The Long and the Short of It

Well - hot off the press, here are the pictures. First, the short of it. These are still pictures of the ceremony taken when Shmulik had his swearing in ceremony. Below is the video. It's rather long - 10 minutes - the kind of video perhaps only a mother (or grandmother...or grandfather...or aunt...or uncle...or sister...or brother) would watch - if you want the short of even the video - advance ahead to the last minute.

Shmulik in the middle - with rifle and Bible

And a smile, from my son.

The long and short of it was that it was a beautiful, meaningful, precious moment. A moment when our present (defending our land) comes together with our past (our commitment to our religion, our people...symbolized by the Bible), comes together to set the path for our future. I hope one day soon, the gun will not be necessary...but I don't have much faith and so three years ago, Elie made his promise; this year, Shmulik made his...and some day in the not so distant future, my third son will likely stand up to make his - A promise to defend the land of Israel, the people - from the sons of Israel.