of place names echoed over the radio: Ohr Yehuda, Givaton, Gamzu, Gan Shlomo, Gat Rimon, Chashmonaim, Yehud Monosson, Kfar Doniel, Kfar Rut, Lapid, Mevo Modiin, Modiin – Ligad Center, Modiin Maccabim Reut, Modiin Illit, Maas, Matityahu, Nof Ayalon, Netzer Sereni, Savion, Kiryat Ono, Rishon Letzion Mizrach, Rehovot, Shilat, Shaalvim, Nesher Industrial Zone – Ramla, Ragam Industrial Zone, Achisamach, Irus, Elad, Beer Yaakov, Beerot Yitzhak, Ben Shemen, Bnei Atarot, Givat Koach, Ginton, Yashresh, Ben Shemen Youth Village, Lod, Magshimim, Mazor, Matzliach, Nofech, Nachalal, Nachshonim, Nir Tzvi, Nes Tziona, Rinatya, Ramle, Chatzav Industrial Park, Tzrifin Industrial Park, Chevel Modiin Industrial Zone, Achiezer, Beit Dagan, Beit Chashmonai, Beit Nechemiah, Beit Uziel, Beit Arif, Bekoa, Bareket, Gezer, Ganei Hadar, Ganei Yochanan, Zitan, Chadid, Chulda, Chemed, Fast Lane Parking Lot, Tirat Yehuda, Yagel, Yad Rambam, Yatzitz, Kfar Bilu, Kfar Ben Nun, Kfar Chabad, Kfar Truman, Kfar Shmuel, Karmei Yosef, Latrun, Mazkeret Batya, Mini Israel – Nachshon, Mishmar Ayalon, Mishmar David, Mishmar HaShiva, Neot Kedumim, Nachshon, Naan, Sitria, Azarya, Pedia, Petachia, Tzafria, Kiryat Ekron, Ramot Meir, Shoham, Nili, Naale, Airport City, Ganot, Kfar HaOranim, Modi’in – Yishpro Center, and Ofarim.
Even if you are not familiar with some of the more obscure names on this list, you will certainly recognize the central locations of many of these places. Ohr Yehuda is near Bnei Brak, and you are certainly familiar with Modiin Illit (otherwise known as Kiryat Sefer), Rishon Letzion, and Rechovot. I’m sure you’ve also heard of Beer Yaakov (which is between Ramle and Nes Tziona), and possibly Kfar Chabad as well. Well, as you have guessed, the entire center of the country was exposed to air raid sirens on Sunday morning that required the local residents to rush to their shelters. I presume, though, that many of them did not even bother to do so. Of course, the siren sounded at Ben Gurion Airport as well—considering that Lod is one of the cities on the list—and the video images of people racing to sheltered areas in the airport were not pleasant to behold. We are all davening for a calmer week.
Interception Failure
But this was only the beginning of the story. There were two astounding aspects to this incident. First, it was only a single missile, yet it alarmed an enormous number of people throughout the country. Second, this missile came from Yemen. The missile’s travel time from Yemen to Israel was enough for it to set off a series of defensive measures throughout Israel, and it certainly should have been shot down by an interceptor. But it is not clear whether that actually happened. If the missile was indeed intercepted, then someone will have to explain why that occurred only when it reached the center of the country and not when it was first approaching the border.
Beyond that, however, it is quite astonishing that this missile fell in an open area. Can you imagine what would have happened if it had hit a much more crowded target, such as the airport? Or what if it had struck the army base that the Houthis claimed was its target, or the heart of a densely populated city? The missile exploded shortly before 6:40 in an open area in the vicinity of Modiin, which is fairly close to the airport and other heavily crowded areas.
Here are a few pertinent details: The missile had a range of about 2000 kilometers, enough for it to cover the distance between Yemen and Israel. It was towed by a truck from its place of storage to the launching site, and its target was preset; there was no way for its controllers on the ground to change its course or correct its trajectory while it was in flight. The preparations for the launch, which mainly entailed fueling the missile, took about thirty minutes instead of the usual several hours. The missile was launched vertically and entered a ballistic trajectory, which took the form of an arc or semicircle. It left the atmosphere with its motor still active and propelling it forward. During its flight, the first stage of the missile was detached and the second stage reentered the atmosphere after depleting its supply of fuel; during its descent, it continued accelerating due to the force of gravity.
Now, why am I telling you all this? Because it gives rise to an obvious question: If it took so long for the Houthis to prepare to launch the missile, what happened to the vaunted Israeli intelligence, which is supposedly monitoring everything that occurs in Yemen?
