Another Type of Great Awakening?

I cannot prove that last point based on any concrete statistics or surveys. At best, I can offer a pointillist presentation of some encouraging signs. In terms of numbers, one can point to the tens of thousands of tzitzis requested by soldiers and eagerly provided by the religious community. Ramat Beit Shemesh alone sent 14,000 tzitzis. And 2,500 soldiers received mehudar tefillin purchased by a group of American balabatim, after committing to lay tefillin every day.

In a clip of a woman calling in to a Chabad Center, she tearfully begs for Shabbos candles and someone to come to teach her what to do and what brachah to make, as she has never lit Shabbos candles before. The religious partners in Kesher Yehudi’s chavrusa program report that their study partners are increasingly open to religious observance. Not that they are willing to listen to discussions of Shabbat observance or taharat hamishpachah, but that they are initiating those conversations with such phrases as, “What can I do for Klal Yisrael?”

Sometimes the conversation begins with the nonobservant partner asking, “How do you calm your children at night?” The sensitive ear will not fail to understand that the real question is: “How do you calm yourself at night? Please share some words of emunah.”

An avreich active with Lev L’achim in Ashkelon, a city not far from Gaza and under constant rocket attack, sent his family to live in Bnei Brak, but decided himself to stay behind, so great was the demand for his abilities among those who suddenly found themselves with an abundance of time on their hands and wanted to learn Torah. In another clip that circulated widely, a large group of soldiers, some with kippot, some without, dances enthusiastically, with their arms around one another, to Lecha Dodi.