The Walls and people of Jerusalem and Israel await Shavuot this year and every year. In truth, Shavuot and this war have much in common. First, this war. Clearly, it would be nice to give a daily summary but what I find is that time blends into chaos. Quickly, it becomes hard to remember what was hit and when. How many buildings have been destroyed? But, the number of dead and injured are remembered. Each is counted and as always, we learn their names, how old they were. And the moments that led up to their deaths.
Among the dead are children, Holocaust survivors, those who could not run to the nearest bomb shelters, a soldier of Israel, and precious others.
Instead, I’ll speak of general trends rather than numbers. Nearly each day brings intensive bombing on both sides. Of course, it’s an absurdity to phrase it that way because both the action and the results are profoundly different. Almost daily, Hamas taunts us with threats. On the first day, after firing at Jerusalem, they promised a huge barrage at 6:00 p.m. And, at 6:02, they delivered. Happy and gleeful at their success, they announced they would fire at 9:00 and while they fired, their missiles missed.
Red alert in Avshalom, Dekel, Holit, Yevul, Yated, Sdeh, Avraham
To date, now on the seventh day of this war we’ve named Operation Guardian of the Walls, Hamas has fired 2,900 missiles at Israeli towns. Sadly, the ground and the walls of our homes shake, but our hearts and our resolve remains firm. In response, Israel has bombed untold numbers of military targets.
Each day, we announce what we have done. Ironically, the Arabs cannot do the same. Always, they fire in a direction and pray death and destruction will follow. Perhaps they watch the Israeli news even more diligently than we do, just to find out if this time, the succeeded. So far, by the Grace of God and His blessings on Israel, they’ve mostly failed.
Red alert in Pri Gan, Talmei Yossef
So, what has Israel struck with it’s missiles and tanks? Although I can’t list them here, I know that we’ve targeted training grounds, financial and logistical sites that support Hamas and its terror network, tunnels and more. More, I know each target was evaluated, confirmed and then termed. Each is a piece in the great wheel of terror our enemies build to destroy. And, what have they bombed? As always, homes, schools, hospitals, cities and roads. Last night, in a huge barrage towards Tel Aviv, when the dust had settled, what we found was dust. They’d hit walls and homes and roads. Eight people were lightly injured running to bomb shelters.
Red alert in Shlomit
Each failure is a blessing for us and a threat at the same time. Next time, where will it land?
At some point, Hamas announced they had achieved their goals and would accept a ceasefire. Egypt stepped in and said an offer had been made. A one-year promise of no attack. It would be funny in some world that I have never seen but I am forever grateful that Israel responded with a proper “no”. No, we will not allow you to re-arm yourselves again, to attack the very walls of Jerusalem again. No, really, no.
Today is Erev Shavuot – tonight the holiday of Shavuot begins. We will celebrate our being given the Torah. All the nations were offered, only Israel accepted this precious gift and so each year, we commemorate this gift.
My oldest son was called up and is serving with the Magen David Adom as an ambulance driver. Others have been called up or are expected to be called up. After all, we are the guardians of the Wall, appointed by the Guardian of Israel. A friend asked me why we use the word “chomot” and not “kirot”. A “kir” is a wall, so “kirot” translates as walls. The problem is, if you put “chomot” into Google Translate, you’ll get the same word “walls” as the translation.
Red alert in Nirim
Hebrew is, in general, a more concise language. More often than not, you can find three or four English words that all translate to the same Hebrew word. Nuances are not always present in our ancient language. But here, for the one English word, there are two Hebrew ones.
Chomot refers to the precious walls of Jerusalem. As they protected all of the Old City of Jerusalem for years, today we ourselves are entrusted to surround our ancient homeland and protect it from invasion. In 1948, the walls were breached and the Old City was taken from us. Jews were expelled from their homes by the Jordanians and for the next 19 years there was no freedom of religion as Jews were denied access to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.
Red alert in Yevul
Every year, on a day we have named Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, we dance around the walls and celebrate the day in 1967, when the Old and New parts of Jerusalem were reunited. In 1967, we chose to open the Temple Mount to Muslims, to grant to them what they had denied us. Many in Israel today wonder whether we should have bothered, whether the Muslims recognized the justice and sacrifice we made.
Red alert in Nachal Oz
Had we spoken “their” language, they would have been ousted and exiled, but we wanted peace and so we held ourselves to a higher standard than our enemies. Jerusalem remains today, as it has for the last 54 years, a multi-cultural city in which all are free to worship.
It was that freedom that the Arabs violated as they started rioting and attacking from the Temple Mount. And it is for this freedom we continue to fight. We will not allow them to ever live without the walls of Jerusalem under our control. We learned for 19 years what happens when we do. The only real question on the table is whether they will force us to keep them from their holy sites.
Red alert in Nir Oz
Always, Jerusalem will remain – united under our control. Forever, any demand they make that would undermine this will be met with the same response they have received for their request for a temporary cease fire. No, Really, no.
So six days have passed. What have they accomplished, what goal have they reached? None. Nothing. Buildings can be rebuilt. In our eyes, Jerusalem stands as glorious as ever. And what have we accomplished in these six days? Clearly, we have set them back decades. In many of their cities, towers they built and filled with their hatred and terror infrastructure have crumbled to the ground, tunnels have been collapsed.
Tonight, as Shavuot comes, it will not be the Arabs who keep us up all night; it will be our devotion to the Torah, to our land and to our history.
Red alert in Beit Shkima, Gvaram, Mavki’im, Ga’a, Yad Mordechai
Forever, the walls of Jerusalem stand and bear witness and remain under the protection of the nation that created it. Truthfully, we are the ones who named Jerusalem, protected it, lost it, reclaimed it, lost it again, and now have come to stay forever. Jerusalem of Gold, its beautiful walls adorned with our love.
