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Last week we married off our daughter, our eldest, to a wonderful young man, in the hills of Jerusalem. The groom, like our daughter, chose to leave the place he was born and return to our ancestral homeland. He chose to bravely serve his land. Even though it is only days after the wedding, he continues to do so as I type these words. (The sacrifices our children are making for Israel is awe-inspiring.) In our families, both the bride and groom have two sets of baal teshuva grandparents - Jews who were raised more secularly and chose to adopt observant lives. That made the celebration uniquely special. While Jews are under attack with increasing frequency, gunned down, burned up, fired at by missiles, the mood of the wedding was exuberantly joyful. Here, we weren't only fulfilling the dreams of our ancestors from millennia past, who saw Jerusalem's destruction but only whose prophets spoke of its rebuilding, the bride and groom, the grandchildren of those baalei teshuva who forged their way back, continue to actualize the hard work and determination of living committed Jewish lives that have only recently been rebuilt. The links of tradition had been lost in our families, but with every new generation they are now fortifying. How can we fret about the Jewish future when we were witnessing its joyful growth? Last week's Torah portion was Numbers. It is called Numbers because of all the counting of the tribes of Israel. Twelve brothers, in a matter of generations, became a mighty nation. All four sets of grandparents in their humble ways also built back generations that continue to grow. In an age of increasing intermarriage, assimilation and loss of Jewish life, we were witnessing the next link of the Jewish future, building their lives in our land, dedicating their lives to our traditions, standing up for our people, and unapologetically serving our God with joy. May we continue to celebrate many more simchas, may our chasan and kallah merit to build a bayis Neeman (a faithful home) b'Yisrael and live to see a time where peace prevails over war. Mazel tov to our dear children! We love you so much and are so excited for your future together! 🎊 🥳