By: Chaya Sora Jungreis-Gertzulin

Sharon and I came from different backgrounds. I was the rabbi’s daughter, and Sharon grew up in a traditional home. Since her family were members of my parents’ shul, Sharon and I became close friends. As we got older, I shared with her the Torah knowledge I learned in TAG, and she clued me in to the goings-on in Lawrence High.

Many a Shabbos afternoon, Sharon would spend time in our home, becoming part of our family. To my mother a”h, she was Sara Leah, a reminder to Sharon as to who she was. And, with deep admiration, Sharon would call my mother “Big R” (for Rebbetzin).

Time passed. When Sharon was up to shidduchim, my mother was there with help and guidance. It didn’t take long for Sharon to meet her chosson, Izzy. They shared a common love for Eretz Yisroel, and planned aliyah. It was with great hopes and dreams that they made the move with their then toddler and newborn sons.

The years passed. Boruch Ha Shem, their family grew.

Then came October 7 — a date etched in the heart of every Israeli, every Jew. A day that would change life for Sharon and her family forever.

Sharon’s son, Meir Chaim, a reservist, answered the call to be there for his people, his country. Meir Chaim was in a tank when it experienced a direct hit. In the aftermath, Sharon poured her pain into words, publishing an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post that brought me—and many others—to tears. It is the story of a mother’s pain.

I am sharing excerpts of Sharon’s article “Our soldiers are dying off the battlefield”:

“My son has no mirrors in his house. He smashed them all. His wife has only a few slivers of her grandmother’s treasured china. That, too, he shattered.

My granddaughters don’t know if they will walk into the living room and find their loving Abba – a man who cried at National Geographic documentaries – or a violent stranger, who flings things across the room, to defend himself from an enemy who isn’t there.

The warrior who defended the nation for twenty-five years now times his supermarket trips for ten minutes before closing, when it’s emptiest. The same man who once searched deserts and cities for missing persons with his rescue dog, sometimes doesn’t leave his house at all.

Since 2001, my son has served in miluim (reserve duty), leading dangerous missions as an officer. He injured his knees, his hearing, his right shoulder, his right hip – and now, his peace of mind. His soul.

This war has been cataclysmic. We count our dead and wounded, but we too often overlook the ones still suffering in silence. For veterans, their battle didn’t end with demobilization. They are constantly on alert, for sudden movement, for noise, for threats that don’t exist.

PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is not a weakness or mental illness. It’s a brain injury caused by trauma, damaging the mechanism that tells the brain what is dangerous and what isn’t. For PTSD sufferers, their minds are doing exactly what they were trained to do: survive. But now, in civilian life, that same mechanism betrays them.”

Sharon’s pain is the pain of so many mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. The pain of husbands, wives and friends.

We are almost two full years into this war. So many lives lost. Hostages that have not yet come home. For them and their families, life will never be the same.

In the Torah, Rosh Ha Shanah is called Yom Teruah, a day of sounding the shofar. Targum (Vayikra 23:24) translates teruah as “yevava – a moan, a wail. The Talmud (Rosh Ha Shanah 33b) teaches that the wail of the shofar is like the sobbing of a mother.

A mother’s cry. The Hebrew for cry is bechi. The numerical value of bechi is 32 (beis=2, chof=20, yud=10), the same value as lev, a heart (lamed=30, beis=2). For real tears emanate from the heart. The shofar’s wail is our heart, crying out to Ha Shem – Tatty, Abba, Daddy, I’m hurting, I’m in pain, HELP!

The Rosh Ha Shanah Torah and Haftora readings also speak of cries to Ha Shem. On the first day, we read that Ha Shem answered Sora’s prayers, cries from the heart, for a child. In the Haftora of the same day, we read of Chana, who cried out for a child. On the second day of Rosh Ha Shanah, the Haftora reading tells of Rochel me’vakeh al bo’neh’hah, Rochel crying for the pain of her children, for Am Yisroel. Rochel is Mama Rochel, a mother to us all. Our anguish is her anguish. In the heavens above, Rochel is still crying for her children.

But her tears are not in vain. Ha Shem comforts her by saying “Min’ee kolech mi’bechi, v’eiy’nayich mi’dimah, Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, ki yesh sachar lif’u’lasech, for there is a reward for your accomplishments.” (Yirmiyahu 31:16) There is hope for the future.

This year, as the shofar is sounded, close your eyes and cry along with it. Let its wail pierce your heart. And daven. Daven for yourself, for your family, for Am Yisroel. Have in mind all those undergoing challenges and difficulties.

R’ Shimshon Deutscher shared a beautiful thought with me. The oncoming year, 5786, in Hebrew is spelled tuff-shin-pey-vav. If we rearrange the letters, it forms the word shutaf (shin-vav-tuff-pey), meaning a partner. This Rosh Ha Shanah, let’s turn to Ha Shem, and ask Him to partner with us. Ha Shem, we cry out to You and we ask You to help us get through this difficult time. May all our tefillos be answered l’tova. May the wails of the shofar, accompanied by the cries from our heart pierce the heavens above.

As I write these words on Monday morning, I learned of yet another terrible terror attack that tragically claimed the lives of six precious souls, six brilliant lights extinguished from our nation. May Ha Shem provide refuah to the injured, strength to their families, and nechama to those who lost loved ones. May these be the last korbonos.

May this article be for a refuah sheleimoh for Meir Chaim ben Sora Leah. And, may Ha Shem wipe away the tears of all who cry out in pain.

Shabbat Shalom!

Chaya Sora

Chaya Sora can be reached at csgertzulin@gmail. com

This article was written L’zecher Nishmas /In Memory Of Ha Rav Meshulem ben Ha Rav Osher Anshil Ha Levi, zt”l and Rebbetzin Esther bas Ha Rav Avraham Ha Levi, zt”l