Please pray for the Peace of Israel"  Psalm 122

[Chapter-1]

A rocket fired from Gaza hit Ashdod on Friday[18/07/14], causing a massive fire

near a gas station.  The day before, 194 rockets struck Israel.  At the time

this photo was posted on the Israel Defense Forces Facebook page,

Palestinian terrorists had fired 548 rockets in three days.

"Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city.”  (2 Kings 25:4)

While for much of the world summer is a time of joy, relaxation and vacations, for the Jewish People it is a time of mourning and remembrance of great loss, including the destruction of both the First and Second Temples.

In modern times in Israel, summer can also be a time of war.

In the summer of 1967, the Six Day War was fought.  During the summer of 2006, the Second Lebanese war broke out. This year follows the same trend.  In response to heavy missile fire from Gaza over the last month, which is reaching further into Israel than ever before, Israel has launched Operation Protective Edge to defend Israeli citizens whose businesses, transportation, and homes are being destroyed and whose peace is being shattered. Israel now stands in the midst of an existential battle as Operation Protective Edge rages on.  She fights back as her enemies pursue her from beyond her borders.  Each day sees hundreds of rockets and missiles raining down on all parts of the country.

As terrorist missiles continue to fall on Israel, Jews around the world will solemnly prepare for a fast that recalls historic tragedies that befell the Jewish People on the Shiva Asar B'Tammuz (בתמוז עשר שבעה), which is more simply called the Fast of Tammuz or 17th of Tammuz. Although the 17th of Tammuz begins at sundown, the fast begins at dawn tomorrow morning and lasts until sunset. In the midst of bombs blasting and windows shattering, people fast and lament a great tragedy—the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Romans under the command of Titus, in AD 70.

This melancholy day ushers in the three-week period of mourning called Bein HaMetzarim (Between the Straits), which culminates with Tisha B'av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Holy Temple. The fact that the current bombardment of Israel is coinciding with this time called Between the Straits is both distressing and chilling.

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the
Command of Titus, AD 70, by David Roberts