I Left My Heart in Eretz Yisrael
Fri, July 28, 2006
Israel Solidarity Shabbat – As Israel Defends Herself Against Hezbollah Attacks from Lebanon Shabbat Devarim
On July 12th, I arrived at Ben Gurion airport anticipating a wonderful week of study at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. Our alumni class on Sectarianism in Judaism was set to begin on Friday, and I had plans to visit with all the new rabbinic students and with Susan Faulkner-Warshaw, our fifth year student who was also studying at the college. All was peaceful. This was the best summer for tourism and student tours in Israel’s recent history. Word had it that it was a great summer for Lebanon, as well. The King David Hotel, a few doors down from HUC bustled with activity and the streets were full of tourists. I felt safe. I jumped into speaking Hebrew. I was home. You have no idea how wonderful it felt to walk the streets. I had received a generous donation before I left for silver for our new Torah and I shopped and found rimmonim, a breastplate and a yad, which have all arrived here at TBS from Jerusalem. The Wall left me cold this time, but the city seemed more friendly and safer than I had remembered.
Sitting in an air-conditioned HUC classroom in Jerusalem on Day 7 of the conflict before my fellow classmates arrived, I opened my notebook and began to write:
“Looking out on Jerusalem stone with the “wall”, not the Kotel, the Security Wall in the distance, the world is black and white rather than shades of stone. Hezbollah needs to be eliminated – ridiculous calls for cease-fire – fruitless and careless, but so western – another simple fix offered to a world that will never see or understand shades of gray. Who shall live and who shall die?
The Torah requires us to save our lives, to defend ourselves. Those who randomly kidnap and send rockets across borders without provocation are unworthy of cease-fires. Governments, like Lebanon, and citizens who allow themselves to be puppets of terrorists and nations of evil have blood dripping from their impotent hands. I don’t want to hear about their suffering. How careful Israel is trying to be. But, how do you fight an enemy that puts rocket launchers in backyards and stockpiles rockets in apartment buildings? And for now, public opinion is with us… but for how long? How long will Israel’s right to defend herself, her children, her borders be heralded? How long will the anti-Semites of Europe, and the terrorist sympathizers of the Middle East allow Israel to receive the righteous indignation of the world? How soon will Israel, the victim be victimized once again?
I am not in a miklat, a bomb shelter in my beloved northern Israel where I went to high school. 1400 hundred rockets dropping on the place I feel most at home in Eretz Yisrael. Haifa my favorite city is under attack.”
Last year my sons studied on the hill of Haifa University and I stayed in the Carmel mountains where Elijah used to hide. In Jerusalem, we feel totally safe, life goes on as normal. Shops are busy and restaurants are full. Women walk safely alone at night and everyone feels so connected. These amazing people have drawn a line through the country. How normal our lives seem as family members are called up to the reserves and young soldiers with their cell phones call their mother from the border to say that they are on Israeli TV.
The old generals say Israel is not prepared adequately for such a war. Israel can fight nations, but terrorists, these Hezbollah terrorists have been preparing for years with funds from Iran and rockets from Syria. Why now? Young 25 and 30 years olds are talking about their “first war”. They have not seen their nation so united. Their lives have not been on the line in this way. My friend’s 41-year-old brother was called up to the reserves. Isn’t that too old to serve? But, with the number of Israelis living outside the land, and the ultra-Orthodox yeshiva boys refusing to serve, every single soldier is precious. How they mourn each life. I cry at night as watch the news stories. They tell about every detail of the fallen soldier’s life. Each one is a treasure and deserves a sacred memorial. How much we Americans have to learn about honor to our fallen dead.
And I write President Bush a thank you note through the Jewish Liaison office. He is a hero in Israel. No ceasefire…what for? To give Hezbollah time to rearm and reload? Not this time. You go George! All I care about is Israel’s safety. Nothing else seems to matter.
