At the age of 18, virtually every Israeli male and most females are inducted into the military. Women serve for 2 years. In a land where hostilities have never totally abated, this is a time of fear. Parents dread the day their children enter the army. Many have shared with me that for the entire time their children are in the army, they don t sleep well at night.
Any phone call can be news of tragedy.
The people of Israel live with the dread of losing their sons, husbands, nephews, grandsons, and brothers. Many grew up without their father. This is poignantly felt as we read the following quote found in the memoirs of Moshe Shamir, which he wrote in 1968. My son is named after my brother who fell in the War of Independence. This was exactly 20 years ago, when the almonds of 1948 were in full bloom.