BESHALACH 5784 You Shall Bear Witness... Rabbi Andrew Shaw Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
I don’t think I have known a week like it. I am proud that last Monday Mizrachi UK led a group of UK Rabbanim to start a mission to Israel. Over the next three days we heard from so many people, there was Dani Miran who told us about his son Omri, still held in Gaza by Hamas. There was Jacqui and Yaron Vital who told us about their beautiful daughter Adi, who was murdered defending her family in Kibbutz Holit. There was Elad Keidar who stood in front of his mother’s burned house in Kibbutz Beeri and told the story of how he, in the space of two hours, became an orphan. There was Rabbi Bentzi Mann who movingly told us how he was responsible for helping prepare the hundreds and hundreds of bodies for burial, working tirelessly at this holy work to identify every single body. There was Yair Avinoam, a simple policeman in Sderot, who single handedly held off the terrorist onslaught on that fateful Shabbat morning with just a handgun. There was Simcha, the director of Zaka, who went into the conflagration time and time again with his team, to make sure all bodies were recovered, to be returned to the families for burial. Giving Kavod Ha Met to all. All of them heroes, all of them incredible people with a fortitude and sense of mission that was awesome to behold. We felt humbled in their presence. We started the mission with a talk from Rabbi Doron Perez, the CEO of World Mizrachi. He still has no news about his youngest son Daniel who was bravely defending Israel against the terrorist, saving countless lives on October 7th when his tank was captured by Hamas. Rav Perez’s opening words to us were from this week’s Parsha:
It came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go, that Hashem did not lead them [by] way of the land of the Philistines for it was near, because Hashem said, in case the people reconsider when they see war and return to Egypt. (Shemot 13:17)
He marvelled at the current situation, when once again there is a war but we are not running from but rather coming to Israel. World Mizrachi has now run over 65 missions, Jews from all round the world are coming while Israel is at war. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have returned home since October 7th. There are so many things to say about our trip. The first is that people should go, to show support, to show solidarity, to connect to our family. To bear witness to what happened. Mizrachi UK are happy to organise missions for shuls and groups. Please be in touch with us, we want to make this happen. Several shuls are already due to go over the next couple of months or so. I hope for the next edition of HaMizrachi, there will be a full report on the mission, not just from me, but from the twelve other Rabbis who joined us. However, today I wish to focus on one place we went to visit on a cold and rainy afternoon – Har Herzl. Jeremy Kurnetz, from Midreshet HaRova took us round the vast cemetery. He took us to the large square which has the name of every person killed in a terror attack in the Land of Israel from 1860 until Yom Hazikaron 2023. Approximately 4000 names are carved onto Jerusalem stone covering the 163 years since the building of Miskanot Shaananim, the first community outside of the walls of the Old City, until May 2023. Whilst it took 163 years to reach the horrific number of 4000 people murdered, this number went up by over 25% on just one single day - October 7th. An entire new wall will have to be constructed for this Yom Hazikaron. When we arrived at Har Herzl, there was another funeral for another fallen hero. There have been so so many over the last three months. We visited all the graves of the recently buried. Har Herzl has had to open new three new burial areas rapidly over the last three months. These three areas were due to take many years to fill but they have filled up in just over 100 days. While standing by the graves, we were humbled to hear the final letters and eulogies of several of the soldiers. Yossi Hershkowitz ztl, a head teacher, wrote the following:
‘Dad and Mom, how are you? Thank God I am perfectly fine and by God’s grace I get to take part in protecting God's people who can now begin to raise their heads in the face of the amount of destruction and devastation that the Nazi Hamas are now experiencing. You taught me to give without taking and not out of habit and thank God I am privileged to be part of an amazing people who give their whole souls for the sake of the people. How much Lashon Hara has been said about this nation in the last year, and how much everything are lies and slander. We are all here fighting shoulder to shoulder and all as one man with one heart, and the feeling is like at Mount Sinai. I am happy that you raised me this way, that you showed me a path where the question is not what I deserve but how I can give more for the people and the country at every moment.’ We stood there in awe and in pain. In awe at these soldiers, their ideals, their bravery, their commitment toAm Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.
