Endless?

alus is a term that connotes so much suffering — homelessness, disunity, persecution, destruction, and much more. These components of galus cause us pain, but they are not the worst of the experience. There is another factor that causes us the deepest hopelessness and despair, and that is the endlessness of our exile.

Seeing a “light at the end of the tunnel” can carry us through even the most grueling situation. A person who knows that getting his life on track will require some extraordinary effort, but that the effort will pay off, is usually willing to endure the suffering. People are willing to work day and night to establish a business, earn a degree, or raise a family. Someone who is ill is willing to endure treatments and surgery that are painful but potentially effective. The prospect of better days ahead keeps him going. However, if he feels that his life will be endless drudgery, with no end to the toil, he will despair and refuse to move forward.

It has been just about a half a year since our world was shaken by the terrible events that occurred on Simchas Torah. The first emotion was shock, followed by fright, then anger. Israel began to fight furiously and heroically, with an unmatched intensity and bravery. We bombed tunnel after tunnel, killed commander after commander, and wrecked installation after installation. Day after day, week after week. It is now six months later, and there is no sign of reaching any end. Every tunnel leads to another tunnel, every lair to another lair, and there seems to be an endless number of Hamas fighters.

But that is only one aspect of the endlessness. Even if we succeed in killing every single Hamas fighter tomorrow, there will be another generation of Hamas fighters under this name or that name. And when we finish in Gaza, Lebanon has an endless supply of Hezbollah soldiers. And Yemen has Houthis. And so on and so on. Can we even be sure about the countries that signed peace treaties with us?