The volunteer activity was giving out food, hot coffee, goodies, thermal vests, neck warmers, underwear, deodorant, toothpaste, socks etc. etc. to front line troops. The two units we visited were an Artillery Battery of Regular Army troops and the front line command of the southern sector of the Gaza Strip. You can see how appreciative the soldiers were and it made us feel very happy being able to add a little comfort to their field conditions. These are the images from the war - these are the faces of war.

“Hamas leader killed, Arabs vow revenge.” ... They are threats of another intifada, about an escalation of the terror the Arabs have been unleashing for over a decade... For a moment I contemplate working from home for the next few days... And should I cancel my lunch date with my sister-in-law?

War. Such a horrible word. Born and bred in the U.S.A., I had never experienced War... But since making aliyah... I can count a succession of wars which are my "own"... I should be an experienced war trooper by now, right? Wrong. War is never what you expect it to be.

“Attention fellow shoppers. Just an hour away from our quiet little suburb, a war is raging. Rockets are falling, disturbing the evening routine, causing the soup to be abandoned and left to boil away on the stove as the family runs to the closest bomb shelter. Remember them as you eat dinner.”

Last night, as I was warming up some food for dinner in the microwave, something sparked inside of me when the microwave reached 30 seconds. 30 seconds. That's the amount of time that my parents, my brothers, my grandparents and my friends in Netivot have to save themselves. 30 seconds - the difference between life and death.

It was late one Saturday night when I arrived at the funeral home to wash and dress the body of an old Jewish man for burial... I was particularly inspired this night and was looking forward to this particular Tahara. This man had been described to me as a “Real Tzaddik” by a person who should have this knowledge, his wife of many years. She told me, in a heavy Yiddish accent, he had been a veteran of WW I and never missed a day of putting on his Tefillin while in the US Army.

You are a soldier on a battlefield, and find yourself locked in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy soldier. During the struggle you manage to wound him badly, rendering him unconscious and in critical condition. Now that he is no longer a threat to you, his status changes such that you are now obligated to try to treat his wounds as you would any wounded soldier.

It's the little things all around us that ad color to our day - so take heed of the signs all around you and go "slow", use "caution" and maybe even "stop" for awhile.