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“How timely!” I responded.
“Yes. We named him because of the Hamas attack, to represent his strong position as a member of our people. His middle name is Ben-Zion”.
This name also has a strong meaning; son of Zion; a member of the Jewish people who are domiciled in the land of Israel.
“Did you make it to the Brit Mila (circumcision), or were you stuck in the army?”.
The Brit Mila is when the baby would be officially named, and it would have taken place on October 12. He smiled ever so slightly at my question, but then showed a serious expression.
“When Hamas attacked on October 7, I had just been discharged from the army, and I was immediately called back. I spent the first 3 days of the war with my unit fighting Hamas inside Israel. They were heavily armed fighters, and the battles were intense. Some were in kibbutzim that had been invaded. Believe me, I saw things that will stay with me for life.”
“After three days, we began preparing to cross the border into Gaza. My commander gave me a few hours off to come home to Jerusalem for my son’s Brit Milah, but I returned straight afterwards.”
Another pause.
“My wife and I deliberated whether to name our son after a friend who’d fallen in those first three days, but the unfolding tragedy was so great that we went with a name with a wider reference.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/baby-names-appear-to-see-influence-from-october-7-attacks/
“For better, and for worse, being Jewish is a struggle. So far I’ve served in Gaza for three months. It was awful. I really wondered what sort of world I’m bringing my son into. But that’s our lot, and we have to live with it. All we can do is try to make the world a better place. My great-grandfather fought in the War of Independence, my grandfather fought in the Yom Kippur War, my father fought in the Lebanon War, and I’ve already fought twice in Gaza. Will my son need to fight? Probably. The better I make the situation now, the easier it will hopefully be for him. Bringing a child into the world changes your perspective on life and how you want things to be. It’s all so difficult and so fundamental.”
He smiled again, wondering if he had shared too much.
“Anyway, that’s how I see things.”
I hugged him farewell and went home to my flat.
Nuts Up North
At home, I made myself a cup of tea and switched on the radio. An evacuee from a town in the country’s north, close to the border with Lebanon, was being interviewed. I put up the volume.
“It’s nuts. Everyone talks about Gaza and the south, but we’re also at war with Hezbollah in the north. They shot fifty missiles at us today. Fifty! Our town was evacuated months ago because of the daily missiles and RPG attacks from across the border, and my family’s been relocated to a hotel further south. We left home six months ago, and we have no idea when we will be able to move back.”
The radio interviewer expressed understanding before the gentleman continued describing his life.
“The conflict with Lebanon is going to heat up, and there’s no end in sight. Think about this; I just bought a full-size fridge and stove for our hotel room, so that my wife can at least cook properly. For our hotel room!”
https://www.shomrim.news/eng/hotel-warphobia
https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/all-news/article-788760
https://www.mevaker.gov.il/En/publication/Articles/Pages/2023.11.07-Mevaker-EN.aspx
https://www.taubcenter.org.il/en/pr/uprooted-in-their-own-country/
The speaker was impassioned, and the interviewer clarified a few points. But his tale of woe continued.
“In my village I raise chickens and market the eggs. That means that every day I have to drive all the way back to our ghost town, in the firing line, to tend to the chickens and collect the eggs. My kids beg me not to go. And to top it all off, I am barely scraping together a living.”
The interviewer cut in. “Why don’t you just pack it in? Give up the business?”
The poor fellow raised his voice and replied at fever pitch.
“I’d love to! But I have a contract with the government that I can’t get out of easily and, if I do, then I won’t have any income at all.”
Other concerns were raised during the broadcast. Hotels and tourist businesses up north are closed. People aren’t visiting, even in areas that have not been evacuated. Little if any compensation is in place for those suffering loss of income. Many evacuated families have come from villages with a strong sense of community, but which have now been disbanded. Having moved to hotels, some evacuees have relocated to other hotels or rented flats, sometimes having moved a few times. Some of the hotels have kicked them out because the Government failed to pay the bills. Families are now deliberating where to register their children for the new school year.
