Day 2

When I sent a note to our congregation, I said that this mission meant “volunteering, sharing music and being a pastoral presence to those affected by the ongoing conflict.” Our day consisted of all of those elements through one important lens of Eidut, witnessing. We spent the majority of our Tuesday in the South (also known as Western Negev) in communities directly impacted by the events of October 7th. My reflections will hopefully be divided in two parts for a number of reasons. The first is the amount that I am still trying to process, and the second is that the pictures of the day reflect two conflicting emotions. So for today, the pictures you’ll see on facebook reflect our moments of learning and of moral boosting ruach. The other pictures serve as an important witness to the atrocities of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Those reflections come a bit later with a link to my blog (with photos to be found there). There is never a real “trigger warning” on Facebook, so fingers that do not scroll fast enough may see sites that are too confusing or difficult to hold at this time.

To Tuesday: A beautiful walk around Jerusalem with my friends and colleagues Tahl and Asa followed by a breakfast of all breakfasts (photo below).

We were debriefed on the Gaza situation by Col. Res. Grisha Yaakubovitch, who served in the IDF Civil Adminstration in the Gaza region. Grisha is an immigrant from the former USSR, son of Holocaust survivors. 

Grisha paints a dark reality, but like others we will speak to, he speaks of unity through tragedy. The information he provided is important to grasping the “nuance” we often feel isn’t portrayed in Western media. As retired military who worked and befriended Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, Grisha explains the “Holy Fuel War” as Hamas paints a story far from reality- while Israel provides 12% of water resources and at one point as much as 40% of Gaza’s electricity (the number today isn’t as clear), Hamas as governing body has let its people suffer. Just think of the  500km of tunnels underground to help fighters when they could’ve build shelters. In Hamas’ eye, it’s the UN’s responsibility to help Gazans. 

 In Grisha’s words, our main takehome was to “believe the unbelievable.” Hamas and Isis ideology go hand in hand – all they get and want is incitement. The plan of October 7 was intentional, horrific, yet simple. As Israelis ran to take cover from rockets, Hamas used that 10 minute window to begin its assault on innocent victims in Israel. Hamas and its leader Sinwar are the heroes of the street. In a raw moment, Grisha shares that he felt betrayed by those enemies who became friends who now became enemies of oct 7, yet “ Revenge” doesn’t make him feel better – it’s just waste of life. He has anger and rage towards those who support Hamas’ aggression and terrorism, BUT he prays and knows that that rage will subside in the days ahead, God willing.

Did I mention this was the lighter part of our day?

After our meeting we hopped on our armored bus with a quick stop to pick up our guest for our trip South. HIla Ben David is a sensational singer who will be leading our concert tomorrow night. She would otherwise have been unable to visit the places we visited today because she does not have any active military in her family. I know her being with us for these difficult hours was important to her and to our group and will only make our concert together that much more meaningful.

Our morning concluded with a visit to Alumim base, where 450 reservists are gathered to watch over kibbutzim that neighbor Gaza. 150 are here on base watching Kibbbutz Alumim.

We are greeted by Ben Hardin, friend of one of our colleagues Ben Tisser.

Ben grew up at Valley Beth Shalom synagogue in LA, was active in USY and went on Nativ year course before making Aliyah. When he isn’t in the reserves, Ben works as Coordinator of Development and Lone Soldiers for a company called Israel-is, an NGO that helps Israelis to represent and share Israel while traveling abroad and engaging online. Ben describes the moment when everyone got the alert on October 7. Even before he got his orders, Ben was en route, only to find that over 600 soldiers had already shown up for duty. It was another “one for all and all for one” moment that reminded me of my rush to donate blood the late morning of 9/11, only to find a line wrapped around city block after city block. As Ben puts it- “all of us, a week earlier we would’ve been arguing.” But they went to Kfar Aza, where ZAKA was there with 15 ambulances filled with bodies. For 90 minutes that same battalion that would’ve been arguing stood there reciting Kaddish, crying. After a week of protecting the kibbutz and area to the border, his unit moved to Kibbutz Beeri for one month (a Hamas terrorist was found weeks into the conflict on the kibbutz itself), returning to Alumim two weeks ago. Ben gives an important view point as an American-Israeli- first, the level of impact on families- they don’t really show us what they’re feeling. The second, the balancing of sharing facts (and it’s so important to know and share the facts), but that at the end of the day people connect to people before they connect to ideas. Engaging narratives speak louder than meticulous notes.   

I was struck that his aliyahversary was Chanukkah 2017, as Ben spoke of a number of miracles that saved lives on October 7. 

1. Hamas didn’t know that the alumim base existed (knew kibbutz), so when the attacks took place, the base ran into action; casualties were kept at a minimum to those who were unfortunately in the fields (foreign workers) 
2.  On Oct 6, the 890 battalion paratroopers were preparing for a drill in full combat gear. They were ready that day, near the Dead Sea. The battalion was transported by helicopters; the last one was hit with an RPG- yet able to land, its troops able to run 100 m before it exploded
3. Ben’s CEO happens to also be a Captain in matkal and with rifle in hand was able to help those same soldiers to safety before the helicopter exploded.

We felt a great sense of “Am Yisrael Chai” when we gathered with the unit for singing. We sang everything from Oseh Shalom to a prayer for the IDF to Kol Haolam Kulo. Of course my highlight was sharing hats knit by members of our synagogue, an important gift to the soldiers as many Mluim (reservists) don’t have access  to the same gear that those in active military have. Smiles and hugs as we approach the hardest part of our trip. Part 2 to come soon.