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| Shul with a View |

The Heaven-Sent MRE

“We were called up this morning, so all we have is army rations,” he said

 

AT a Thursday evening shiur I was giving at the shul, one of the participants asked a question about leaving his computer on all through Shabbos to periodically check the newsfeed.

After going through a brief discussion of the possible halachic issues involved, I asked cluelessly, “Why are you asking this now? Things seem relatively quiet.”

Everyone looked at me and said, “Rabbi, Israel is attacking Iran!”

I managed to get through the shiur. I was even able to maintain my late-night chavrusa by phone with someone who lives far outside any Jewish neighborhood. But I barely slept on Thursday night.

When I awoke early on Friday, I realized that for all the anxiety I had felt the last 20 months, this morning, the worry and the fear would soar even higher.

By the time I spoke to my son Tuvia, he was already wearing the uniform of the Israeli Defense Forces. He said goodbye to his wife and three daughters and the comforts of his home and, with the words of Dovid Hamelech on his lips, “Hashem is He Who girds me with strength,” he proudly left to serve and protect the Jewish people.

In addition to his commitment to defending the Jewish people, Tuvia is standing by another commitment: He has never missed a day of learning the daf. It is part and parcel of his daily routine, even if he has spent the entire night in full battle gear on a life-threatening mission. And with the help of his rebbi, Rabbi Eli Stefansky, he remains as devoted to his Torah learning as he is to the defense of our Holy Land.

I spoke to him not as a father to his son but as a man who owes his life and the life of his grandchildren to the courageous man on the line.

It was 10 a.m. here and 5 p.m. on the army base. Tuvia, along with the entire country, had been awakened at 3 a.m. by the notification that the attack had started. Tuvia got another call at 4 a.m., however — to report to his base.

We didn’t have much time to chat. I asked him if he and the other soldiers had food for Shabbos.

“We were called up this morning, so all we have is army rations,” he said. “Canned tuna fish and crackers.”

My heart went out to him and his fellow soldiers. Here, I would be enjoying hot Shabbos food and sleeping in a comfortable bed. Tuvia would be eating an army-issued MRE (meal ready to eat) and sleeping, at best, on an army cot, or worse, in his jeep — or not sleeping at all.

Only on Sunday did I find out that his good friend, a wonderful Jew named Avrohom Moshe Gruner from Ramat Eshkol, had taken action. Somehow, Reb Avrohom Moshe had become aware of the 100 soldiers on the base without Shabbos food.

Though he is not particularly wealthy, he ran to a local caterer and placed an order for over $500. In a turn of events that only Hashem could have orchestrated, Reb Avrohom Moshe managed to find a soldier in Yerushalayim who was heading to that base.

As the sun was about to set on Friday, 100 IDF soldiers — some who were shomer Shabbos and others who weren’t yet — enjoyed a truly heaven-sent MRE together, all because of the caring heart of one Jew from Ramat Eshkol.

 

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1067)

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