Just hours after landing in Israel, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto held a Torah lecture and Selichot Wednesday night at the home of soccer player Maor Buzaglo.
About twenty IDF soldiers who were wounded in the recent war in Gaza, including severely injured soldiers, attended the special gathering. During this meeting Rabbi Pinto turned to the wounded, spoke with them at length, and after several moments his voice broke and he burst into tears: “You have united the people of Israel.”
At the very beginning of his remarks Rabbi Pinto said: “You are great righteous men. We are shamed when we look at your faces. You gave your lives for the people of Israel. You gave your bodies, you gave everything. What faith you have, what devotion to God. A faith that cannot be imagined or described.”
Rabbi Pinto added: “There is nothing like the people of Israel, who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth. The Holy One, Blessed be He, chose us and elevated us above all nations. We are entering Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), we have gone through a difficult year, but we are certain that the outcry of the entire people of Israel has risen to the heavens.”
With great emotion, he spoke of the pain of the period: “How can one stand before the cry of a mother who buried her child. The cry of small children who see their father being buried. The cry of a young man without legs and arms. It is a pain and a cry that rises to the heavens.”
He also told of a meeting he had in New York with Captain Ziv Shilon, who was critically wounded during an operational activity in the Gaza Strip: “Three weeks ago a righteous man from the Holy Land came to us in New York, without arms. What faith he had in the Holy One, Blessed be He. That entire Friday night we could not sleep, only to think of his faith. We cried and shed tears all night. These are things that exist in no nation, only in the people of Israel. The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave us the strength that no other nation has.”
During the meeting, some of the soldiers shared with Rabbi Pinto the course of treatments they are undergoing. One of them spoke of a possible nerve surgery. The rabbi replied: “We do not understand medicine. We do not understand anything. We know how to break the heart, to cry to the Holy One, Blessed be He, and to love. Our heart is broken. Broken to see you. We do not understand medicine, we do not understand anything, but we have a broken heart and a depressed spirit. We are ashamed to look at your faces.”
To a soldier who spoke of difficulties in rehabilitation, he said: “There is pain and there is suffering. Pain is when it hurts, and many times a person takes pills and the pain passes. But afterwards he enters suffering, and suffering is harder than pain. One must know to distinguish between them. The mental strength is what lifts you and allows you to continue. And it is amazing to see that with great inner strength you succeeded to begin walking on two legs.”
Another soldier said he was only 20 years old, after a severe injury. Rabbi Pinto answered him: “I have tears in my eyes to see you. You are righteous and holy. Strengthen yourself in spirit and in faith. You will rise, you will walk, you will marry and reach all the good in the world.”
Rabbi Pinto repeated again and said: “You have united the people of Israel. There was nothing that united the nation as what you have gone through. You are the righteous who are in distress, you are the holy ones. All the people of Israel know this.”
During the conversation, Rabbi Pinto also expanded on the pain of the hostages still held in Gaza: “The captives are like those whose legs were cut off. It cuts the soul of the parents, of the children, and of the entire people of Israel. The people of Israel are in great sorrow. Whoever is bound in captivity is as if his soul was cut off. Whoever thinks that at this time he can rejoice and travel - commits a most severe transgression.”
Towards the end, he added: “Our heart is broken, broken to see you. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, is proud of us, and we are proud to be His servants. We are servants of God who bow before Him and accept everything with love and awe. We all must pray, we all must break the heart before the Holy One, Blessed be He. And you, the soldiers, you gave the people of Israel the greatest gift, unity.”