In fact, the Israelis should have been on high alert, considering that the missile was launched a few hours after the Houthi defense minister aired a threat to Israel on motzoei Shabbos. The Houthis subsequently claimed responsibility for the launch and warned that it was only the beginning, and that the timing should be considered symbolic. “We used a new ballistic hypersonic missile aimed at a military target,” a spokesman for the military wing of the Houthis said. “The missile wasn’t intercepted by [Israel’s] defense systems; it reached its target after traveling a distance of 2040 kilometers in 11 and a half minutes.” Then he added, “Israel should expect more quality attacks and operations from the Houthis as the anniversary of October 7 approaches.”
A Lesson in Humility
Israel insists that the missile did not take the military establishment by surprise. The Houthis, for their part, are displaying the missile in military parades in Yemen. The missile wasn’t actually developed by the Houthis; they do not manufacture ballistic missiles in Yemen. Their entire stock of ballistic missiles comes from Iran. The missile that the Yemenites call Toofan is actually the Iranian Ghader missile, which is an adapted version of the Shihab-3. For 25 years, the Arrow defense system in Israel has been repeatedly upgraded to ensure that it would be capable of intercepting this missile. But Israel hasn’t acknowledged that a failure took place this Sunday morning. The Israelis point to the air raid sirens that sounded when the missile entered Israeli air space as a sign of their success. In other words, we knew that the missile was on its way! The only surprise was the fact that it was fired at the center of the country (rather than Eilat, for instance, as has been the case in the past). The Israelis also claim that the fact that the missile had to cross a distance of more than 1600 kilometers, which meant that it traveled for a period of 13 to 15 minutes, also meant that we had advance warning of the missile’s arrival. Citizens in the center of the country generally have only a minute and a half to take cover after an air raid siren sounds, regardless of the origin of the missile. So there is no doubt that there was an attempt to intercept this missile.
The Houthis’ response should be of interest to us: “The Israeli enemy should refrain from relying on their defense system from now on,” they declared. “The enemy will not be able to anticipate the time and place of the upcoming operations. Yemen has acquired new technologies, some of which were used to attack American battleships in the ocean. The Yemenite army has studied the enemy army’s defense systems carefully, just as it studied the defense systems of the American battleships in the Red Sea.” The Houthis also announced, “This is only the beginning of the escalation. The air defense systems failed, and the Yemenite missile struck. The depths of enemy territory have effectively become completely exposed to us. First it was the drones and now the missiles, and neither was intercepted. The Zionist entity must understand that what will be revealed next will be even more powerful. We have the ability to bypass the enemy’s defense systems.”
This leads us to some important questions. Was the missile actually disabled by an Israeli interceptor, or did it disintegrate in the air? Regardless of the answer to that question, it is clear that the missile reached its destination and then landed in an open area. What remains unknown is whether that was because the missile was intercepted or simply fell apart in the air. For now, the IDF has admitted that they did not intercept the missile and that it disintegrated before it could be intercepted. Nevertheless, they implied that they would have shot it down if it hadn’t fallen apart on its own. They also insist that this accounts for the many areas where the sirens sounded—since the pieces of the missile scattered in every direction. But that isn’t exactly a sensible explanation.
What lessons should we learn from this? For one thing, we should realize that we, as mortal human beings, are so insignificant that we do not even qualify as pawns on a chessboard. Once again, we have been shown very clearly that despite Israel’s pride in its military and intelligence, its much-touted defense establishment has proven worthless. If Hashem does not protect us, the IDF can do nothing to shield us from our enemies. If Hashem decrees it, a missile from Yemen can reach the center of the country in spite of Israel’s advanced technology and all the warnings it receives. But at the same time, Hashem showed us that if the missile does make it past Israel’s interceptors and other defensive measures, it can still fall in an open area. And for that, we must give thanks to Him.
Mounting Tensions in the North
Meanwhile, things are heating up in the north. We have been hearing from word of mouth that many reservists are being called up to serve in the north. Netanyahu has decided that the residents of the area should return home after a long period of displacement, but he also knows that he will have to ensure their security for that purpose, even if it means launching intensive military operations. This past Shabbos, there was heightened military activity in the area. Dozens of missiles were launched from Lebanese territory into Israeli settlements in the Galilee and on the border, and the IDF attacked 140 targets in Lebanon associated with Hezbollah. That means that the hostilities have definitely escalated. On Sunday morning, about 40 missiles were launched from Lebanon, triggering air raid sirens in the Galilee and the northern Golan Heights, and the missile strikes ignited wildfires in open areas. A friend who spent Shabbos in Tzefas informed me that there is a general sense that they are in the middle of a war. We certainly appear to be experiencing the prelude to a war, and we can only daven that it will not materialize.
