“…Who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time…who by sword…and who by stoning….” (Nesana Tokef)
The prayer Nesana Tokef is one of the reasons the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called the Days of Awe. The days are awesome, all right. Life is, too. But sometimes that truth flits briefly across our consciousness and disappears…for the moment.
Here in Yerushalayim, the High Holidays came and went. Yes, there was the Iran deal, and Putin was sticking his fingers into the Syrian imbroglio, but otherwise, it was business as usual in Jerusalem. Stands were set up outside the GRA Shul in Shaarei Chesed for the arba minim, they were selling prefab sukkas on the corner of Keren Kayemet and Usishkin Streets, and the weather on the first night of Yom Tov was fantastic – as opposed to the rain we got on the first night last year.
Everything seemed safe and routine, almost to the point of humdrum. Tuesday, Chol Hamoed, I joined thousands as we walked to the Kotel to be present for the mass Birchat Kohanim. My only worry was avoiding dehydration and inadequate protection against the strong sun. “Not a cloud on the horizon” as the saying goes.
Then, the news of the terror attack that killed the Henkins in the Shomron. Then a stabbing in the Old City, then another. It was becoming clear that these were not isolated coincidences but the beginning of a terror wave that was gripping the country.
(I wonder about the timing. Why did this all have to take place after the High Holy days?)
* * *
Monday, October 12. I hear of an Arab woman wielding a knife in Afula, a knifing in Raanana, and stabbings in Jerusalem. Towards evening, I head to the Jewish National Library at the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University and go online. I wanted to check out an article in Israel’s most “anti-Semitic” newspapaer, Haaretz, written by Amira Haas. She’s so far left that she’s off the charts.
Sure enough, she’s got the solution. Here’s the headline: “Make Occupied East Jerusalem the Capital of Palestine: Twenty Steps that Will Reverse the Situation – and Be Far Less Painful than the Alternative.” She had more demands from Israel. Here’s a sampler:
- Cancel all entrance restrictions for Palestinians to Jerusalem’s Old City and the Al-Aqsa compound.
- Cancel the ban on the morabiton and morabitat (Islamic Movement guards on the Temple Mount)
- Cancel policy of house demolitions as a collective punishment and immediately compensate those who have been its victims.
- Cancel all the demolition orders issued against Palestinian homes that were built in the city without permits.
She spoke of Jewish colonialism and put all the blame for the violence directly on the Jews. Just what I expected her to say, as if on cue. And so was my rising blood pressure. I typed a letter to Haaretz, and it was put on their website about four hours later. Here is an excerpt:
…Not a word about Arab incitement. Innocent people – including children – have been stabbed, all based on whipped-up hysteria from the PA, the Islamic Movement, and Hamas that is baseless. There is no Jewish religious legal basis to rebuild the Temple under the present circumstances; there is no threat whatsoever to the Al Aqsa mosque, yet Amira leaves this most salient point out of her entire article. When the Old City of Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule, there was constant gunfire from there to West Jerusalem. Jordan shelled West Jerusalem for hours prior to Israel invading East Jerusalem as a defensive measure. All this babble about colonialism is straight from Amira’s Marxist upbringing. Please don’t censor any of what I wrote….
My article got 12 thumbs up and 22 thumbs down. I was surprised there were so many favorable responses!
Tuesday, October 12. I walk into the city center to take care of some errands. As I am about to cross King George Street, I run into Suzanne Lieberman, who works for the media watchdog Honest Reporting. She told me that she was on a bus on Strauss Street. “I never saw so many police and police vehicles swarming past me,” she says. Her son called and said that he saw on the charedi website, Bechadrei Chadorim, that there were two terrorists on the bus right before her, but he wasn’t sure if this was accurate. Hmmm….
Second on the list was to take care of a bill at Bituach Leumi, Israel’s version of Social Security. Security is a bit tighter. I am out after 45 minutes. I walked down Yaffo Street, near the main post office. A train from the light rail isn’t moving – and there are passengers inside. What’s going on, here, I wonder. Then I see that police had cordoned off an area on Yaffo Street, apparently searching for a bomb (i.e., chafetz chashud). After three minutes, everything goes back to “normal.”
