apologies

 

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” - Benjamin Franklin

Rebbe Avraham Mordechai Gottlieb on Gaza

 

and another good yid:

Lee Elmer Handley

 

Lee Elmer Handley (July 13, 1913 – April 8, 1970) was an American professional baseball second baseman and third baseman.

Jackie Robinson named Handley, who played for the Phillies in 1947, as the first opposing player to wish him well,^[3] and stated that he even apologized for the behavior of his teammates, who were acting on instructions of Ben Chapman, their manager, who was racist.^[4]

Is Torah learning in Eretz Yisrael more valuable than Torah learning in Chutz La'aretz?

 Rav Avigdor Miller: Now, it's well known that the avirei Eretz Yisrael is machkim. However, you have to learn everything with perushim. If a person goes to Eretz Yisrael and doesn't learn, then the avirei Eretz Yisrael won't be machkim him. If he has the same opportunities there as here, then he'll succeed more over there. But if he has more opportunities here, he shouldn't go there.

Le'olam yadur adam bimkom rabbo. Man should always live where his rebbe is. Because Ezra never wanted to forsake Bavel as long as his Rebbe, Boruch ben Neriah was still in existence. And although Eretz Yisrael is waiting for him, Anshei Knesses Hagedolah, and binyan Beis Hamikdash, he didn't go. Because building yourself up is more important than building a Beis Hamikdash! Building yourself up. And he sat with his rebbe as long as his old rebbe was still alive. Only after Baruch ben Neriah passed away, then Ezra went to Eretz Yisrael.

And therefore, it's important not to make any mistakes. And people go to Eretz Yisrael just because of Eretz Yisrael. But to sacrifice opportunities that they have elsewhere, they have to ask and take counsel before they do anything like that.

I know cases where Gedolim said, "Do not go to Eretz Yisrael." Even Rav Yisrael Salanter, zichrono livracha, told people not to go. They have to understand where it is better for you in ruchniyus.

And therefore, a person shouldn't just pick himself up and go. He has to find out if that's a place where he's going to succeed in ruchniyus.

(September 1992)

The toll war takes takes on soldiers

Saw this on Quora. It applies in Israel just like anywhere else:

What's the saddest thing about war?

The toll on the non-combatants.

The challenge is that you are often sending teenagers into these battles, with no life experience, giving them huge powerful weapons and telling them to go shoot.

Vietnam was a good example among many. This man, Gene Simmers, served in the war and later died in 2022. He put this on his tombstone:

I couldn’t find details on this incident, but learned he got a silver star for helping his teammates, and for fighting heroically in battle.

But—it’s clear that he is still haunted by whatever went on in Vietnam while he was there. Maybe he mistook her for an enemy or she was caught in crossfire. Who knows?

Which is also why I think it’s important to support veterans. We send them off to war and they are forced to do terrible things, and then, when they come back broken inside, they are so often abandoned.

It is as General Sherman once wrote, “It is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”