Blue and White: Shmuel Sackett

I am writing this article on an El Al flight back to Israel, having concluded a two-week visit with family and friends. New York – or at least the few parts that I saw – looked the same to me, with one new addition in the frum community that everyone is excited about: the 24-hour “Minyan Factory,” which allows you to daven any time you want. I must admit that these places are extremely convenient, and I davened in the “Non-Stop Minyanim” in the Five Towns and also in the brand-new one in Monticello on St. John Street. From mikvah to Minchah, and from Kaddish to coffee, these places offer everything am Yisrael needs – except one. Women are not welcomed in these minyan factories.

According to the IDF, 340 women have become widows and 780 children have become orphans since the tragic day known simply as “the 7th of October.” While most of us are trying to put the events of that day and its aftermath behind us, these young people cannot. Their lives have changed and will never be the same. 780 children will not have their father to play with, to learn from, or to walk them down the aisle. 340 women lost their soulmate, their best friend, and their partner in life.

Two unforgettable events exactly 200 years apart… completely different, yet magically the same. The “hand” of Hashem evident in both. Tremendously meaningful, historically earth-shattering, with deep significance to the Jewish people. We need to thank Hashem for both of these miracles: the establishment of the United States of America on July 4, 1776, and the Entebbe hostage rescue on July 4, 1976.

Everyone is complaining that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani boycotted the Israel Day Parade. The problem, however, is that Mamdani did exactly what 95 percent of Jews in the New York Metropolitan Area did: stayed away from the parade! How many Jews living in Boro Park, Williamsburg, Monsey, Far Rockaway, Flatbush, Lakewood, and Passaic attended the parade? Actually, there’s no need to even go to those neighborhoods. How many people from what are known as the Zionistic towns went to the parade? Outside of the parents who went to see their kids marching, how many Jews went to Fifth Avenue from Kew Gardens Hills, the Five Towns, New Rochelle, West Hempstead, Teaneck, and Englewood? Why do we insist on pointing the finger at Mamdani when Goldberg, Cohen, Shamilov, Sharabi, and Dweck stayed away?

I love chareidim. I love their simple way of life and modest living. I love the large families they have, their uncompromising dedication to Torah, and the respect they show their elders. I love the people they admire, the music they listen to, and the fact that most of them have never heard of Netflix, ESPN, or the Knicks. I love their chesed, their simple vacations, and their non-extravagant weddings.

We all love a good story, so let me jump right in with a few that should put a smile on your face. These all took place in various bomb shelters (“miklatim”) across Eretz Yisrael in the recent war with Iran.