I sit writing by a lone candle in an ancient apartment in the Old City of Jerusalem, with a cluster of notes in front of me as the thoughts pour in. Memorial Day in America is usually celebrated with a barbeque and a picnic. In Israel it is a bit different. Wednesday evening and Thursday mark Yom Hazikaron this year, Israeli Rememberance Day. It is a day of sadness for the entire country. There isn’t a single Israeli who does not know someone buried on Mount Herzel, Israel’s military cemetery. Tens of thousands of people stream towards the Mount during the day, carrying candles, flowers, but mostly a heavy heart. They go to pay their respects to their friends and family who fell in the line of duty. An eternal flame burns before the Western Wall today, as it once did in the Temple and then in synagogues for hundreds of years.
As the sun sets over Jerusalem, an air raid siren sounds for a minute of silence. A sudden hush falls upon the city; all conversation stops, cars stop on the highway and their drivers get out and think about their fallen comrades. As my eyes tear, my thoughts turn to Yoni Netanyahu. Yoni was not a religious man in the traditional sense of the word. But he was a man dedicated to his country, with a deep conviction about his role in Jewish history. Yoni was the Harvard educated mastermind behind the daring raid of Entebbe in 1976, when Israeli commandos stormed an airport in hostile Uganda to save the Jewish hostages contained therein. On July 4, 1976, Yoni sacrificed his life at the young age of thirty to save 103 Jewish hostages. I guarantee you he has a seat in heaven amongst the most distinguished rabbis in history. Seeking some insight on this black day, I flip through the pages of his letters. I come across a letter written to his parents on November 17, 1973, amongst the ashes following the tragic Yom Kippur War. He writes:
“…I see with sorrow and great anger how a part of the people still clings to hopes of reaching a peaceful settlement with the Arabs. Common sense tells them, too, that the Arabs haven’t abandoned their basic aim of destroying the State; but the self-delusion and self-deception that have always plagued the Jews are at work again. It’s our great misfortune. They want to believe, so they believe. They want not to see, so they shut their eyes. They want not to learn from thousands of years of history, so they distort it. They want to bring about a sacrifice, and they do indeed…
“And yet, how strong and how great is the nation at moments of crisis. You can’t imagine how the fingers tighten into an iron fist when the threat of violent days approaches. The entire people-young soldiers, lawyers, doctors, clerks, laborers-all turn into tankmen and infantrymen, pilots and sailors. They aren’t reserves who’ve come from “another world,” but an integral part of a strong and united army. Amazing how we succeeded in establishing this fact, of the whole people being an army.”
These words were written nearly thirty-five years ago, and they ring true to this very day. Today, the vultures are perched at every one of Israel’s borders, waiting to feast on the carcass of a country that’s left over when the Western powers finish giving it away, piece by piece. Today, as then, America is pressuring Israel into committing act directly contrary to her security. Jewish liberals are still deluding themselves into thinking that the Arab greed for our land can be satisfied. In October of 1973, thousands of Syrian tanks poured into the Golan Heights unprovoked. The Israelis trapped their were nearly massacred. To this day, you can go visit the “Valley of Tears” in the Golan Heights. For the nineteen years that the Heights were in Syrian custody, artillery shells rained on northern Israeli population centers and Israeli workers in orange groves were shot at by snipers. Yet, today there is a large American Jewish representation that wants the blood shed in the Valley of Tears to be in vain, and to return Northern Israel to the perilous life she once led. But if we listen to Yoni’s prophetic words, if we finally learn from thousands of years of anguish, Israel still has a chance of surviving.
Today’s Torah portion discusses Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In regards to Rosh Hashanah it says, “It will be for you a day of rest, a shofar blast as a reminder.” (Leviticus 23:19) The Sages elaborate that the shofar blast is a reminder of Isaac’s willingness to sacrifice himself on this very day thousands of years ago. My first thought as I read of the shofar blast is the sounding of the siren for a minute of silence. Isaac was willing to sacrifice himself then, and many Jewish men have actually sacrificed themselves for the Jewish people since then. Today we must rest and remember the sacrifice we paid to be able to live in our precious Holy Land.
This year, as every year, the question arises: Why is this day of mourning held the day before Israeli Independence Day, a day of great joy? Because that is the Jewish way. Our happiness would not be complete if we did not remember our fallen soldiers first. There must be dark before light can be appreciated. My dear friend and brother Yitzchak Meir Malek lost a close friend in the Second Lebanon War named Mike Levine. In the closing words of a song in memory of his fallen brother Mike he writes, “Don’t live life to live, live life to give.” We must remember the true purpose of our lives as Jews. We must remember those who sacrificed their lives for this great country and not let their deaths be in vain.
One begins to wonder if all the heartache and blood was worth it. In the closing words of his last letter ever, Yoni Netanyahu writes to his girlfriend, “It will be okay.” Even after all the pain, all the agony that bears upon us in order for us to live as Jews in our Homeland, we must remain optimistic of the future, like Yoni did. As I watch the flame flicker out as I write, I think of the perseverance of the Jewish people, despite all odds. “It will be okay.”
With Love from the Holy Land,
Elisha
