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David Wilder
September 08, 2014
What keeps Israel going?
A while ago I received an email from a couple wanting to visit Hebron. For some reason they never made it. A few days ago I heard that they were leaving back to the US next week. I found their phone number, gave them a call, and yesterday they came in for a tour. I knew that they couldn't pay the full price for a private tour. But when people want to see Hebron, I try not to let them down.
They were a pleasant young couple, seemingly similar to many others who visit here. In between explanations we chatted. It turns out that, despite their current residency in the US, both hold Israeli citizenship and that they'd been here for over three months.
"So," I asked, "what have you been doing all that time?" "Well," responded the thirty or so year old man, "I spent two months in Han Yunis."
That's when my eyes really opened wide. "Huh?"
"Well I have Israeli citizenship. A few weeks after we arrived, the war started. I immediately received a 'Tzav 8" – that is, emergency IDF order, calling me up to active service. And to Gaza I went."
"Han Yunis – you were in the thick of it – fighting?!"
"Yup, doing what we had to do."
"What unit?"
I won't specify here, but needless to say, one of the IDF's most elite sections. Knowing that, I could guess that he really was in the middle of 'the action.' And he showed no regrets, either.
I looked at his young wife, trying to understand what she was thinking. After all, they'd come to 'visit' in Israel, and here, her husband was swiftly drafted into the army, to fight against terrorists, down in Gaza. She sort of smiled shyly, saying that her mom had flown over to be with her. But she didn't imply, in any way shape or form, that she would have had it any other way.
I was very impressed. And I gave them as good a tour as I possibly could have. They deserved it.
The day before, on Shabbat, I spoke to a group here from a nearby Israeli city. They seemed all to be religious, mixed English and Hebrew speaking, After morning prayers they met me at the Avraham Avinu synagogue. After a brief introduction about Hebron today, and more specifically about that particular site, I opened up for questions. Many times I find it preferable to do 'question and answer' sessions, rather than lecture. This enables me to address what people are really interested in hearing about.
A woman asked a question I hear frequently: "Isn't it dangerous to live here in Hebron?"
Honestly, it's difficult for me not to by cynical when addressing this. Sometimes, as I did on Shabbat, I joking answer, "sure it is, for the Arabs around us. When they see you they're afraid."
Actually, this isn't all joke. When our neighbors see tens and hundreds of thousands of people flocking into Hebron, they realize that this isn't a small, unsubstantial community. They realize, as we do too, that Hebron has huge significance to many more than the eighty or so families who live here today.
But then on to a more serious response. "Look, where isn't it dangerous? Rockets were fired at Sderot, Ashkelon, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. A few years ago northern Israeli was attacked by Hezbollah missiles. Syrian tanks are now shooting into the Golan. Unfortunately, buses have exploded all over Israel. So where should I choose to live, where it's not dangerous?"
But that's the secondary response. The primary answer: "Look, this is the first Jewish city in Israel. It's home to the second-holiest place in the world, Ma'arat HaMachpela, theTomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. That was off-limits to us for 700 years. Our neighbors tell us straight out, that if they ever control it again, they won't allow us entrance, claiming that it's a mosque and only Moslems may worship in a mosque.
This is our home. Either we are here, or we know who is here. If this is our home, than this is where we have to be. True, there may be a price, but isn't that the price we just paid, with over seventy soldiers, officers and civilians dying during the Gaza war? And if we don't fight, then….what?"
A man raised his hand and followed-up. "Is it more dangerous in Hebron than in Borough Park?"
For those unfamiliar, Borough Park is an ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brookly, NY.
I stifled a laugh. "Look, it says in the Gemara that 'Eretz Yisrael Machkim' – meaning that breathing the air of Israel provides wisdom. Here, in Israel, and certainly in Hebron, the air we breathe is holy. In Borough Park, all they breathe is the impure air of Galut (the Diaspora)."
Later, I realized that he already knew the answer, but just wanted to hear what I would say.Because, in discussing the current events in Iraq and Syria, and the contagious continuation into Europe and the Americas, he told me, "I made Aliyah with my suitcases, with my possessions. When, at some point, the Jews won't have any choice to but to leave the States, they'll only be able to bring the clothing they're wearing."
How true. And how sad.
These people, like the young man from the US who fought for Am Yisrael for two months, putting his life on the line, and the other man, who left the spoils of New York for the holiness of Israel. This is what keeps Israel going.
This is what Israel is all about.
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By: David Wilder
July 02, 2014
My statement to the media at a press conference yesterday at Yeshivat Shavei Hevron, here in Hebron.