On Tuesday night, tragedy struck in the Gaza Strip when two IDF soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash, and another seven soldiers were wounded and evacuated to hospitals. It is believed that the helicopter fell apart due to a technical fault or human error. The incident began shortly before midnight, when the Yanshuf helicopter was launched from the Palmachim base to evacuate a wounded soldier from the area of Rafah. The helicopter was carrying a group of soldiers from Unit 669, who were summoned to evacuate a soldier wounded in the course of an exchange of gunfire between Hamas terrorists and the Givati Brigade, which recently replaced the Nachal Brigade in Rafah. An initial inquiry shows that the helicopter began losing altitude during the landing process and ultimately crashed into the ground. Two more helicopters carrying medical teams and soldiers from Unit 669, the IDF’s tactical rescue unit, were sent to retrieve the passengers. Two soldiers were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, and the other wounded soldiers were evacuated. This was the first helicopter crash during the current war in Gaza; however, the air force lost a helicopter on October 7 when it was hit by Hamas fire.
At the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke about the attack from the Houthis and about the events in the north. “This morning, the Houthis fired a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory,” he said. “They should already know that we exact a heavy price for every attempt to harm us. If anyone needs a reminder of that fact, they are invited to visit the Hodeida Port. Anyone who attacks us will not be able to escape our wrath. Hamas has already learned that lesson from our determined operations, which will lead to its destruction and to the release of all of our hostages.”
Regarding the hostilities in the north, Netanyahu said, “I am listening to the residents of the north. I speak with them and with the heads of the local governments there. I see their distress and I hear their cries. The current situation will not continue. It requires a change in the balance of power on the northern border. We will do everything necessary to bring our hostages home securely. I am committed to this, the government is committed to it, and we will not settle for anything less.”
A Bold Operation in Syria
Another newsworthy incident took place last Thursday, but due to the censor in Israel, I will have to base my reporting on foreign sources. The global media reported that Israeli soldiers launched a ground operation and managed to destroy an underground missile factory near the city of Masya, Syria. According to Axios, the raid was carried out by soldiers of the elite Shaldag unit of the IDF. The report added that the facility was built by Iran in collaboration with Hezbollah deep inside a mountain in Masyaf to make it impenetrable to Israeli air strikes, after most of Hezbollah’s arsenal of missiles in Syria had been destroyed from the air. The IDF had already begun planning a ground operation twice in the past, but the high risk led the army to scrap the plan each time.
The foreign media reported that Israel notified the Biden administration of their intentions before beginning the operation, and the Americans did not object. The Israeli soldiers surprised the Syrian guards at the installation and killed several of them, but no Hezbollah operatives or Iranian citizens were harmed during the raid. The Israeli forces then used explosives to blow up the underground installation, which was built by Iran in 2018. The facility had been under surveillance by Israeli intelligence for five years, and when Israel concluded that they would not be able to destroy it from the air, they decided to launch a ground operation instead. The factory’s destruction caused significant setbacks to the efforts of Iran and Hezbollah to produce midrange missiles in Syrian territory.
According to a different source, the raid took about an hour, and the Israeli forces entered the facility, carted off documents and important equipment, and rigged the factory with explosives before fleeing from the site. This report claimed that the facility produced ballistic missiles and drones for Hezbollah as well and added that the media outlets affiliated with the terror group weren’t yet reporting on the Israeli operation. Of course, the Israelis haven’t confirmed that the IDF was behind the raid. One of the reasons that Israel refrains from acknowledging these operations is to prevent the affected army from responding. If Israel boasted about the missile factory’s destruction, then Syria and Iran would feel compelled to respond. The Syrian media reported the incident and claimed that there were 16 fatalities and 40 people injured due to the operation. The Iranian foreign ministry labeled it a crime.
