Has the world changed, or has it always been this way?
Your child is overseas when a war starts. The United States government is evacuating its citizens from the country. Is there any question of what to do?
In any other country, of course not. Why would you keep your child in a war-torn land? But for us parents with children learning in Eretz Yisrael, the answer is not so simple.
We have both a daughter in seminary and a son in yeshivah in Yerushalayim. While we decided from the beginning of the war that our children will stay, I admit that I’ve had wavering emotions surrounding that decision. Despite my convictions, my feelings often respond in turn to the news I’m exposed to or the chizuk I’ve heard or seen. And then there’s the biological response that creeps up on me even when it’s a good day, even when “I’m feeling fine.” My body tells me otherwise.
My tight chest developed the day the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City was hit and the media was eager to jump at the opportunity to blame Israel. And since then, it’s been all downhill for the Jews. It’s no exaggeration to feel that the world has turned against us. That we don’t know which colleague or neighbor is against us. Has the world changed, or has it always been this way? Have we been living in a bubble cushioned from the truth all this time? My tight chest comes and goes, day by day, surprising me when no triggers seem immediately apparent. It must be because I’m living in a different world than the one I inhabited a month ago.
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