THE SPIRIT OF SHAVUOT

Shavuot is one of the 'Shalosh Regalim' mentioned in Torah (Exodus 23:14) when male Israelites were to appear before the L-rd at His designated place. During the time of the Temple, the ordinance was observed by going up on foot to Jerusalem.
Worshippers start their pilgrimage through the streets of Jerusalem to the Kotel long before sunrise the first day of Shavuot. The heart seems to beat along with the clippity-clop of thousands of shoes beating against the stones of the narrow pathways of the Jewish Quarter, and one's neshama is whisked upward and onward with excitement, spiritually elevated, mixed with the atmosphere which is filled with the voices of yeshiva students studying within the Old City walls. The streets are dark, lit only by the mellow light gently flowing out from the open windows of study houses.
It's of the utmost necessity to be at the Wall when the sun's first morning rays burst over the Eastern horizon. That's the mystical moments when everyone waits in anticipation for the sounds! The sounds of many voices singing and rejoicing! Jubilant songs are heard rising up in the streets of Jerusalem! Songs of the bridegroom, a song of the bride! Suddenly the words of the prophets come alive and are active!
Hundreds of Yeshiva students appear on the steps descending to the Wall, arm n'arm, dancing and rejoicing after their night of studying led by rabbis holding the Torah scrolls! Thousands rise up to join them as they approach the Wall and all are released into the freedom of the spirit as Israel the bride is united as one with Hashem the groom under the chuppah, the shadow of the Wall.
Yet, it's all a practice run for the real thing that is to come!


FROM MEGILLAT RUTH
The ancient Hebrews were forbidden to intermarry with Moabites because the Moabites failed to have mercy on the Hebrews when they made their exodus from Mitzrayim. Therefore, the question arises as to how Ruth, the Moabitess, could have any inheritance in Israel. Why did Boaz pursue securing her family inheritance only for her to become part of the lineage of King David & the Messiah? Was Ruth really a convert? If so, why is she continued to be referred to as "Ruth, the Moabitess" which is a derogatory reference?
In my study on Shavuot, the Hebrew text seems to clarify who this remarkable woman was in the eyes of man and Hashem. See if you can find the ONE Hebrew letter that changes the meaning of the Moabitess:
Moab – מואב (mo ahv) – the nation
Moabite – מואבי (mo ah vi) – a male citizen of Moab
Moabite – מואבית (mo ah vit) – a female citizen of Moab
Ruth the Moabitess – רות המואביה (root ha mo ah vi yah) – Ruth the Moabitess of Adonai
This form of the word Moabitess, מואביה (moavi yah) in Hebrew, is only found in reference to Ruth in the Tenach.
In many cases, a yud-heh added to the end of a Biblical name means something or someone is a possession of Hashem.

Yom Yerushaliim 2009

On your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen!

This is the original radio transmitted message by the Israeli Defense Forces as they entered the Old City of Jerusalem through Lion's Gate, to the Temple Mount and finally the Wailing Wall during the Six Day War in 1967. After severe battles with numerous casualties and fallen comrades, Israeli forces conquered the Jordanian West Bank and the City of Jerusalem, ending Gentile dominance over Israel and Jerusalem after nearly 2,000 years. To hear the message is very moving as the voices of men are choked up overwhelmed with emotion until they eventually shout with victorious exuberance and the shofar is blown at the ancient wall. I finally managed to obtain a translation from Hebrew into English. Let your imagination take you to that time when Israeli soldiers entered the sealed walls of Jerusalem for the first time in modern history!

"The Temple Mount is in our hands!
"The Temple Mount is in our hands!
"All forces stop firing!
"The time is 10:20, the 7th of June.
"At this moment we are passing through Lion's Gate.
"I am at present under the shadow of the gate.
"And again we are going out to the sunny street.
"Lion's Gate!
"We are in the Old City!
"We are in the Old City!
"The soldiers are standing very close to the walls.
"We are marching now on the Via Delarosa.
"Do you understand this?!
"…the Old City!
"We are again in the Old City!
"Al Aksa Mosque.
"Under the ruling of the mandate we could not enter here.
"One moment!
"Straight ahead is the Wailing Wall!
"HURRAH! HURRAH! HURRAH! HURRAH!
"It is hard to express in words our feelings!"
(…the shofar is heard.)