Commander of Unit 8200 Steps Down
The anniversary of the devastating massacre that began this war is fast approaching. Some will associate it with Simchas Torah while others will link it to the secular date of October 7, but the government has already decided to hold a memorial event, and there is already plenty of internal conflict over the proceedings, mostly concerning who will be in the spotlight and similar issues. Almost a year after the disaster, hardly anyone has come forward to admit their negligence, but no one denies that there were quite a number of failures, some of them horrific, on the part of various Israeli officials. For instance, everyone is astounded by the fact that the chief of staff of the IDF has not only remained in his position but is actually managing the war effort, as if nothing went wrong on his watch, and he is even appointing new officers who will command the army in the coming years. Both the IDF and the Shin Bet were guilty of massive failures on Simchas Torah, yet no one seems to be suffering the consequences for their negligence.
One thing on which there is complete consensus is that Unit 8200 in the IDF was guilty of a massive failure that played a major role in causing hundreds of deaths. The soldiers in this unit are essentially tasked with predicting the future. They aren’t neviim, of course, but they are given all the tools available to make accurate projections, based on various intelligence reports, documents, images, aerial photos, and other information that is placed at their disposal. Until the beginning of the war, they were laboring under the foolish misconception that held much of the defense establishment in its grip—that Hamas had been sufficiently deterred from future acts of violence. They missed all the warning signs, and they failed to predict the devastating events of October 7.
This week, the commander of Unit 8200, Brigadier General Yossi Sariel, notified Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi that he plans to resign from his position due to his role in the IDF’s failure. In a letter sent to the soldiers in his unit, Sariel wrote, “I did not fulfill my mission, and in spite of the expectations, I did not bring the intelligence gold. On October 7, at 6:29 a.m., I did not carry out my mission as I expected of myself, as my commanders and subordinates expected of me, and as the citizens of the nation I love so much expected of me.” His letter goes on to elaborate on what was and was not done, and he concludes, “Although I acted with great reverence and a sense of sacred responsibility, the worst of all happened nonetheless, and I beg for forgiveness. Please forgive me for not carrying out my mission as you expected of me, and as I demanded of myself. I know and am pained by the fact that we cannot turn back what has happened, and I bow my head.”
Sariel declared that his only interest is in seeing the hostages return home, a sad indication of the fact that he feels partially responsible for their abductions. His letter concludes, “For the past 342 days, the unit has been operating in combat mode: charging, focused, full of relevance, involved in thwarting attacks, providing warning information in seven combat sectors, participating in both defensive and offensive battles, and acting with internal integrity, with only one goal in mind—victory. During the war, we have made every effort to live up to our responsibility to implement the initial lessons from the failure of October 7th in various areas, especially against Hezbollah and Iran,”
Incognito Soldiers Arrest Terrorist in Chevron
The following story should give you a taste of what the army is capable of achieving with proper intelligence and siyata d’Shmaya: On Thursday night, soldiers from the Yamam counterterror division and the Shin Bet arrested a wanted terrorist with ties to Hamas who lives in Chalchul, near Chevron. The terrorist was involved in the explosion of a car rigged with explosives about a month ago in Palestinian territory and was injured in the blast, which was labeled an “operational mishap.” The soldiers nabbed the terrorist in the hospital where he was being treated for his injuries. According to Palestinian eyewitnesses, the IDF soldiers who raided the hospital were dressed like women and were wearing masks to obscure their faces.
The arrest, which was carried out by Shin Bet and Yamam forces, has an important strategic benefit for deterrence of future terror activities as well. Aside from the fact that it sent a signal to the Arabs in Chevron who had begun to show signs of brazenness, there was another message as well: Even though the blast did not injure any Israelis, and it was an attempt to create a bomb rather than an actual terror attack, the Israeli authorities take such matters very seriously. It is no secret that the defense establishment is concerned about the uptick in terror in the vicinity of Chevron and has been taking steps to quash every attempt at terror as soon as it begins, especially during the tense period prior to the Yomim Tovim.
The explosion in question took place at the beginning of the month; the car was rigged with two large gas tanks attached to a detonator and was discovered and neutralized at the entrance to the Israeli community of Ateret. The suspicious car was first spotted at 4:30 in the morning, and sappers from the police force and the army were summoned to deal with it. A source in the defense establishment later reported that the alert citizen who noticed the car had thwarted a massive terror attack. On the night before the car was spotted, a double terror attack involving two rigged cars was also narrowly averted. The first car exploded at a gas station at the Gush Etzion Junction, and the terrorist, who managed to leave the car, was eliminated by Israeli forces at the scene. Another terrorist infiltrated the nearby settlement of Karmei Tzur minutes later, driving another rigged car, but he was quickly eliminated by a member of the community’s security patrol, who followed him in his own car and deliberately collided with the terrorist’s vehicle.
