P r a y

Please, forget the politics.

It doesn’t matter whose side you are on, but right now, a young nineteen year old soldier, wounded and scared, is wondering whether he will ever see his family again.

Yesterday morning, the early mists and fizzling sunshine couldn’t have prepared him that for losing two of his friends and then being taken against his will by the enemy.

What went through his mind as he was walked away, bleeding and against his will into the waiting car? Do we really want to know?

Now, our breaths are together with his. The heartbeats of a country and her people, near and far are synchronised with his. We await and we pray that Gilad (Ben Aviva) Shalit will be returned to his family as soon as possible.

Our prayer is that this young, young man doesn’t become yet another statistic on the blood-soaked board of names.

I ask you, whoever you are and whatever you faith you hold, that you pray for the imminent and safe relief of a child who has become so transfixed in our minds over the last day and a half. May our wishes rise us to G-d and may He in his merciful way, ensure that Gilad lives to see another day.

Amen.