As we approach the nine-month
point in the war, Israel is a different place than it was this past Sukkot,
when I last wrote. But to Israelis, more importantly, the world has changed –
and not in a good way. When you turn on the news in the morning, too many days
begin with the dreaded words, “Released for publication…,” which means that the
family has been notified and now we can tell you. Nearly every day, Israeli
papers contain two depressing things – another casualty among Israeli soldiers
and details on antisemitic incidents around the world. Those antisemitic
incidents are in the usual places but also in places that Israel thought were
liberal democracies and should be supporting Israel in its war against Hamas,
not calling for attacks on Jews. The average Israeli now believes that there is
no place where it is safe to be a Jew – not in the “goldena medina” and not in Israel. Being Jewish remains a difficult
state of affairs.
Today’s news
detailed the life of Capt. Alon Sacgiu, Hy”d.
The papers contained a feature on the increasing acts of antisemitism in the
United Kingdom and the total failure of the British government to act. After eight-plus
months of stating that hate speech is a violation of law, that graffiti is a
violation of law, that destruction of public property is a violation of the
law, and that blocking streets is a violation of the law, only 2,000 people
have been arrested in the UK. Of those, more than 90% were simply released. Of
the 200 cases prosecuted, no one was imprisoned – having received suspended sentences or small
fines.
The accused
pose for pictures in front of the court and post them online because they
understand that their cause is being supported. In the latest examples of
protestors understanding that they do not face government action, the
protestors have ceased wearing masks – because there is no longer a reason to
hide their identities. An election is about to take place in the UK, and none
of the candidates condemns the actions of the protestors. Regardless of which
candidate wins, the UK will allow antisemitic protests and will do as little as
possible to protect UK Jews.
* * *
But, as I
described in my last report, our life continues. We still to travel to help our
daughter-in-law with her four kids while our son continues to serve on the
northern border. We helped out at a roadside stop for soldiers. Janet made techina by the gallon, and I flipped
hundreds of hot dogs on the grill. We continue to contribute to the efforts to
assure that all of Tzahal (Israeli army) has necessary equipment. The latest
focus has been to supply reserve units with mini-drones to be used to get a better
idea of the conditions in the field. But an enormous number of people are raising
funds for all kinds of things, from equipment for fighters, assistance for
spouses, camps for children of soldiers, and therapy for just about everyone in
the country. I urge everyone to support whichever cause resonates with them.
While not everyone can come and put on a uniform and fight, everyone can do
something, and everything is a help.
This week,
after spending the day helping with grandchildren, we went to a hotel in
Zichron Yakkov for a night. Only one third of the rooms (there are only 36
rooms in this hotel) were occupied, and all of the guests were Israelis. We
went to a restaurant for dinner; only two other couples were there. The food
was excellent, and the proprietors were glad to have some business. That is the reality today. From over five
million tourists before the war, there are nearly none now, and those who do
arrive are not touring. The people who come now are staying in Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem, making the obligatory trip down to the Gaza Envelope to see what
remains.
To me, this
trek down south has become like the annual March of the Living in Poland,
another symbol of Jewish martyrdom – important to know and to remember –
because the world has already forgotten. It took decades after WWII before
Holocaust denial became acceptable. It only took two weeks for October 7th
denial to become acceptable. Three reasons are given. First, some deniers claim
the numbers given by Israel are exaggerated. Second, they deny that anyone
could have been killed or raped because doing so goes against Islam, so it was
Israeli disinformation. And third, some simply deny the event ever occurred.
I’ve noticed, too,
that the number of Israeli casualties has become frozen. Every time there is a
reference to October 7th, it states that the attackers killed 1,200
Israelis and took 250 hostages. There is
never a reference to the over 300 soldiers killed since that day. All we hear
of are the casualty figures of Gazans, which never specify that approximately
half were Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Headlines abound stating that
yet another journalist has been “targeted” by Israel and killed – never
following up with the fact that he was a known member of a designated terrorist
organization in addition to his job as a journalist.
* * *
This week,
schools end, and that presents a problem for couples with one spouse in the
army and the other working. Note that I intentionally did not say that the
father is in the army and the mother is working. We know couples where the
mother has been called up (she is the one with the important army job), and it
has fallen on the husband to try to hold it together. Those couples have it a
little harder because most of the relief efforts are focused on women who are
suddenly living as single mothers. The exceptions fall through the cracks and
need to rely on their own families and communities to assist them.