Israeli intelligence is constantly monitoring our enemies’ activities, and the Shin Bet receives a steady stream of information, which then prompts counterterror operations. The most recent operation, in which a wounded terrorist was plucked from a hospital in Chevron, was meant to serve both as a deterrent to future terrorists and to ensure that this malefactor receives his due punishment.
Over 300 Road Deaths in 2024
I have already reported to you that the year 2024, which isn’t over yet, seems to have become the deadliest year yet on Israel’s roads. While it’s true that there are more cars on the roads today and people tend to be under greater pressure, that still does not account for the phenomenon. The real cause is often a total lack of regard for human life, which is truly deplorable. Last Thursday, for instance, one news program reported, “This has been a deadly morning on the roads. In the past few hours, four people were killed in traffic accidents, and a fatal accident took place last night at midnight on Route 431, which took the lives of two women in their sixties. Around 6:00 today, there was a fatal accident on Route 20 involving two trucks. A young man of about 25 years old, who was driving one of the trucks, was killed on the spot. At 10:00, another deadly accident took place in Yerushalayim on Rechov Golda Meir, in which a 25-year-old motorcycle rider was killed instantly. In addition to those accidents, other incidents have occurred on the roads in the past few hours.”
Parenthetically, Golda Meir Boulevard in Yerushalayim is known as a particularly dangerous road.
Four months ago, I came across a news blurb that was eerily similar: “On Thursday [at the time] five people were killed in traffic accidents. Two men in their fifties were killed when their car, a Porsche, flipped over and caught fire on Route 90 between Kalia and Avnat in the northern Dead Sea area, and three men in their thirties were involved in a car accident between two vehicles on Route 6 northbound, near Kiryat Gat.” According to the Ohr Yarok traffic safety organization, 309 people have been killed in road accidents since the beginning of 2024, whereas the death toll in road accidents during the same period of 2023 was only 259. That indicates a 19 percent spike in fatalities; better yet, if we count people rather than percentages, these figures indicate that 50 more individuals have been killed on the roads this year than in the same period last year.
The Folly of Judging Others by Their Appearance
Last Monday evening, I attended a siyum on mishnayos in honor of a yahrtzeit. One of the participants, who was in the middle of a year of aveilus, asked if anyone still needed to daven Mincha, but most of those present had already davened; only the aveil and four other men needed a minyan. “You would need six people who haven’t davened yet to form a minyan,” the rov told him. “Otherwise, you won’t be able to lead the davening.”
The man went out to the street to see if he could find a sixth mispallel for his minyan. To his chagrin, there was only one man in the street: a bareheaded, potbellied gentleman wearing a thick necklace, who was busy loading soda cans into a vending machine at the entrance to the shul. When the visibly secular man was told about the situation, he agreed to join the minyan. A couple of the other mispallelim whispered to each other that they weren’t sure if it was advisable to include him in the minyan; after all, perhaps he wouldn’t respond amein to the brachos, and he wouldn’t really daven at all. Nevertheless, the aveil felt that he had no choice but to include the stranger. To everyone’s surprise, the man withdrew a large black yarmulke from his pocket and placed it on his head, and when the time for Kedushah arrived, he recited the words flawlessly.
After davening ended, the stranger was invited to join the participants in the siyum and to sample the refreshments. Once again, one of the tzaddikim present for the event voiced a halachic concern; if the newcomer ate without reciting a brocha, it would be a violation of lifnei iveir to provide him with food. Fortunately, the man recited brachos aloud, and then he even asked for permission to deliver a dvar Torah. “There are two pesukim in Az Yoshir that seem to be at odds with each other,” he intoned. “One posuk says that Bnei Yisroel walked ‘within the sea on dry land,’ while the other states that they walked ‘on dry land within the sea.’ Why don’t the two terms appear in the same order in both pesukim? The Kli Yokor explains,” he continued in a triumphant tone, “that the Jews at that time were on varying levels of emunah, and some of them waited until they saw the dry land before entering the sea, while others trusted Hashem even more.”
We were duly astonished by the visitor and ashamed of ourselves for having judged him. We found ourselves focusing our gazes on the air conditioning vents in the ceiling or the fish on the table—anywhere other than his face. And he wasn’t done yet. “Both pesukim go on to state that the water was like a chomah—a wall—on either side of the people,” he continued. “However, in the second posuk, the word chomah appears without a vov, so it can be read as cheimah—wrath. That is because the people who did not have complete emunah incurred Hashem’s anger.”
