The Sderot Hesder Yeshiva has come up with a unique way to enjoy Super Bowl halftime. It is promoting a DVD so that football fans can see the blend of Torah study, fighting terror in Gaza and suffering rocket attacks.
The DVD idea was kicked off by Indiana native Josh Hasten, who handles public relations for the yeshiva and also is a football enthusiast. High school graduates enter "hesder" yeshiva to combine Torah study of approximately three years with an additional 18 months of service in the IDF, often in combat and tank units.
"The idea is to educate people about Sderot," according to Hasten, who moved to Israel in 2002. "There were 60-70 Sderot hesder students who fought in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, serving the country while worrying about rockets on Sderot."
Yeshiva director Rabbi David Fendel tells viewers on the DVD, "Hamas is trying to turn this into a ghost town and we are making it a community of Torah." The film shows yeshiva students in activities with Sderot children when a Code Red siren, warning that a rocket may land in 15 seconds, sends everyone running in panic for shelter.
Yeshivat Sderot will mark the construction of its new Beit Midrash (Torah study hall), among the tallest structures in Sderot and the world’s first Kassam-proof Beit Midrash, this coming Thursday, Jan. 29, with the participation of rabbis, friends and supporters from around the world.
With a background of ambulance sirens, the DVD gives viewers a close-up of damage to homes. Rabbi Fendel explains that the media reports "no one was injured" in a rocket attack but often omits that families' lives have been hurt by the random destruction.
"Every Kassam brings more and more young couples [to Sderot], and Sderot will be a Torah capital," adds Rabbi Fendel.
One moving moment in the DVD is a student-soldier relating his experience in the battle at Bint Jbeil in the Second Lebanon War. "A miracle occurred when a grenade began to roll towards his unit, he related. We ran and just as we got out, it exploded. They shot at us."
He marked the day a year later by marrying.
And now, back to the third quarter.
The DVD can be ordered here.