Our annual Belev Echad Gala was, by every measure, a spectacular success.
Despite the cold and dark, on one of the busiest weeks of the year, just days before Thanksgiving, we drew a crowd of 1,500 supporters to the most prestigious hall in New York City.
And not just our “regulars” either - these were people from all walks of life and every stream of Judaism.
What brought all these people together? The energy in the room that crackled with electricity. The shared goal of supporting our brothers and sisters in the IDF. The inspirational high that we’re still riding over a week later. The feeling of being part of something larger and more meaningful than the humdrum of daily life.
And we succeeded! Together we raised $5 million for Israel’s wounded heroes. That alone is a breathtaking miracle!
But let me pull back the curtain for a moment and show you what actually happened behind the scenes, because the truth is far more humbling - and also far more inspiring.
Anyone who has ever planned an event will have some inkling of just how much work goes on behind the scenes, and as our biggest annual event, we literally spend all year putting the pieces into place. Just producing our videos takes six months. From concept to shooting to editing, finding the right music, re-editing … and lots of tears and sleepless nights along the way! But the end product makes it all worthwhile.
There was one video in particular this year, a masterpiece, the highlight of the evening. An emotional, raw, and heroic story of a soldier whose life we helped save, told in a truly unique way.
This was the video we believed would make the biggest impact on our supporters. This was the story we knew would inspire people to really understand what we do and why we do it!
And then … live on stage … in front of 1,500 donors … as we finally played the highly anticipated video, the sound completely vanished!
Just like that. With no warning and no indication what was wrong.
Did someone accidentally pull out a cord? Did the system glitch? Or was it perhaps sabotage? Maybe an anti-Israel worker backstage?
It seems we may never know. It's been almost 2 weeks and nobody has answers.
But there we were, in the middle of the gala, and our most precious moment—the one we were relying on - was suddenly completely irrelevant.
Our team had to instantly pivot and regroup.
Months of work disappeared in a heartbeat but there was nothing we could do about it.
And that wasn’t the only disaster!
About halfway through the event, a worker unplugged something while dismantling the outdoor registration tent. Well, that “something” was actually two giant screens in the gala hall which instantly went black, leaving half the room unable to see!
Another colossal mess-up. Right in the middle of the program, in front of 1,500 people expecting perfection.
At the moment, all I felt was stress, disappointment, and pressure to fix things as quickly as possible.
But when I reflected on it afterwards, I realized there is very clearly a lesson here.
You plan. You plan some more. You rehearse. You spend a year obsessing over every detail - the chairs, the flowers, the lighting, the timing, the videos, the book - everything.
But at the end of the day?
We do not run the world. We are not in charge. G-d and G-d alone does that.
He decides which moments shine, which moments crumble, and which moments remind us Who is really in charge.
And truly, despite all the glitches, the evening was a smashing success!
People didn’t care. Many didn’t even notice. What they did feel was the heart and soul we put into it. The energy. The unity. The immense sacrifice of our IDF heroes. And the deeply important mission of Belev Echad.
Because when we do our best, G-d lifts the event onto His shoulders and carries it the rest of the way.
Our job is to show up and put in the effort. And we did! We worked hard, we sweated, we hustled, we gave it everything we had.
But then, we have to step back, let go, and remember that ultimately, things will happen as He wills them, which is, of course, ultimately, for the best.