Our discomfort grew deeper as he continued to speak. How could any of us possibly have suspected that this man, who had just delivered an elaborate dvar Torah, would not know enough to answer “amein” upon hearing a brocha?
In a similar vein, a yeshiva bochur told me that when he arrived at a major event for bochurim in Yerushalayim at the end of bein hazemanim, the security guard at first refused to allow him to enter the hall. After a brief argument, the guard, who was wearing a cap and did not appear particularly Jewish, and certainly was not visibly religious, said to him, “Tell me a vort, and I’ll let you go in.” The bochur was astounded by the fact that this man was even aware of the concept of a dvar Torah, but the guard did not stop there. Holding out his phone to the bochur, he pointed to the legend that appeared beneath his name whenever someone sent him a message. This legend consisted of the three Hebrew words “mayim acharonim chovah.”
“You see,” the guard explained, “I am in touch with hundreds of people, and this is how I give them the zechus of learning a halacha. I am always being asked to explain what these words mean,” he added. “There are some people who have never heard of mayim acharonim, and some who do not even know the meaning of the word chovah.”
The moral of this story is obvious: Any Jew, even one who seems profoundly estranged from his heritage, can sometimes surprise us with his knowledge or connection to his religion.
The Father of Orphans
Yetomot shel Abba (Father’s Orphans) is a recently published Hebrew book that I found riveting. The book tells the story of a remarkable individual who has gone down in history as one of the legendary tzaddikim of Yerushalayim.
There were a few great men who played key roles in rebuilding the Jewish nation after the Holocaust, such as the Satmar Rebbe and Rav Aharon Kotler. The subject of this book is another such man—Rav Yechiel Fishel Weingarten, who made a profound contribution to a scarred generation. Reading about his accomplishments brought tears to my eyes. Every chapter featured a story highlighting his extraordinary achievements, along with some personal comments written by his children.
The first chapter begins with the following description of an incident that occurred in the orphanage he founded: “Shoshana liked to dream. The food in front of her would grow cold at mealtime, but she seemed to enjoy spending time immersed in thought before every spoonful of food. So it was that when the crowded dining hall grew nearly empty one day, Shoshana found herself nearly alone in the large room. A movement at the other end of the room suddenly shook her out of her reverie, and she was astounded by what she saw. The new girls, Mirale and Chanale, two sisters who went through an arduous journey before escaping from the burning continent of Europe, were stuffing their pockets with all the bread that was left on the tables. Shoshana focused her gaze on her plate, but when the two girls left the room, she followed them, taking great care not to attract attention. The sisters hurried to the end of the yard, casting glances in every direction and then beginning to dig beneath one of the benches. Shoshana took up a position behind a strawberry tree, and her eyes widened as she watched them burying the bread in a pit. Realization dawned on her: The sisters were concerned that they might starve, and they were hoarding food to sustain themselves in the event of a crisis.”
Rav Yechiel Fishel and Rebbetzin Shifra Weingarten took many scarred and shattered young girls and helped them recover their physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial stability. The girls in their orphanage realized that they could view the couple as surrogate parents and role models. One of their students, Yaffa Cohen (today known as Yaffa Deri), related, “The principal was an educator, an understanding man who considered it a great privilege to care for orphaned girls…. As a young girl in the institute, I always watched him and hoped that I would be able to emulate his accomplishments one day. Something in my soul wanted to follow his example of doing good for others. I remember that as a young child, I took a coffee can, made a hole in it, and began collecting coins so that I would be able to loan money to other girls who wanted to buy treats.”
Rav Fishel was a father figure to Mirale, Chanale, and hundreds of other girls, providing support and sustenance until they were successfully married to bnei Torah. He had no formal education, but he had a powerful heart. Seventy years of altruism are reflected in the personal testimonies of eighty women whose personal worlds he was responsible for rebuilding. As a rule, he strove to provide them with even more than they would have received if they had grown up in homes of their own. The former students attested that they were happy and content during their years under his care, despite the difficult circumstances. Their stories illustrate the degree to which Rav Weingarten was a master of chessed and had a keen understanding of what they lacked. Over the years, with his great sagacity, he managed to rehabilitate many wounded souls. His former students attested that he never grew angry, but he was also extremely determined. His institution earned a reputation for its success in every area. The book is an extraordinary overview of the accomplishments of an extraordinary man who founded an extraordinary institution. Rav Yehoshua Weingarten, the author and the son of Rav Fishel, produced a masterful work that will provide inspiration to its readers.