Cause for Celebration!
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
For Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet
Til her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
Her salvation as a blazing torch!
(Isaiah 62 vs. 1)

From Yom Yerushaliim 2009

The Watchmen, our next generation, lift up the banner of freedom and dance through the streets of Jerusalem. They are bussed in from all over the country for the celebration of independence. After hours of rejoicing, they march to the Kotel, the Wailing Wall, at sundown and continue their celebration up into the wee hours of the morning.
Yet security does not allow the Israeli flag to be unfurled when entering the Jaffa Gate since it offends the Arabs. So, the male youth wraps the flag around their shoulders as a tallit, while the females wrap it around as a skirt, or tie it on the head as a covering, or around the shoulders as a sign of modesty. When they reach the Jewish Quarter, hundreds, if not thousands of flags are unfurled.

From Yom Yerushaliim 2009

The Highway Corridor: Latrun to Jerusalem

From 090428-9 CORRIDOR

I still haven't figured out why I have such an austere feeling deep within every time I travel through the corridor of the major highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It's as though I am entering a holy place that deserves, and even demands reverence and respect, a place which has been sanctified by the blood of many martyrs.
Rusted armored vehicles, once strewn along the side of the road, are now mounted and painted as a well-deserving memorial. Although empty and abandoned, they are evidence of others' sacrifice, making it difficult to forget a nation's modern historical events. Instead of headstones, the old shells of the vehicles are all that remain, reminding us of the heroes and heroines who forged ahead against unbeatable odds in the face of death. I, personally, can't help but wonder if I would have had the courage to face the same surmountable obstacles. What motivated these young people to come from among the nations, leave the safety of their homes and families, to persevere for a land and a people who were not their own? Not all Jews by any means, they were from many nations, hell-bent on securing a free nation for the Jewish People after the Nazi Holocaust.
The highway corridor was a strategic location. It was the only pass through the mountains surrounding Jerusalem from the coastal area of Tel Aviv. Armored vehicles tried to get through with supplies for the starving Jews in Jerusalem who were cut off after the rebirth of the nation of Israel. From Latrun, the border of the new nation, to Jerusalem was under Jordanian control from 1948 when the British pulled out until its liberation in 1967. At that time, Jordan and the rest of the Arab nations refused to accept Israel's independence.
They cut off any assistance to the Jews in Jerusalem who were destitute and in dire need of food and medical supplies. They were dying in the streets of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, desperate victims of harassment, discrimination, random murder, starvation and disease. The Jews were unable to escape.
They were totally dependent upon any supplies smuggled into them from the outside by those who risked their lives to provide the most meager means possible to live. If the supplies made it through the corridor, they were often smuggled in to the victims through the city's sewage pipes or by way of the cable car in which dead bodies were shipped out of the Old City.

From 090428-9 CORRIDOR

But, the corridor became impassable as vehicles tried to maneuver through the harsh terrain and Arabs lay in wait to descend upon the caravans which often had to continue at a snail's pace. The volunteers were slaughtered, butchered, and robbed. The marauders left nothing behind but dead bodies and ransacked vehicles.
FOR these martyrs, and BECAUSE OF them, and many more, Israel is able to celebrate Yom Haatzmaut every year. Their memories beckon to us not to forget the price of freedom. We are indebted to them! Yet, I wonder if leaders in high places who "love the praises of men more than the praises of Hashem" will allow us to continue our freedom?

