GAZA — For three hours on Wednesday, the guns went silent in the Gaza Strip. Ignoring military advice to the contrary, Israel momentarily halted its offensive against Hamas targets so that trucks could ferry humanitarian aid to civilians. Israel Defense Force soldiers rested a bit, grabbed a bite to eat, and mustered their strength for the battles ahead.
When they returned to the front, they carried with them letters written by people all over the world and hand-delivered by teams of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
Israeli Soldiers Carry Letters of Support Into Battle
GAZA — For three hours on Wednesday, the guns went silent in the Gaza Strip. Ignoring military advice to the contrary, Israel momentarily halted its offensive against Hamas targets so that trucks could ferry humanitarian aid to civilians. Israel Defense Force soldiers rested a bit, grabbed a bite to eat, and mustered their strength for the battles ahead.
When they returned to the front, they carried with them letters written by people all over the world and hand-delivered by teams of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
The letters, numbering in the thousands after just two days, have been collected by Chabad.org, and distributed by the Chabad-Lubavitch Youth Organization in Israel and its Chabad Terror Victims Project. For the past couple of days, rabbis and rabbinical students have been handing them out to soldiers and Israeli civilians living under the constant threat of rocket attacks, a sign of goodwill shown by foreigners to people on the front lines.
(To write a letter online, click here.)
“Dear soldier,” wrote one American high-school student. “The war you are fighting in the Holy Land has grabbed my full attention. I am standing behind you, and believe in what you are fighting for.
“You are my hero.”
