All it took were for these souls to open their eyes and see what Hashem was showing them
There’s a deep fundamental lesson in this blessing. When Hashem lifts His face to you, when He allows you to see His works, then you’ll be filled with peace. Open your eyes to what Hashem’s showing you, and you’ll find shalom. (Rav Yeruchem Boruch Reich, The Shtieble)
My maternal grandfather ztz”l was a kohein. Though small in stature, Zeidy was larger than life with his booming laugh, his zest for living, and his all-encompassing love for every Yid. He was my kohein gadol indeed.
A true story: At a recent wedding in Israel, the grandfather got up to speak. His face shone with hadras panim, framed by a white beard and classic Yemenite peyos. The patriarch of this large family of bnei Torah, he related how, as a youth in 1949, he’d trekked through the dangerous desert to be airlifted to the new State of Israel, joining Operation Magic Carpet.
These pure souls expected to find Mashiach when they arrived. Instead, they found a militantly socialist bureaucracy bent on secularizing the “primitive” new arrivals. To this goal, many of these youth were sent to secular kibbutzim to isolate them for indoctrination. These victimized souls were transformed and modernized into the “New Jew.” Their treatment, unfortunately, became a dark stain in our history.
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