REMEMBERING RECHAVAM 'GANDHI' ZEEVI

 
Facts about Rechavam 'Gandhi' Zeevi
1926 - 2001

1926 Rechavam Zeevi was born in Jerusalem. He was a fifth generation sabra.
He served as a career officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, having accomplished the rank of Major-General.
After the Six-Day War, he fought Arab terror in the West Bank & Gaza Strip.
He was a soldier's friend, and often visited Beduin families whose sons served in the IDF.
1974 – 1977 Gandhi, to his friends, served as Advisor to Prime Minister Rabin on Anti-Terror Matters & Intelligence.
1981 - 1991 He was Chairman of the Board of the Eretz-Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.
1988 He was elected to the Knesset as Chairman of the Moledet faction, advocating the voluntary transfer of the Palestinian population in the territories. He served as a member of the Knesset House, Foreign Affairs & Defense, Education & Culture, & Stte Control Committees.
1991 – 1992 He served as Minister without Portfolio.
1999 Gandhi was elected to the Knesset as Chairman of the National Union – Yisrael Beiteinu Party.
2001 He was appointed Minister of Tourism.
2001 October 15 He submitted his resignation.
2001 October 17 His resignation was to be effective. "That same morning, Rechavam Zeevi was assassinated with two shots to the head outside his room at the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack."
Gandhi lay in state at the Knesset building before a state funeral with full military honors at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.

I remembered standing on the rooftop of a building as Gandhi made his last journey down Herzl Boulevard to the cemetery, and I later wrote the following poem in his memory (The poem is copyright and not to be used or published without prior permission of the author.)

A TRIBUTE TO THE MIGHTY FALLEN!
A little boy dropped his flag today—
he struggled to hold onto it against shifting winds,
until, at last, he lost the struggle;
it was wrestled from his hand, and fell to the ground.

Flags were dropped at half-mast,
signaling to a mourning nation
an honorable leader lay in state;
by an assassin's bullet, he too, fell to the ground.

Oh! How the mighty are fallen on the battlefield of life!

A single flag was draped, where rested the soldier;
guns were raised and fired in a final salute to the statesman,
he who offered no intoxicating drink to his adversaries,
but held the Torah in his hand,
and embraced its words as truth:
"Israel, forever my home, my land!"

Oh! How the mighty are fallen on the battlefield of life!

"Kri-ah!" A father, a husband, a son—his garment is rent!
"Kri-ah!" A mother, a wife, a daughter—her heart is torn!
Men and women of valor are the fallen, an invaluable price,
How costly this national sacrifice!

--those who pledged to protect liberty and justice,
defend our borders and our sovereignty as a nation,
in spite of the rhetoric of diplomatic peace
which continually ignites and stokes fires of conflict.

Oh! How the mighty are fallen on the battlefield of life!

But the statesman had heard a sound few could hear;
the noise of an army prepared in readiness for war,
the young, his life's investment, now soldiers prepared to defend,
are an army advancing over a new horizon, Israel's next generation!

Yes, we buried our friend today as his enemies danced in the streets.
But the voice they sought to silence still resounds within our souls.
Thousands walked past to bid farewell and questioned—
Who will take up the challenge and continue in his steps?

The answer:
The little boy picked up the fallen flag
and took up his place in the march for freedom—
a tribute of victory for the mighty fallen!