I text my friend Baruch, asking him for the latest update, and this is what he sent me:
Summary of events today so far: 32-year-old Israeli stabbed and lightly wounded in Raanana. Terrorist subdued by passerby and beaten unconscious. Two terrorists boarded bus 78 in Jerusalem, one armed with a knife, the other a pistol. Two Israelis murdered, 16 wounded, at least two critically. Both terrorists were neutralized (at least one dead).Terrorist rammed a car into a bus stop on Malchei Yisrael Street in Geulah, Jerusalem. Three Israelis were run over, then the driver got out and attacked them and others with a knife. One murdered, three wounded, two seriously. Second attack in Raanana by compatriot of earlier attacker. Terrorist stabbed pedestrians. Four lightly wounded.
I think I’ll get myself a bowl of soup.
From the vegetarian restaurant, The Village Green, I walk up the pedestrian Ben Yehuda Street. I remember walking down Ben Yehuda Street early one Friday morning 13 years ago during the Second Intifada, past shattered glass from a storefront that was quickly being replaced. It wasn’t that bad now. I bump into Dr. Robert Slater, a dentist I met when I traveled to Finland. A few blocks later, I see his wife, on King George Street. “I wanted to take my married daughter out to celebrate her birthday today,” she told me. “But she’s scared and wants to stay home.”
I cross over King George Street and walk down Ramban Street. Helicopters are flying overhead. To me, it’s like a dog slipping on linoleum – lots of activity but no movement. Nobody, including Netanyahu (Mr. Security), has a real clue what to do. Mayor Nir Barkat wants to seal off the eastern neighborhoods. Sounds reasonable to me. Doubt it will happen though.
Wednesday, October 14, 7:00 p.m. I’m on my way to meet someone in Givat Shaul. I’m driving on Ruppin Street approaching the light opposite the Israel Museum when the traffic comes to a complete standstill. Unmarked cars with flashing lights are blocking the artery so that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s convoy can pass through on its way from the Knesset up the block. I’ve been hearing a lot of those sirens from his retinue in recent days. I turn on the radio to hear the seven p.m. Kol Yisrael news report. A 70-year-old woman was stabbed not long ago while attempting to board a bus just outside the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem. That’s a five-minute drive from where I am.
8:30 p.m. On my way back home from Givat Shaul, I turn on the radio again. I think it was Radio Moreshet, the dati leumi channel of Kol Yisrael. Some teenagers are interviewing others teens on this program. They are talking about the matzav – the current situation. One of the young ladies keeps emphasizing how important it is to maintain one’s daily routine – both for not personally succumbing to terror and for the purpose of defeating the aims of the terrorists.
10:15 p.m. The Maariv service has concluded at the GRA shul. I shmooze for a minute with my friend Shmuely Phillips, a young fellow who works part time for a company that rents out fully furnished offices by the day/week/month. Some clients from Beersheva, lawyers who were planning to meet Arab clients in Jerusalem today, cancelled due to the situation.
Monday, October 19, 12:00 p.m. I drop off some mail for my downstairs neighbor, Rosie Varon. She is convalescing at Achuzat Kerem, an assisted living community in the new Bet Hakerem neighborhood across from Shaarei Zedek hospital. The lady is 101 years old, and her mind is as sharp as a whistle. I envy her youthful spirit. She asked me what I thought of the matzav, and before I had a chance to open my mouth, she told me that she feels that a war is in the offing. Although she is left of center in her politics and is critical of the Likud governments, all she had to say about the Arabs and the Iranians were that they were crazy. She minced no words.
She tells me that she recently attended a concert where she was greeted by former Israeli prime minister and president, Shimon Peres. Peres knew Rosie’s husband, who once headed Israel’s consulate in New York. “We both were born on August 2,” Rosie told Peres, “but I am 10 years older than you are.”
I pick up a free copy of Yediot Achronot. The front-page story is the terrorist attack in the central bus station in Beersheva which left one soldier dead and 11 people wounded. Even though the attacks have slowed a bit, a slow, low-level intifada like this one could bring the tourist industry to a halt.
1:15 p.m. Mincha at the GRA shul. They are saying tehilim after each minyan. We need all the Help we can get.
Former Baltimorean Sam Finkel is the author of Rebels in the Holy Land – Mazkeret Batya, a Battleground for the Soul of Israel. An expanded, second edition will be coming out this winter, distributed by Feldheim Publishers.