In pain that these holy souls will shine no more in our temporal world but are illuminating the eternal world with all the holy souls of those murdered for the simple crime of being Jewish. In all our conversations, all our meetings, all our discussions with so many people, we heard no hatred, no calls for revenge, just a determination to win, to defeat evil and to continue the remarkable story that is the Jewish people. No despair, no hopelessness, instead we saw a holy nation growing stronger day by day. We met Adi, who is a mother of three who was displaced from Sderot. She and her family has been living in a hotel for three months. She spoke to us with a defiant message, ‘Don’t feel sorry for us, we are strong, we will return to our homes and we will overcome.’ How ironic is it, that today is International Holocaust Memorial Day. The day that the world is meant to remember the horrific era between 1939 and 1945, is coinciding with antisemitism reaching new heights not seen for generations. The media and academia has allow hatred to fester, with now the majority of young people convinced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza! The world just doesn’t get it – and after returning from Israel – I just don’t care. There was a stirring speech yesterday from the MK Boaz Bismuth in the European Parliament Strasbourg which sums up the whole situation.
Madame President I must admit I came from Israel with my speech but when I hear some of your speeches, too many unfortunately, I'll speak to you directly because honestly, I come to a very respectful platform and I think that today, the debate of today, when I hear your speeches, is a disgrace for your platform and your staining the place where you're sitting and I'll tell you why. People violated my sovereignty, entered my homes, entered kibbutzim, entered little towns and they did not kill because killing is too easy, they slaughtered, they raped, they hijacked, they mutilated, why? Because you're Jewish. What has happened 80 years ago, you do it because you're Jewish. But there's a big from difference 80 years ago. What did the Jew do when he was raped, mutilated and killed ,what did he do? He ran away, he fled. What does he do today? He defends himself. But my God, the Jew cannot defend himself because immediately all of you will speak of crimes, war crimes. I want to tell you something, there is something I want you to understand. Hamas terrorist are the new Nazis and if you do not understand that you understand nothing. There is one thing after those speeches that I hear, those disgraceful, those shameful speeches I hear. I did not come here to Strasbourg to speak to you in order to justify myself, I came as an accuser. When I was a kid, I asked my parents, you know 80 years ago when you had the Holocaust where were all those people? I mean when they were killing Jews why didn't they say anything? I come here and I understand that child that was asking the questions, because of some of you in your speeches, my God, thank God that some Jews are not your neighbours. Our nation is proud, our nation is hurting, our nation is united, our nation will win. Rav Joel Kenigsberg said it to me beautifully: During the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the greatest dream for a Jew was to die fighting for the Jewish people, that was the pinnacle. We could not defeat the Nazi menace – but we could die trying.
Today the greatest nightmare for citizens of the State of Israel is hearing that knock on the door, informing them that their child has died fighting for the Jewish people. The greatest dream in 1943 has become the greatest nightmare in 2024. That is no longer who we are, the pinnacle for the families and soldiers of the incredible IDF is not to die fighting for our nation, but to live fighting for our nation! We can and we will defeat this Nazi Menace which is funded and supported by many nations who just can’t stand the fact that the Jewish people have been reborn from the ashes of the Holocaust and have the temerity to defend themselves against barbarism and terror. At the end of the sedra, we meet Amalek, our nemesis. Hashem makes it very clear what we must do, defeat evil – completely.
Hashem said to Moses, inscribe this [as] a memorial in the book, and recite it into Yehoshua’s ears, that I will surely obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. (Shemot 17:14) We understand that Amalek is no longer a nation, but an ideology that wishes to wipe out the Jewish people. The Nazis were Amalek, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and any manifestation of Radical Islamism – is Amalek. They have no space for us, and we should have no space for them. We are in a global war – of that we should have no doubt. Hashem gives us the solution:
It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail. (Shemot 17:11) As Rashi explains:
Did Moses’ hands then make them victorious in battle? Rather, this is to tell you that when the Israelites looked up and subjugated their hearts to their Father in heaven, they would prevail, and if not, they would fall. Unity, dedication to Hashem and to our eternal values – they are what we need for victory. During these three days I have never been more positive that we as a nation have been reborn since Oct 7th, to be that Jewish nation that is loyal to God, to Jewish values and to each other. Hamas thought attacking us would make us weaker. It has made us stronger. The world thinks we will go quietly into the night. That Jewish nation has disappeared, we have been reborn - and we will never concede. We came to Israel to give strength to our people. We left being strengthened by the most incredible nation. Am Yisrael Chai Shabbat Shalom
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