LT. COL. YONATHAN 'YONI' NETANYAHU

1946 - 1976

Upon being drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces for his obligatory military service, Yoni volunteered for the paratroopers. He proved to be a superb soldier, and excelled in all the various courses. He was sent to Officers’ Training School, from which he graduated first in his class. Yoni then became a platoon commander in the paratroopers.
In 1967, dramatic events were unfolding in the Middle East. When war finally broke out on June 5, Yoni took part in the fierce and pivotal battle of Um Katef in the Sinai. A few days later he participated in battles on the Golan Heights. He was wounded in his arm.
In the summer of 1972, Yoni was promoted to deputy commander of Sayeret Matkal. Only two of the operations he took part in, during that period of service in the Unit, can be disclosed. One occurred in the summer of 1972, when Yoni commanded the hijacking from Lebanon of a group of high-ranking Syrian Officers. These officers were subsequently exchanged for Israeli pilots languishing in the Syrian jail. The other was the raid on the PLO leaders in Beirut, in the spring of 1973.
With the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War on October 6, 1973. Yoni immediately returned to his old unit, Sayeret Matkal, and was put in charge of a force that fought on the Golan Heights. The most noted of the battles Yoni commanded during the war was the one against a Syrian commando force. The Syrians landed by helicopter near the main command-post of the Israeli army on the Golan Heights, intent apparently on capturing it. Upon learning of the landing, Yoni moved swiftly with his available troops and engaged the Syrians. A second operation of Yoni during that war was the rescue of Lt. Col. Yossi Ben Hanan, a brigade commander of the armored corps, who was lying wounded behind enemy lines. Shortly after the Yom Kippur War, Yoni joined the armored brigade. In June 1975, Yoni left his armored brigade to become commander of Sayeret Matkal. During his year of command there, he was in charge of many operations. Of these, all but one remain secret –the raid on Entebbe, where he met his death. On June 27 an Air France airliner was hijacked over Europe by Arab and German gunmen. The plane eventually landed in Entebbe, Uganda, where President Idi Amin was waiting for the terrorists and received them with open arms. The 106 hostages were kept captive at the Old Terminal of the Entebbe International Airport. On July 1, Yoni received orders to plan and prepare his unit for the mission to Entebbe. His unit’s part in the raid was to take over the Old Terminal complex. At the stroke of midnight, Ugandan time, on July 4, 1976, Yoni and his initial assault party of 29 men landed at Entebbe airport. During the battle, Yoni was hit in the chest and lay critically wounded outside the main hall where the hostages were held. He died at the entrance to the evacuation plane, as the hostages were being herded inside. Yoni was the only man of the rescue force to die. (Three hostages were killed during the exchange of fire and a fourth was later murdered by Idi Amin’s men.) Yoni’s body was placed inside the plane, which then took off to safety in Kenya.
Yoni was buried with full military honors in Mt. Herzl Cemetery.
(Read Yoni Netanyahu's full biography or more about the Entebbe Raid at http://www.yoni.org.il/en/biogr.php)

YOM HAZIKARON 2009

Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day, comes a week after Yom HaShoah, and the day before Yom Haatzmaut, Independence Day, in Israel. Israelis feel a need to remember first those who made the ultimate sacrifice for liberty and an independent Jewish nation.
A walk through Mt. Herzl Cemetery is a time for one to reflect on the cost of our independence, not just to give tribute for the mighty leaders, but to acknowledge the average guys and gals who desired a normal life but were deprived of it for one reason or another in their generation.
In memory of a few of my favorite heroes and heroines:

HANNAH SENESH (Szenes)
1921 – 1944
Born in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary
1938 she joined Maccabea, the most established Zionist student organization in Hungary. She wrote in her diary: "I've become a Zionist. This word stands for a tremendous number of things. To me it means, in short, that I now consciously and strongly feel I am a Jew, and am proud of it. My primary aim is to go to Palestine."
Hannah departed for Palestine shortly after the outbreak of war in Europe. She was accepted at Nahalal, the Girl's Agricultural School. In her first letter to her mother, she wrote: "I am home…!"
1942 Hannah enlisted with the resistance in the Palmach, the commando wing of the Haganah, and joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
1943 She enlisted in the British Army in order to return to Europe. She was a parachutist in the Jewish resistance under the British Armed Forces during World War II. She wrote in her diary: “I must go to Hungary, be there at this time … and bring my mother out."
1944 Hannah was a parachutist in a campaign to assist Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary.
She took the code name "Hagar", began training in Egypt as a paratrooper who would be dropped behind enemy lines. To her comrades: "We are the only ones who can possibly help, we don't have the right to think of our own safety; we don't have the right to hesitate…It's better to die and free our conscience than to return with the knowledge that we didn't even try."
After training she flew to Italy; then parachuted into the former Yugoslavia where she successfully crossed the Hungarian border with the aid of a partisan group, only to be denounced the following day by an informer and taken to a Gestapo prison in Budapest.
Both the Gestapo and Hungarian officers brutally tortured Hannah. A 'trial' was held and she was eventually executed by a firing squad.
1950 Hannah Senesh was one of seven parachutists from a group of thirty-two who died. Her remains, along with her six fellow paratroopers who died, were brought to Israel. They are buried in the Israeli National Military Cemetery on Mt. Herzl.
Nearly every Israeli can recite from memory her famous poem, "Blessed is the Match":
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Today, Hannah Senesh is considered an historical symbol of courage, an eternal flame that burned throughout the Holocaust.

