The times ahead for Israel are not promising to be peaceful. There is always the threat of Iran, and then Olmert wasn't that off when he said that unless an agreement can be reached about the two-state model very soon, the ever increasing number of Palestinian will eventually cause the end of the Jewish state. Even if the solution will be a three-state model, as suggested by the ever beloved Dry Bones cartoon, I do believe that Jerusalem should be under international control: Jews should never again be prevented from access to their holy sites--and the same with Muslims and Christians should be true.

Too much has been already sacrificed for a peace that seems to never come. Just yesterday I was getting nostalgic for the summers I spent at my brother Chiram's. His stepson and stepdaughter were just around my age, and when he moved to a moshav on the Gaza Strip, this city boy was more than happy to spend most of his summers there. Even when my parents were living and teaching in a similar community I looked forward to spending the summer with Chiram.

That moshav is no longer. The houses demolished by the IDF, the synagogue where I spent many hours with my brother desacrated and robbed by the "new settlers", the moshav is now only a memory that is hidden away in the old photoalbums.

My great-nephew was just born. His brit milah will be on Tuesday. Expelees from the moshav--now mostly scattered in various communities, only a handful of them still together--will gather for this occasion. The first baby born since the expulsion. The firstborn son of one of them is now being celebrated with a bittersweet melancholy. Will he grow up in a free and democratic Israel? Will his life spent in peace or war?

Tonight we lit the sixth candle. The cold December night will be warmed by the six small flames in the window. They remind me of the miracles Hashem can and will perform for His children.