Internationally acclaimed actor Hugh Grant appeared on America’s Tonight Show with David Leno in July 1995 approximately 2 weeks after being arrested for “lewd behavior,” while sitting in a parked BMW with a prostitute.  With millions of viewers wondering how Leno would “break the ice” in Grant’s first public appearance following the arrest, Leno turned to Grant and simply asked, “what were you thinking?”

I’ve been thinking a lot about that incident since October 7, 2023.  In fact, just within the last few days, Leno’s simple question has been playing repeatedly in my mind, like on a constant loop, as I have followed the news.  Consider:

Last week another brave Israeli soldier, Will Shakin z”l, who as a lone soldier from the United States served with his Golani unit for over 2 years in Gaza, committed suicide. Apparently, Shakin was overwhelmed by the grief he felt following the death of his best friend in the unit, who was killed while serving a subsequent stint in Lebanon.  To add insult to injury (and in this case it really was an insult), the IDF refused to bury Shakin together with other brave soldiers in a military cemetery.  While standing among hundreds of beautiful young Israelis with machine guns slung on their shoulders and tears streaming down their faces at his funeral, I wondered what the person ultimately responsible for deciding where this brave soldier could be buried was thinking when he/she made the decision.

This week a school in Petach Tikvah informed parents that a student charged with participating in the premeditated killing of Yamanu Zelka z”l, a young army veteran who asked a group of rowdy youngsters to behave appropriately in a pizza shop, is being released from house arrest so that he can attend school with their sons and daughters. (Ironically, it seems this youngster may not have learned a lot in school prior to his arrest.)  Of course, a person is “innocent until proven guilty” in a democracy, but one might........

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