YOM HASHOAH

The Hall of Names is the place where names & details of Holocaust victims are preserved.

From Yom HaShoah 2009

"Son of man, can these bones live? …
"Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; and they say, 'Our bones are dried , our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts.' …Therefore, prophesy and say unto them, 'Thus says the L-rd G-d, Behold My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the Land of Israel. And you will know that I am the L-rd!'" (Jeremiah's Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, XXXVII:1 -14)

Traffic came to an abrupt halt. Vehicles idled in the middle of major highways and city streets. Drivers and passengers bailed out and stood at attention. It was 10 AM on Yom Hashoah when the eerie sound of alarms whistled across the nation of Israel, reminding us of 6 million Jews who died in the hellacious fires of the Nazi Holocaust.
In a transfixed state of mind, I wondered if even HaShem was standing in silence for those two minutes to recognize those who had been martyred in order to sanctify His Name among the nations.
I made my way through the forest until I reached Yad Vashem with throngs of others who came to pay their respects. At first glance, I had the feeling it would be easier to get through security at Fort Knox than the maze of security one faced getting through to the Holocaust Memorial grounds.
I took my time walking via the Pathway of the Righteous Gentiles, recognizing historical names of individuals who were caught up in the downward spiral of the decadence of humanity. They sought no fame for their deeds of kindness which they extended to the needs of the less fortunate, often becoming a sacrifice themselves. Every year there are newfound stories uncovered, family members and friends who are reunited after so long a time, and genuine heroes and heroines are still being discovered. A very moving appeal to the Jews by one who cared was by Dr. Giovanni Pesante of Italy: "I ask you to remain with us for MY sake, not yours. If you leave, I shall forever be ashamed to be a member of the human race."

From Yom HaShoah 2009

I find it difficult to get all the way through the museum's massive structure flowing with detailed information, facts, eye-witness accounts, films, and news footage of the blackest days of world history during my lifetime. So, this year I started at the end. It was a sober realization that the time prior to the Holocaust was not much different than headlines creeping to the forefront of the media today. Warnings of anti-Semitism on the rise, and even with all the evidence we have at our disposal, Holocaust deniers are given the platform to publicly spew out their vile, vehement denials. I wondered, with a chill up my spine, "God in Heaven! What has changed?" I, along with many others, never thought we would see such another day on the face of the earth, much less in such a short time, as we still have living witnesses of the truth of what happened during those fateful days to mankind. But, we have to ask ourselves, what is to come when there are no longer any living witnesses?
Here are just a few notes taken on my visit:
The majority of the local population reacted with apathy (during the Holocaust)
1. Both traditional and modern anti-Semitism manifested (in communities and businesses)
2. An atmosphere of fear imposed by the Nazis caused the apathy.
3. Conformism especially among the youth.
All led Europeans to consciously deny the obvious crimes against their Jewish neighbors.
After the liberation of the death camps by the allies, Doctors tried to diagnose the ailments of many surviving sick, only to conclude the symptoms were the 'onset of death'. Therefore, more than an additional 20,000 victims died.

A sober reminder was when Esther, a Holocaust survivor wearing the yellow star, hysterically stated to the media: "We (Jews) want nothing more than our own country! We must have our own homeland! There's nothing more important for the Jews!"