“ But in the end, in the face of incredible adversity, Eden Golan stood as a proud Jew, not a Jew with trembling knees, but one ready to take on the world, even if the world is blinded by hate and lies.”
What’s so “proud Jew”ish of stamping on the Torah? I’m a “proud Jew” with “trembling knees” as long as we’re in galus.
I don’t know how well the “younger generation” of DDF knows me, as I’m not nearly as active as I used to be. But those of you who followed Dan’s Instagram when he visited Israel might remember that I am a United Hatzalah volunteer, and Dan’s Instagram stories hinted at my involvement in October 7th.
Now let me tell you a little bit more about that. As an EMT, I accompanied a good friend who is a volunteer doctor for United Hatzalah down south on the afternoon of October 7th. We went between Sderot, Netivot, the Shuva Junction, and Be’eri, frantically trying our best to patch the bloody pieces of Israeli victims back together again. Throughout the day we dealt with over 350 severely injured patients, many of whom had injuries that would make you puke everything you’ve eaten since the 3rd grade, if I even
started to describe what they looked like. We saw everything from a guy who had brain matter leaking out of a bullet hole in the side of his head (shockingly still alive at that point), all the way to a guy who got hit by shrapnel in the groin, and - well, let’s just say it’ll be a miracle if he ever has children. 🤢
But besides for all the living, we also saw (and in some cases dealt with) hundreds and hundreds of dead people. Between Road 232, Road 34, Road 25… the roads were literally
littered with all manner of dead bodies. Literally, like a slalom course, we had to weave our jeep back and forth to get around the bodies without running over any of them. Men, women, children. Civilians, policemen, soldiers. Bodies that were riddled with bullets, bodies that were hanging out of crashed cars (where they were shot to death while trying to exit their disabled vehicles), bodies that were burnt to a crisp with only the skeleton remaining - even the body of someone who was shot in the back of the head at close range, such that his brains came out of his eye socket, and were just hanging there. (And that was a body that we actually took with us, for some reason… I had the horrible “pleasure” of sitting 18 inches away from his exploded head - wrapped, of course, but still - for the half-hour drive back to where dead bodies were being gathered.)
And do you know what all of these people had in common?
Every single one of them was murdered for one reason: for being a Jew. Nobody from Hamas stopped to check their level of observance, or to see if they’re “stamping on the Torah” or not. They didn’t ask how frum anyone was, nor what they felt about G-d and Torah. They simply came and distributed volleys of “lead poisoning” - and much worse - to everyone they came across.
And let me tell you something else… every single person who died that day, that way, is considered to have died Al Kiddush Hashem. Every single one of them - even the immodestly dressed women from the music festival - gets rocketed directly to the highest levels in shomayim, right next to Hashem, while the rest of us down here who struggle to make it to minyan on time are not even close to that. Yes, even the ones that drove on Shabbos (as many of them did), even the ones that had leftist viewpoints - every single one of them is a martyr who died Al Kiddush Hashem, and are on a higher level than all of us FFBs will ever be.
So tell me something… if they are good enough for Hamas to murder; if they are good enough for Hashem to gather close next to His Heavenly Throne - all because of the fact that they were Jews, even non-religious… don’t you think that ought to be good enough for you?! Eden Golan is standing up as a “proud Jew” with the same Jewish pride that would’ve gotten her killed on October 7th if she would’ve been there. And if she would have died, Hashem would hug her just as closely as all the other korbanos. So now that she chose to channel that energy and
live as a proud Jew - just not the way that
you would like - you’re gonna lose focus of the big picture, and squabble about the little things?! Nobody said you have to honor her at the Torah Umesorah dinner; but yes, she is standing tall as a
proud Jew (even if not a religious one), and she deserves to be respected and hailed accordingly.