We sat here almost a month ago following the abduction, in hope and prayer that we might meet the press here again at a big celebration and unfortunately that's not the case. In Hebrew we say,' sur m'ra v'aseh tov' – first do away with the evil and then do good and that's the path that the State of Israel must follow today. We lost three men, three boys, three heroes who didn't know anything about evil. Their only crime was that they were Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, studying in Hebron, studying in Gush Etzion, who wanted to do good. That was their purpose in life, those were their values, and the evil of the evil, the worst of the evil took their lives, but that spirit can never be taken. The side that the State of Israel must follow today, sur m'ra, to destroy evil, to eradicate evil, all of the terror, anyone who associates with the terror, anybody who gives any kind of support whatsoever for terror, has to be eradicated, has to be eliminated, has to be done away with. At the big rally in Tel Aviv, where we found all of the different sides of the Israeli people coming together, left, right, anything, everyone was there. One of the things that was said by the chairman of the student's union, was that their cannot be any justification whatsoever, in any way, shape or form, for the abduction, and he would add to that today, murder, of three young people. There's no justification, there's nothing that can be said, no excuses that can be given.
It goes without saying that Hamas, the Jihad, the Salafists who are starting to infiltrate, associated with Al-Queida, they all have to be wiped out, in any way that is necessary. The Israeli security forces know how to do that. I include in that group, Abu Mazen and the palestinian authority, who made a unity pact with Hamas. People who make unity pacts with terrorists are terrorists. Their goals are the same. Enough of the handshaking, the hugging, the kissing, the 'let's be friends.' It's all a show. And it has to come to an end. The state of Israel has to make that clear, because if it's not made clear, then we'll sit here again together, and if it's not here in Hebron, then it will be, G-d Forbid, in Elon Moreh, or in Yerushalayim, or in Sderot, because that's their goal. And if we don't destroy them, then they will continue to murder Jews.
We saw the other day, 15 missiles shot, from Gaza into Sderot, it was a Divine miracle that no one was hurt, that no one was killed.
There's another side, which is Aseh tov, to do good. Doing good means that we have to do what is good in our opinion, in the eyes of G-d, and to show the world that we have no intentions of acquiescing. We will not acquiesce to terror.
This yeshiva, which is a pillar of Torah learning, not only in Hebron, but throughout the state of Israel, has 350 students. It should be a yeshiva of 1000 men. The building should be tripled in size. There should be dormitories for 1000 men. That's Aseh tov. That's doing good. That's taking the spirit of Eyal, Naftali and Gil-Ad and raising it up, raising up their spirit. Raising up the spirit of Am Yisrael, of the Jewish people.
Their used to be what was called the 'Zionist response,' to murders. When people were murdered, such as here in Hebron in 1980, when six men were murdered outside here, just down the road, outside Beit Hadassah, the Israeli government finalized and actualized the permits necessary for the renewal of the Jewish community of Hebron. That was the Zionist response. That has to be renewed, it's been ignored, or perhaps even contradicted over the years. It has to be renewed.
One of the best ways to respond would be to expand the Jewish community of Hebron. Give us building permits. Give us the ability to purchase from the Arabs that want to sell us property, but not only in Hebron, rather throughout Judea and Samaria. The area in Gush Ezion can be expanded, and should be annexed. So too through Binyamin and Samaria.
This has to be our response. The goal of the terrorists is to move us out, not only to move us out of Judea and Samaria, but to move us out of Tel Aviv, Tzfat, Beer Sheva and Haifa. Those places and be built up too. But today the controversy centers here. And our response, of 'doing good,' is to show the world that we will not acquiesce to terror.
Those are the immediate steps that have to be taken. Of course today we mourn, with the families, with the friends, we mourn with all the Jewish people, because today the grief is national. Last night there were kids walking through the streets crying. I had people from the US and from around the world sending me text messages, and emails, calling me, with condolences. People called me up in tears, both Jews and non-Jews. The feeling of grief for these people knows no boundaries, except of course, for the terrorists, and those who wish to continue such acts, and that must stop, and we will do anything and everything we have to do to push the Israeli government, those people who are making the decisions, and we have representatives in that government, and take all of the steps necessary. And I really do think that the first step would be to make this Yeshiva a study place for 1000 people. And Makor Haim in Gush Etzion, where the other two men studied, to do the same thing there. And with G-d's help we will never have to meet again under these circumstances for a press conference. But you'll all be invited when this Yeshiva is transformed into an international Torah organization , when we have here men like Mickey (Zivan) and others, from around the world, and not only men, we can have here too a women's division. For the good of the entire world.
Question: What about the world opinion, which is against these things that you say?
I tell you what I've told other journalists: I don't give a damn what the world thinks. The world sat, 70 years ago, and watched as Jews were shoveled into ovens at Aushwitz. They didn't do anything about it. The leaders of the western powers knew what was happening. It's detailed and documented. It could have stopped. They didn’t' raise their pinkies to try and stop it. The world today is not interested in the existence of the state of Israel. Today it's not popular to be anti-Semitic, anti-Semitism has taken on a new form, it's called being anti-Israel and pro palestinian. Pure rabid anti-Semitism. And its goal is the destruction of the state of Israel. The world does not give a damn about us, and I, very honestly, don't give a damn about them. We have to survive, we have to do what is best for us and see to it that our people are safe, we have to make sure that guys standing on the road to catch a ride home aren’t picked up by terrorists and murdered in cold blood. Everyone hitches and we aren't going to stop. People have to be safe. If the world doesn't like it, that's their problem.
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