A number of
camps that children attend during the summer are located in the Golan and the
Galil. As those locations are not safe, the camps are closed. Parents who would
have ordinarily balanced time off between themselves to cover the summer have
no easy solutions. In Israel, August is always “Camp Savta” because all the
camps are finished and there is no place else to send the children. This year,
Camp Savta starts this week and runs until the beginning of September. As
grandparents, we are going to enjoy extra time with our grandchildren. But it
is difficult to hear your five-year-old grandchild tell you that he misses his
Abba who is “protecting us from the bad people.”
Surprisingly, however,
the young ones are the easiest to deal with. Those simplistic answers work, and
you can always bring out the ice cream as a distraction. As the children get
older, the answers are less reassuring. Too many of them have classmates who’ve
lost someone in the atrocities or in the war. They know the truth – that we
cannot promise that Abba will be back next week and that everything will be
okay. And they know that in a few years, it will fall on them to be the
protection the nation needs.
Just an aside:
There are two distinct groups suffering a disproportionate number of casualties
in the war. The first is the dati le’umi
community, which has always had large numbers of soldiers serving in combat
positions. The second is the Druse, who also have a disproportionate number of
their sons serving in combat positions.
* * *
Now for some
positives. The country continues to try to achieve some semblance of normality.
The best measure is the number of calls for a change in leadership, new
elections, and investigations. Everyone in the country wants the hostages
returned. Everyone wants Hamas to be destroyed. Everyone wants the UN to stop
singling our Israel for demonization (which meets the definition of
antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has
been adopted by dozens of countries). When one side or the other decides to use
these issues to support their political goals, it shows the country is trying
to return to normal. In Israel, “normal” is calling for the government to fall
and to have new elections.
Despite the
war, people continue to make aliyah –
and not just from countries with severe antisemitism problems. While Israel is
preparing for an increase in aliyah
from South America and France because of antisemitism, aliyah from the U.S. has rebounded, and those who are coming are
coming because they want to live in Israel, war or no war. They inspire all
Israelis. As we approach two years of our own aliyah anniversary, and when we stumble over simple Hebrew or need
directions, everyone is unusually tolerant and helpful. We call it “playing the
oleh chadash/olah chadasha card.” It
always works, and for those who are coming now, that goes double. Everyone
understands that if you are a U.S. citizen, the only reason you are in Israel
is because you want to be here, and that is respected. The cynical ask: How can
you give up “everything” to be here? But it is said with a smile.
We get used to
things that, 10 months ago, would have been odd. Last week, a cohen got up to say the priestly blessings.
He was in the reserves and was on a 48-hour leave. Unlike regular army service,
people in the reserves do not have a rifle of their own; they get one when they
report for service and return it when they are released. But when they are on a
brief leave, they keep their rifles and are not allowed to have it outside
their control. So this man took his rifle up with him to bless the congregation.
He extended the bracha with shoes off
and bare feet placed on top of his rifle. Sheaves and plowshares came to mind.
It would make a great symbol of the life we are currently living.
On the
personal side, we miss our friends in America, and we are still developing a
support group here. We have learned to play the Amazon game: orders only
between $50 and $75 because $50 gets you free shipping (on some items), but if
you go over $75 you need to pay duty. We’ve learned how to make real
horseradish – think Tulkoff’s White Horseradish. You start with the packaged
red horseradish they sell in the grocery store, which is less than 10%
horseradish, then you add wasabi powder, which contains almost no wasabi but is
90% horseradish, and you have something that tastes like hot horseradish.
We are eating
out more than we ever did in the U.S. – not because there are more options,
which there are, but because the restaurants need the business. Same thing with
hotels. There is a determination among the businesspeople and everyone else
that, this time, we need to see things through, regardless of the costs, and we
need to continue to fight.
We chose to be
in Israel, good or bad – and the last nine months have been pretty bad. When we
had our first aliyah anniversary,
people told us that you are not really Israelis until you’ve lived through a
war. The oldest olim speak of what
they did during the Six Day War or the Yom Kippur War. Well, it’s our second
anniversary, and we are living through “our” war. It is not war as in the
movies because we do not see the violence – only an occasional contrail and the
constant sound of jets overhead – but we see the consequences: too many funeral
processions with people lining the roads with flags, too many people saying Kaddish in shul, too many widows and
orphans.
May Hashem
bless us that there will be no more widows and orphans, no more announcements
that have “been released for publication,” and may Israel know peace.
Alan and Janet Abramowitz are
both former multi-generation Baltimoreans who retired and moved to Israel in
July 2022. They live in Efrat.
