Rabbi Conover Updated Blog

As I wait in JFK getting ready for the El Al pre-board experience, I’m reflecting on why I have been compelled to go to Israel right now. I bought the ticket just days after October 7. I could not articulate my reasoning well, but somehow my friends and family got it. I have to be there… to feel, to reflect, to help, to relate. In addition to the two duffel bags I packed with needed medical packs and other supplies, I’m traveling with two teachings in my pockets. From Rav Joseph Soloveitchik: If boiling water is poured on the head of a Jew in one part of the world, a Jew in another part of the world screams out in pain. With suffering this acute and this fraught, I cannot scream from so far away. And from the Talmud: It is taught that one of the questions we are asked on the day of judgment: Did you anticipate redemption? I take this to mean: Did you believe that things so seemingly intractable could change and did you do anything to create that change? That second teaching challenges me every day. I pray that going to Israel at this time will help me get closer to responding, “Yes.”