The Gaza campaign is grueling, and the soldiers need to be rotated and given time to go back to their lives, both for psychological reasons, and so that their personal lives are not overly impacted (read: damaged) by their absence from home and work.
Sharing the Burden
There is a serious shortage of soldiers. Resentment has resurged against military exemptions given to ultra-orthodox men so they can study Torah. Religious elements of the current government are pushing to raise the age of exemption, so that more people can avoid service. They claim that Torah study is an important element in the spiritual health of the nation, and study and prayer successfully beseech God to support Israel in its challenges.
During the Lebanon War, I attended a military Yeshiva in Jerusalem as a foreign student. I was young and naive. One day at breakfast, I sat with my Israeli study partners - all soldiers - and extolled the beauty of the world overseas. One fellow sat quietly. "Have you ever travelled outside Israel?” I asked. He looked back at me with cold eyes.
“Yes” he answered. “Lebanon.”
It took me a minute to realise he had, in fact, seen Lebanon, from the inside of a tank.
Some time later, I visited family living in the Jerusalem hills. I waited on the side of the hot, dusty, mountain road for a bus to take me back to the Yeshiva. An old lady, a local, joined me. “Is this the bus stop? I’m on my way to Jerusalem, back to my yeshiva.”
The woman looked me up and down for a moment before screaming. “How dare you? Living as parasites off everyone else! You Haredim are all the same!” I had been taught to be proud of being studying Torah, and I was oblivious to the controversy surrounding Haredim, Yeshiva subsidies and military exemptions. My attacker berated me for ten minutes and I honestly didn’t understand why and was horrified.
Now, decades later, I get it. It’s called sharing the burden.
Is it cynical to suggest that, if boards of inquiry are established to examine the military and intelligence failures that led to the October 7 massacres, then they should also examine why Haredim, exempted from service, failed to protect the nation through Torah study as promised.
https://youtube.com/shorts/K0fNPN6SP8k?feature=share
This question, posed in the above video, comes on the heels of an extremely controversial comedy sketch that portrayed the ultra-orthodox as draft dodgers. That video seems to have been taken down from youtube, but responses to it are openly available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sydVsPJoPv8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Q63sqGqP4
I should make clear that many ultra-orthodox do proudly and effectively serve in the IDF.
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/51166
The legislation allowing for Haredi military exemptions is expiring. A new amended bill is being discussed, that will gradually increase Haredi involvement in the IDF. Whether serving the country in the military or in some other capacity, logic - and the principle of equality - dictates that every citizen should share civic burdens. Some government members have threatened to resign and bring down the coalition if the amended bill increasing Haredi seervice is not passed. More politics. Yada yada yada.
Purim Redux
This past weekend, the Jewish world celebrated Purim. The fast of Esther - the anniversary of when the Jewish queen fasted to enlist God’s help to overcome the decree to kill the Jews of Persia - fell on Thursday. I was volunteering at the Community Gardens on that day and found a religious member of our group sitting nervously in the clubhouse. She looked up at me.
“At 4pm today, Israel time, Jews around the world are going to say the ‘Shema Yisrael’ for the release of the hostages held by Hamas. Can you help me get people to join us?” Others in earshot displayed apathy at her remark and I saw no point in pushing them. When 4pm approached, I accompanied my friend outside to a private spot. Others from the clubhouse, secular in appearance, suddenly joined us to be part of the enterprise, and we all said the Shema Yisrael together.
Let’s see if it helps.
https://www.globalestherfast.com/
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjcrm00tcp
This morning, after leaving my Pilates class, I took the elevator down to the street. It stopped on the floor below. As the doors opened a large man peered in to see if there was room. “Going down?” he asked.
“I saved some space for you!” I said with a welcoming smile and ushered him in. He entered and stood next to me.
“It’s a good thing you did. I’m pretty heavy, so you know we are definitely going down.” I laughed.
“Incredible, I’ve been stuck here for a month waiting for someone big to turn up and bring the elevator down to the ground.”
We both giggled.
“Thank you," he said to me. "It’s good to laugh. Everything’s falling apart in the country. At least we can still laugh. Stay safe.”
That’s the view from here.
