Wednesday, April 10 - Friday April 12, 2024
Wednesday morning we headed to the north. I expected to hear the explosions in the distance as I did in the south, but we did not encounter that again. We went to a restaurant owned by a Druze Israeli named Basma, who is an IDF widow (he husband died serving in 2015 after 13 years in a coma) but has continued to give back to IDF soldiers by making meals for them and donating them to troops in the north. The first time she did it she saw a few soldiers off to the side that could not eat them because her food was not kosher. So she had her own kitchen and her restaurant’s kitchen kashered. What an incredible person. We make meals and wrote cards together to go in them and packed them all up. Different soldiers came by from different troops to pick them up. The tension in the north is a at a peak right now and I could see it, especially on the younger soldiers faces.
When we returned to the hotel, we heard from an adoptive family member of a lone solider - a soldier from the U.S. who was kidnapped on 10/7 by Hamas, he had a local family that he was living with at the time. The “adoptive” father has become something of an activist for the hostages and their families and continues to speak out for the release of Edan Alexander, who is from Tenafly, NJ, the same town my brother in law, sister in law and nephews live in. What the families of hostages are going through…what the hostages have and continue to endure… It is truly untenable. He asked that we all consider leaving an empty chair and place setting in honor of a hostage for Passover.
From there we had free time on our own and I wandered over to a sushi restaurant and had an incredible meal. After that I had expected to write but I just passed out — I could not find the energy to do anything else.
Thursday started at hostage square in Tel Aviv. It is across from their military headquarters as a reminder to those making the hard decisions that these people matter to a great many. The memorials included a little card with messages of hope from children around the world - from Venezuela to France to the US. They were all hanging from different trees. There were tents with family and friends sitting waiting to speak to people about their loved ones that are still being held by Hamas. They were there to tell stories about those taken and to bear witness to the horrible pain their families are enduring. I went from station to station, and I could not stop crying. What else could I do? The whole thing is horrible. To live in a world where this is the new reality. 6 months of being held prisoner. And the reports we are hearing from those held are beyond disturbing. There was a model of a tunnel, the kind some hostages are kept in, to go into. I did it but I knew the whole time I could come right back out.
From there we went to a tree planting in Neot Kdumim, to the memorial at Ammunition Hill and then to the Kotel. Finally we had about an hour at the Medhane Yehuda before hearing a speaker, the wife of a solider, during dinner. She told us our presence made a difference because what they lost on 10/7 was innocence, trust and peace. We helped with the trust - that it may not be okay now, but it will be okay again. The fact that we have showed up in their time of need, helps build that trust back. The innocence - the fact that her sons, as young as 7 years old, have needed to go to shiva and funerals for friends - that will not return. Peace is what the world wants from Israel but if Hamas is not destroyed, they vowed to do 10/7 again. One of my friends there told me how in the hostage exchange early on, one of the released prisoners is now a top leader for Hamas, so the choice to trade prisoners for hostages has been complicated by that reality. It is a series of choiceless choices.
I can tell you, no matter how they feel about the current government or the worldwide rise in antisemitism or if the hostages’ freedom should take precedent to the destruction of Hamas or if the most important thing they do is everything to stop Hamas from doing this attack on civilians again - no matter their individual feeling is for any of that - they all feel the burden of conscription. The IDF is made of their children - with the exception of Isreali Muslims, Christian’s and certain far right religious Jewish groups that get exemption - everyone else - the Jews, Druze and Circassian citizens of Israel - their children all go to national service. They are the sacrifice in this tiny country. That burden is theirs to bear. It is one that no one takes likely.
I guess if I take anyone thing to heart about my experiences there, is that all the players in this are people, just like myself. It may be easier to think in terms of broad stokes but at the end of the day, this is a story made of many individual stories, most of which are very difficult to have heard. It meant something to them that I bore witness to it - that I showed up, did a few things and listened to what they had to say. I am thankful for the opportunity. I know I will not forget it anytime soon.
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