As American Jews, we pause at this Veteran’s Day to honor the country which has truly been the land of opportunity for our people,  and we take a moment to appreciate those who are and have been defenders of our freedom.  We stand in awe every day of their sacrifice and pray for them and their families.   We who are blessed to have been raised in freedom must never, ever take that gift for granted.  When she returned from twenty-eight days of living under a military dictatorship, Diana Sowards had a renewed appreciation of her blessing.  She writes that, “Freedom is. . . not having to report to the police that you have a houseguest overnight;” Freedom is. . . studying what you are interested in at the university and not what the Education Board orders you to major in; Freedom is. . . traveling anywhere you want without asking permission from four different governmental agencies; Freedom is. . . not hearing a friend has disappeared and is thought to be held by the police but no one knows for sure.”  The list continues, but how many are the blessings of freedom and how tragic that so many have been called to give their lives to defend them.  

The struggle within ourselves is the ultimate battlefront, and the passion of the soldier for his or her cause is the same passion we must bring to the fight for good against evil in ourselves, in our communities and in our world.  Our character is formed by the small daily decisions of right over wrong, and it is at these moments that we build the foundation of our future actions. Each of us is responsible for our portion of tikkun olam, repair of our broken world.  This is ultimately what we strive to transmit to our students.

War always has been and will continue to be a necessary evil, until that blessed day when peace prevails, and we can truly beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.  Bernard Katz, a B-17 bomber co-pilot in Italy during WWII, describes his motivation to risk his life in a moving essay entitled, “Why I Fight; A Serviceman’s Story.”  “I fight”, he challenges us, “because it is an obligation, because free people must fight to remain free, because when the freedom of one nation or one person is taken away, the rights of all nations and all people are threatened; because--through our elected representative--I had the choice; to fight or not to fight . . . I fight in the fervent hope that those who follow me will not have to fight again, but in the knowledge that if they have to, they will not be found wanting in the crisis.”

 Our democratic way of life carries with it an awesome sense of responsibility.  On this day, when we pay tribute to those who defend these United States of America, we pray that our country may continue to be a beacon around the world to all those who yearn for “freedom and justice for all.”  As we celebrate Veteran’s Day this year, we pray that government of the people, by the people and for the people never cease from this earth.