From Marriage to War...

Yoni Ben-Menachem posted this picture on Facebook with the following information:

עומר ואיתי היו אמורים להינשא אתמול בעמק חפר, אך איתי קיבל צו 8 ששיבש את התוכניות. מפקד המחלקה שלו הציע לערוך את החתונה בשטח כינוס: "בהתחלה חשבו לעשות חגיגה בלעדיי, אבל הבינו שאי-אפשר לחגוג בלי הכלה", סיפרה עומר. "איתי שאל אם אני רוצה להינשא לו היום, עם כמה שינויים - צעקתי לו כן!"

Omer and Itai were supposed to be married yesterday in Emek Hefer but Itai was mobilized and this changed their plans. In the end, Itai asked Omer if she wanted to marry him today, with some changes. She shouted YES...and was married outdoors with Itai's unit as witnesses.

And so, in the middle of a war, a beautiful young couple marries. What a crazy world we live in...all over Israel, similar wedding are taking place. Babies are being born, children are learning, albeit remotely. People are going shopping, working, feeding their families and finding the strength to do the same thing day after day.

Deep inside, there is the terror, the fear, the anger. Deep inside, there is the pain, the agony. And many, if not most of us believe something has changed this time. When Eli came out of his very first war, I drove to pick him up. The very first words he said to me was, "Ima, they didn't let us finish."

Every time that we have gone to war with Gaza, responding to attacks and rockets, we've surrendered to international pressure and stopped. And once we did, international donations poured in, allowing them to "rebuild" - but what were they rebuilding? Their arsenal. Their rocket collection. 

So life goes on, even amidst the worst tragedy we've ever suffered. Life goes on...and people are getting married...Married - and then getting ready for war.