I felt safe in Jerusalem, and I am sorry for all of you who worried. I felt guilty that I was eating in restaurants and studying in air-conditioned classrooms while my brothers and sisters in the north were underground in shelters or fleeing with few personal belongings to the south. Even our Israeli professors felt guilty teaching us about Jewish division and sectarianism at a time when all Israelis were truly united.
On behalf of our family and our TBS community I wrote checks to help pay for food and to help children in this difficult time. The Friday night before I left, many members here gave me money. If you give tzedakah money to someone when they travel to Israel, they travel safely. Now, that money is helping an autistic child be resettled south of Jerusalem, and feeding those who have had to leave their homes and lives in the north. Who could have known?
Israelis are amazing. They are resilient and courageous. They are strong and realistic. And the Israeli Arabs are also upset with Hezbollah. The taxi drivers complain that this war will ruin the best summer they have had in years. The rockets hit Arab children in Nazareth. All of Israel mourns.
I open the Torah and it says in this week’s portion:
“The Eternal your God has given you this country to possess. You must go as shock-troops, warriors all… Do not fear them, for it is the Eternal your God who will battle for you.” (Dt. 3:18, 22)
How I wish I could believe that God is battling. I pray that God is sustaining those who are defending our beloved land.
If Canada indiscriminately launched rockets into Chicago and Detroit, we would attack with full force to protect our cities. I don’t want to hear the words “disproportionate”. You let terrorists take over your country. The UN did nothing to stop them. The UN has done nothing to see that they would disarm. I have no use for a federation of nations that turns a blind eye to terrorism and acts complicitously with nations who promote it. We know that the terrorists set up bunkers near UN peacekeepers and the peacekeepers did NOTHING. I don’t want to hear it. Jerusalem to Haifa is like here to Kings Dominion. We wouldn’t hear the rockets or feel them, but the fear would overtake us just the same. There was no provocation. There are not two sides to this issue. This is an act of aggression in the most inhumane form, cowardly in the targets and ruthless in the use of human shields. If the City of Fairfax launched rockets on Fairfax County residents in Fairfax Station, we would not be heartbroken for those who helped them in their act of aggression, or those who stood by and let themselves be used as human shields.
I left my heart in Israel. I am angry and frustrated by the bias and lies of the Post and CNN and the BBC. Even the Kid’s Page of the Post turned my stomach with its evenhandedness toward Hezbollah. This is not a nation. This is not a legitimate group. These are ruthless terrorists threatening innocents. Thank God for our own Bob Budoff who writes the best letters and holds the media accountable. And shame on the bleeding heart Jewish media feeding in to the distortions and lies.
I don’t see two sides. I won’t see two sides. Sometimes there is just the truth and the lie. There is no Israeli offensive. Israel is defending her border and fighting for her life, for lives, for the right to live in peace. She needs our unwavering support now more than ever. We will collect funds every day to send to those in need. We will speak out against those who will manipulate the facts or call Israel’s actions into question. We will pray for every man, woman and child in Eretz Yisrael, Jew, Christian and Muslim who are under attack.
In the midst of war, I felt safe and secure, protected and defended. Having come straight from Berlin, I was so very aware of what happens to Jews when we can’t defend ourselves. My heart aches as I think about the millions who had no arms, no voice, and no defense. Not this time. Not now. Terrorists can no longer sit armed on Israel’s border waiting to attack. Those days are over. We give up land and they still send rockets in the south. Peace will only come when there is a partner to peace. There can be no cease-fire without disarming the terrorists. Our survival and security depends on the world recognizing the need for secure borders.
Last Shabbat, I sat at dinner between two rabbinic students, our own Jessica Karpay and Ilana Chernow Mills, the former NFTY regional advisor. They are beginning their year in Israel as they begin their journey to lead the Jewish people. I pray that the world they inherit is safer than the world they must now confront. I pray that the Jewish community stands by Israel with one voice, united in solidarity for her safety, defending her right to defend without question or reservation. This is the moment of truth for Jews everywhere. You are with us or against us. There is no grey on the horizon as the sun sets over the hills of the Galilee. There is the smoke of rockets reminding us of the reality of being a Jew once again.