Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to meet the soldiers of the Nahal Haredi the other day. The meeting was very amamee, or informal and personal, as Netanyahu sat with the soldiers and shmoozed, hearing many stories of their experiences with both the army and the society the soldiers came from.

After listening to the stories and how many of the soldiers were first met with cold shoulders when they would go back home, and then after a few months people warmed up and accepted them "as is", Netanyahu spoke to the group. He related an interesting story about his grandfather.

Netanyahu said his grandfather in Europe was an exceptional yeshiva student. One day, he was at the train station with his brothers, standing in the cold and snow, and he was beaten by a gang of hooligans who also called him derogatory names such as "zhid". He was laying there in the snow not knowing if he would survive. He said to himself "woe to the shame, the children of the Maccabees, the descendants of King David, this is how we wallow in the mud without the ability to protect ourselves! If I will survive this and live, I will take my family and go to Eretz Yisrael and there we will establish a state and an army."

Netanyahu continued and said that this man, his grandfather, was an exceptional yeshiva student. Yet he did not see any conflict between the ideas. Faith is absolutely necessary, but "the sword" is also absolutely necessary. How will we protect Am Yisrael? How will we protect the Toras Yisrael? With the power of faith definitely, but we also have to hold the sword, the sword of David.

(source: Ladaat)