Finding comfort: We are all alive today

In times like these, one feels a sense of helplessness, of unworthinesss. How many of us, were we fit and trained properly, would be willing to go to the front lines, or send our sons to the front lines, knowing we or they might not return?

We are here, at Shabbos Nachamu, looking for comfort, and yet the words of Eichah 1, “There is no comfort” (repeated four times in the chapter), are what resonate. How can we be comforted when so many young men, true giborim (heroes) fell at the hands of the enemy?

And so there is no comfort.

We have read of a Hamas plot for this coming High Holiday season that may have been averted on account of Operation Protective Shield. If true, it might be a slight comfort. But who knows? I, for one, would rather have every one of these soldiers and teenagers back now, and deal with the next challenge when it comes.

Alas, this is the price of war. Fallen soldiers, lost sons, brothers, fathers, husbands, fiancés, and families bereft.

And yet, the nation is united. From the left to the right, Israelis support this war and understand its validity and necessity. When a bereaved mother can say “Am Yisrael Chai” (the nation of Israel lives!) and that “ahavah t’natzeach” (love will win the day), a world of sensible people looks on with admiration and in awe.

The Torah tells us, “You, who cling to Hashem your G-d, you are all living today” (4:4). The translation doesn’t do justice to the Hebrew “chayim kulkhem hayom.” You are all chayim.

The specific context of that statement was Moshe speaking to the generation about to enter the Land of Israel. Their parents had lost a connection with G-d on account of the Golden Calf and the sin of the spies, but the present generation Moshe was addressing had never sinned in such a manner.

Why does Moshe tell them they are living? Obviously, if he’s talking to them, they are alive! Because the concept of living has different meanings. The first definition of “living” is obvious to us all —blood flowing, brain functioning, a person who contains the breath of life. Living also refers to what we are doing with our lives. We may be alive, but is the life in which we exist one in which we live it to the max, with meaning and of purpose and goals?