Week ending July 4, 2020 – 12 Tammuz 

Yisroel Yaakov Ben Avrohom Meir – My father’s 18th Yahrzeit

July 1 -3, 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg

July 4, 1863 – Day after the Battle of Gettysburg

Independence Day – Imperfect Men with a Perfect God

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Yisroel Yaakov Ben Avrohom Meir – My father’s 18th Yahrzeit

Friday, July 3, 2020 was the 11th of Tammuz, my father’s 18th Yahrzeit.  He died on a Friday, the same as this year.  I still remember getting a call from the nursing home to come as my father’s health is failing and that  he is short on this world.  I remember clearly being with him as he took his last breath in this world.  As his soul left him, one tear fell from his eye, seemingly a regret.  Lisa and I were in the room, with Karen on the phone.

Independence Day 2020 –

July 1 -3, 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg

July 4, 1863 – Day after the Battle of Gettysburg

This week was the 157th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg.  Unfortunately all celebrations, programs and battle walks were cancelled.  I hope one day to be at Gettysburg.  I watched as much as I could.  I really did not learn anything new.  I rewatched General John Buford’s great soliloquy to his second in command on June 30th 1863, the day before the Gettysburg Battle.  I did read up on  General Gouverneur Warren.  Gouverneur Kemble Warren (January 8, 1830 – August 8, 1882) was an American civil engineer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg and is often referred to as the “Hero of Little Round Top.”.

July 4, 1863 was a rainy day at Gettysburg.  The field was littered with dead soldiers and dead animals.  It was as if the heavens cried at the loss of life.  President Trump in his July 3rd Mt. Rushmore speech gave gratitude to the Union army at Gettysburg when they defeated Pickett’s charge.  Abraham Lincoln won the civil war, declared the Emancipation Declaration and paid for it with his life.

Imperfect Men with a Perfect God.

Right before Shabbos I was watching Fox news and they had the governor of South Dakota on.  She said a great line that is still reverberating in me.  The forefathers of America who were heroes were nonetheless Imperfect Men with a Perfect God.