Army Service as the Antidote to the Mourning of the Omer

By Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander

As they gathered at an army base preparing to enter the Israel Defense Forces, my son, along with thousands of other new draftees, sang songs of Torah, dancing with the joy and passion often reserved for weddings and other celebrations.

The celebration stemmed from marking the beginning of their IDF service, a biblical and moral mandate that they all realize. In addition to the songs, tears and parental blessings, groups of Talmud students soon to become soldiers completed the last lines of various tractates and made siyumim, the celebrations that mark the completion of a tractate of the Talmud. I personally participated in a siyum on the Tractate of Shabbat in one corner of the courtyard and another on the Tractate on Makkot.

One experience could not be sep