Tuesday was a very important day as we went to witness the terrible destruction that happened in the South by the thousands of terrorists that breached the fence. They had freedom of movement, and in most places got 6-8 hours and in some places it took two to three days until they really weeded out the terrorists that remained. At the same time, we saw the strength, courage, faith and resilience of the Jewish spirit.
Our first stop was in Kerem Shalom, Kerem Shalom is a small kibbutz which is very fascinating because it has both religious and non religious living together, with great respect and brotherhood, which is really beautiful. It is a poor Kibbutz at the border of Gaza and Egypt right by the Kerem Shalom crossing that you hear about all the time. We met Dudi Ravi who took us through the experience from 6:30 in the morning when the first red alert went off until they were able to rid the kibbutz of the terrorists and unfortunately in that kibbutz two people died and several people were injured. Most of the kibbutz remained alive. We saw the places where they killed the terrorists, the ditches that were dug up where they picked up the terrorists bodies which they then got rid of. We heard about the great resilience of the people and how they went out to protect their families and their children knowing that they may not be coming back home. It is so incredibly touching to hear how though there was fear there was no doubt about what they were going to do, to be there to protect their people.
Most of the kibbutzim residents are still displaced and it’s a very difficult. They are in hotels but life is not easy living in hotels and they are looking forward to be able to come back home hopefully soon.
Then we went to Be’eri, a large kibbutz about 1100-1200 people with 350 beautiful homes They have a very well known factory that makes all types of cards for the whole country like credit cards, bank cards etc etc and they were one of those that were hit very hard. They are very close to Gaza, you can actually see Gaza from there and terrorists infiltrated them and did tremendous damage. Over 100 homes were burnt with people inside miraculously some of the people survived. Every house has a picture of the person who was either killed or kidnapped and some of them their fate is unknown until today as people were burnt so bad that archaeologist spent a lot of time trying to find anything to identify the person who was there and died or was kidnapped. Some people were kidnapped others killed and then kidnapped. It was chaos and we heard from Ramy all about how him and nine other security people went out. Ramy, 70 was on a bicycle crisscrossing,helping people who were hurt and then taking position and although they were able to eliminate alot of the terrorists no one knew where they were coming from and what was going on, so many people died in Beeri or were kidnapped. The devastation is hard to imagine but the acts of those who were trying to help the wounded even with all the danger around them were beyond courageous. They left their house and were not in touch with their families, they were dedicated to help and save as many people as possible and to stand up against the terrorists. It’s impossible to imagine the great courage and bravery which to them is just the way you have to behave as a matter of fact.
Then we went to Nir Oz and we met with the Nir Adaf. Nir Oz a kibbutz of 400, is a site that’s too hard to take in because every house, about 150, was either burnt or ransacked. You can see the bullet holes, how they killed the people Over 100 people were killed or taken hostage the fact that anyone survived there is a miracle as hundreds of terrorists came into there but yet you hear about the stories that we mentioned yesterday. Tamir Adar who was killed protecting and saving his fellow Jews and eliminated many terrorists They all had deadly AK-47’s, RPG’s at their use. It was real devastation, like they all lost close family and were really hard hit. Everyone has a name a person a background.
Then we went to the site of the Nova massacre, near Be’eri. It is a big beautiful open space and forest. Sadly it is full of pictures of every one of the victims, over 350 that we know of. There were an estimated 5000 people there, every one of the victims has a picture and their own monument where many people leave notes Most of them were young people, killed in cold blood, while running, in their cars etc. The site is full of people, schools, groups, individuals, coming to pay tribute. It is very moving and very hard to picture. We prayed Mincha there and then went to do a special tribute for fellow Montreal Alex Look Hashem Yinkom Damo, to study and pray for his Neshama. Hashem guided us, as we didn’t know exactly where the shelter was. The shelter which he protected and gave his life to save others. He acted so heroic and saved so many people standing at the entrance and held off terrorists. While we were looking for a minyan for Mincha and I see someone who was doing some work on the shelter and I ask him perhaps do you know about the other shelters here he says I painted every shelter in this area after October 7 and i showed him the picture I was given of the shelter where Alex Look was murdered and he said I know that site and he told us exactly where it was. I prepared Mishnayot to study, and we were only seven people and I said to the father that we will learn a Mishna but cannot say Kaddish. As we were finishing to study the Mishna all of a sudden a car pulls up with three Yeshiva boys and they come out of the car we say guys we need three people for a Minyan and they said sure and we said a Kaddish afterwards. We asked the boys why did you stop here they said we have no idea we just saw some people outside we said we must stop
It was a very emotional and powerful day witnessing the things that can never be described in words until you see, can’t even imagine, but at the same time witnessing the strength of the people on that day not to cower but to behave like we’re taught as Jews to fight evil to try to keep other alive and save lives even at the cost of their own lives. This is the same spirit we see in Israel today, a spirit of resilience rebuilding and doubling down again this was day 2.
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