Tuesday, at the "Tzon Kedar" farm near Ma'ale Adumim was the wedding of Miriam Shani and Ofek Dotan. I met Miriam a short time after her husband fell — Captain Uri Shani, on Simchat Torah. We will never know how many people were saved thanks to his resourcefulness and courage, and that of the team he commanded, in valiant battles that lasted long hours.
Miriam came then with their baby, Roi, to an event in memory of Uri. "Roi is just starting to walk," she told me. "I watch him trying to take steps, falling and getting up, and walking a few more steps and falling and getting up again. I look at him — and I think about myself. It's a message for me. It's a message for all of us. We have to fall and get up, to insist on continuing to walk and to grow."
I shared her words at the time, and they gave strength to many. This week, in a direct continuation of those words, I saw Miriam herself get up. Little Roi has long since been walking. He ran around among the guests, while his mother built a new home in Israel, with Ofek.
Anyone who was at that chuppah felt a special holiness that's hard to put into words. Here are just two sentences I heard there:
Shuli, Uri's mother, welcomed the guests with hugs. "Since Simchat Torah I've been praying for this moment. I said to God: we will cope, we will overcome, but Miriam — don't leave her alone."
Yehoshua Shani, Uri's father, heads the "Forum of Heroism," which brings together hundreds of bereaved families. He has a great deal to say — about leadership, about spirit, about unity — but on this evening he said nothing, only one sentence. The couple asked him to recite one of the Seven Blessings, under the chuppah.
Amen. Shabbat Shalom.
