Two and a Half Tribes writes:
Your brothers will go to war and this is all you will do???? (Last week's parsha)
As an American oleh who was obviously rally-crazy during my American days, it came as a shock to comprehend not simply the embarrassment these rallies cause on the part of most Israelis for their lameness, but the true animosity that this is what the Anglo Saxons do in time of war rather than anything serious and halachically commanded --like send your sons and daughters at least to help out in sherut leumi during wartime when the support services are beyond break-point.
I now have 2 children in the active war zone, and fully feel that same animosity now.
I'll let Woodrow give the only possible response:
[Rallies aren't] for the people in Israel, but for us (i.e. the people attending). It gives us a chance to come together as a community, to build relationships, to remind us that we aren't alone in our feelings about Israel. Kind of like the difference between davening at home and with a minyan.
And here's my own take:
What sinas chinan destroyed, achdus can rebuild. According to Jewish tradition, the Temple wasn't destoyed because women went around with their hair uncovered. It was destroyed because Jews treated each other badly. When Jews come together at rallies, or to say tehillim, they are repairing the rift between communities that, per the Talmud, brought about the original churban.
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