One final thought. So many prayers were offered for the boys in synagogues, in schools, at bar and bat mitzvahs, as we broke the glass under the chuppah. Were our prayers in vain? It was Rav Soloveitchik who once argued that God’s acceptance of prayer is a wish, a hope, but it is not prayer’s central core. He wrote, “The foundation of prayer is not the conviction of its effectiveness but the belief that through it, we approach God intimately…. the basic function of prayer is not its practical consequences but the metaphysical formation of a fellowship consisting of God and man.”
I would add that prayer is also the formation of fellowship and sistership between our people and all peoples. Our prayers these past weeks have not been in vain, as they brought us closer to God, closer to our fellow person, and closer to our boys, Gilad, Eyal and Naftali.