Today was our last day in the Holy Land. We met with Uzi Dayan, a nephew of former defense minister, the famous Moshe Dayan. Uzi Dayan, served Israel in various strategic internal security and diplomatic positions. He was very involved in the implementation of the Oslo Accords and he give us a very real assessment of the current situation, the challenges and how Israel can move forward and attain their goals, while juggling the international pressures. It reflected what he heard from all those we met across the spectrum, that this war is not about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, it is about destroying Hamas and anyone associated with them who seek to destroy Israel. In the same vein nobody supports a Palestinian state and wants to have full security control over Gaza.
We then went to the Kotel, to participate in 2 special Bar Mitzvahs we co-sponsored, They were very emotional and heart wrenching. One Bar Mitzvah was for Koren Taase, Koren Taase is from the settlement of Netiv HaAsara, whose spokesperson Benny we met earlier and for whom we held the Purim event for 50 of the families with their children, the day before. Koren lost his father Gil and his brother Or in the beginning of the war, and here he was having a bar mitzvah together with his mother, it was a very very difficult day supported by many who came along with them. The Kotel Rabbi joined us as we locked hands and sang together. We wished them Mazal Tov and regards from the entire Montreal community, hopefully lifting their spirits and the ability to move on and carry on the Gibor Yisrael that his father and brother were.
The other Bar Mitzvah celebration was for Ilai Berger. Whose sister Agam is still in captivity. Agam is young and a soldier. The family heard a little bit about her from those that were released early on and were with her. They told the family, that once she came into captivity, she refused to do any work on Shabbat, even though she did not keep Shabbat before. This is one of the things that keeps the family going. Her brother Ilai, together with his sisters Liam and Bar and his parents Shloimy and Meirav were surrounded by so many friends, family and their Chabad Rabbis. We felt so privileged to represent Am Yisrael to be part of their celebration, and make it very special. Hashem should give them a lot of strength.
We then toured the Muslim quarter of the old city with Daniel Luria of Ateret Kohanim. It’s called the Muslim quarter but in reality before the Jews were kicked out in the 1920s and 30s, after the Arab riots, this area was mostly Jewish. Most homes were owned by Jews and over the past 40 years Ateret Kohanim has been buying them back, with great difficulty, as it is complex. Currently, one thousand Jews live in the Muslim quarter. We saw Jewish women, children, elders walking, along with Yeshiva students of the 4 Yeshivot situated there. These people have tremendous faith and courage. The arabs call the current battle Al-Quds meaning Jerusalem, as this is the prize they want to hold onto and kill us all to get it. Ateret Kohanim continues to fight by buying one property after another. We went on the rooftop of one of these properties where we had the most incredible view of the Temple Mount - Har HaBayit and Har HaZeitim. It is unbelievable how close we were and very soon when Moshiach comes it will be ours and we will serve on the Temple Mount in the Holy Temple.
From there, we went to Ichud Hatzalah, United Hatzalah headquarters. Hatzalah played an incredible role on October 7th, Magen David Edom, the official ambulance service, didn’t want to send their people in danger zones, but Hatzalah allowed their people who volunteered and equipped them. Hundreds of volunteers got into their cars, their special Hatzalah vehicles and joined the battle against the terrorists to save as many injured as they can. Hatzalah emptied their entire 40,000 square foot warehouse of all types of equipment and they became the first response, taking care of people, triage, delivering them to hospitals, by car, by helicopter. They saved countless amount of people. Unfortunately Hatzalah lost some of their members who were already living in the South, miraculously, all who went out to help survived the danger. If not for their heroic efforts, the disaster would have been much greater. From that day they continue to be at the forefront. While we were there, there were two attacks, one in the beginning and one later, They play such an important role, and it’s all voluntary, and exist from donations. Their EMT’s and paramedics are Muslims, Druze, Jews, Religious, Hasidic, secular, and they all work together with one heart and one soul, Mi K’amcha Yisrael! They just put out a book about Hatzalah on October 7, called Angels in Orange, get your copy.
And lastly we finished off our trip at Mount Herzl military cemetery, this is the cemetery where the fallen are taken to. There are 254 new graves. We made a shiva call to the latest fallen Michoel Gal’s family, whose mother and sister, live in Jerusalem. They live upstairs in an apartment, and downstairs there were tons of people who just wanted to be close, just wanted to be there, the house as well was packed with people, and we came to show our solidarity and share words of comfort. We don’t know them, but they are our family, and what happened to them is like it happened to us. The newest grave and first one we saw was Michoel Gal hy”d. Each grave has a story, one of tremendous courage and bravery, to do what they’re doing, and unfortunately to die protecting their country. We heard a will written by one young man who ended up being killed, writing that he doesn’t want his family to mourn and to be sad, as he is happy to have dedicated his life to Am Yisrael!! Very powerful. While there, we met a young man, who went to one of the newest graves and couldn’t stop crying. We came together with him, we stood together, read Tehilim, hugged each other. This is the story of every one who was killed, some of them soldiers, some of them reserve soldiers, every one of them has a circle of friends and family, and they all feel directly connected to the loss and imagining it could have been them, but they’re going to continue on, this is the power of Am Yisrael that we saw throughout.
We had a beautiful farewell dinner, and a special friend Gil Troy, someone at the forefront of Hasbarah, of trying to express the feelings and belief of our people and what does it really mean to be a Zionist, joined us. May Hashem give him continued success to be a great mouthpiece, to share what’s really going on in the Jewish soul and heart.
It was a very impactful trip, we were very impacted by seeing firsthand how difficult Simchat Torah was and how so much changed, at the same time, it’s very impactful to see how they’re resilient, and how they’ve united, and the resurgence of Jewish pride and connection. We hope we made an impact on the people there as well, as many told us that they could not thank us enough for being there, besides all the gifts we brought, and the events that we hosted, just being there, to hug, to show our face, this is the strongest and most important thing for them. Am Yisrael Chai!
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