Update #9 - December 4, 2023

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Reflections from the field

by Yitzhak Sokoloff

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Dear Friends,
 
It’s been over a month since I shared reflections with you—a month of war and a truncated cease-fire, of unbelievable solidarity and enormous dissonance between the view from Israel and from abroad, but most of all for many Israelis, a month of mourning. Given that, I will take the liberty of sharing thoughts about two friends. Almost every Israeli today can share similar thoughts.
                                                      
Na’aran
Na’aran Eschar was 33 years old when his tank turned over along the Lebanese border near Rosh Hanikra. Na’aran had been my son Yuval’s best friend for over a decade. They spent four years together in yeshiva- studying Torah, talking late into the night, hiking in the desert and making incredible music. After we lost Yuval seven years ago, and even before that, Naaran became a member of our family. He organized a group of Yuval’s friends who would come to our house every month to study Torah; he did all the arrangements for the music that my wife and daughter Avigail composed; and he would bring his wife Tsuf and his children, Be’eri and Redeem, to spend Shabbat with us every few months. 
 
Na’aran was a gentle soul, a man of faith and values, and perhaps the most gifted musician I’ve ever met. After yeshiva, the army and another stint in yeshiva, he became a rabbi and inspired and encouraged his students to find their own paths in Torah.  Only four months before the war, Na’aran donated a kidney to an unknown recipient. He is most likely the only person in history to have donated one kidney in life and another in death- along with his heart and lungs. After his operation he was exempted from reserve duty, but he insisted on joining his unit anyway. I spoke to him after Simchat Torah and tried - but failed- to convince him to sit this war out. He forced the army to let him join his unit with the question- “Do you need me”? On the night of the accident, it didn’t occur to me that Na’aran was involved.  I learned the truth from another soldier in our three-man patrol along the periphery of Gaza. A siren went off and we took shelter in a secure structure. I had heard of the accident in the north and took advantage of the pause to call Na’aran to check up on him, My team member saw Na’aran's name on the screen of my iPhone and it turned out that he had been an adopted member of Na’aran’s family during his conversion process. He called Na’aran’s brother Ohad, and we were both shocked to hear that he was the soldier described in the news as having been badly wounded. For a week my wife, children and I went back and forth to the ICU unit in Nahariya to be with his family, to sit next to him and to pray for a miracle. I begged him to stay with us, to embrace Yuval but to tell him that the time had not yet come for them to be together in eternity. But it was not to be. Tomorrow night we will mark Na’aran’s shloshim- with tears and with the music that he played and composed.

At the funeral his brother Ohad reminded us of a particular nigun that Na’aran had made a point of singing every Shabbat evening. It was a melody sung by Gerer Hasidim in Poland. Ohad recalled that while their great grandfather had sung that particular nigun together with other Hasidim just before being gassed, Na’aran had sung it as a soldier of the State of Israel. As hard as his passing was, is and will continue to be, the difference is enormous.
 
Let his memory- and the memory of all of those consumed in this war- be a blessing.

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Na'aran Eschar z"l

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Vivian
In my last update I wrote of my concern for Vivian Silver, a courageous and irrepressible activist who lived in Be’eri and was thought to have been kidnapped on Simchat Torah. Alas, while searching through the wreckage of Vivian’s home, my own army unit discovered her remains. After the identification was confirmed she was buried on Kibbutz Gezer, which she had helped found together with a group of young and idealistic Americans after the Six Day War. Vivian’s funeral was attended by thousands. Besides her own family, most of the speakers were Jewish and Arab women who had worked closely with her on one or another of her many projects. The last eulogy was read out in the name of a close friend of both Vivian and myself, a Palestinian activist (who I cannot mention by name in order to protect his safety) who fled Gaza after the Hamas put him on its execution list, and who has met many of our Keshet groups. They spoke on the phone while Vivian was hiding from the Hamas terrorists on that terrible day. Our friend, whose mother is now sheltering under terrible conditions in the southern part of Gaza, calls me every few days to check in on me and my family and to share news about his. He never fails to remind me that for years he has been saying “If Israel doesn’t destroy the Hamas it will be a tragedy for the Israelis and a catastrophe for the Palestinians.” If only we had listened harder. 

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Vivian Silver z"l

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Back in the Army
It’s now been seven weeks since I volunteered to spend four days patrolling in Ashkelon for the Home Front Command. I’m one of dozens of volunteer jeep drivers who are serving with combat units charged with protecting the Gazan Envelope. We’ve been stationed in moshavim in the area, in Netivot and in Ashkelon itself. I am by far the most senior member of my unit, but the soldiers seem to enjoy having someone the age of their parents around as part of the team. They are a reflection of much of Israel- religious and secular and in between, men and women, students and hi-tech executives, students just back from their post-army trek and parents of young children and teenagers. They were called up on October 7th and only go home every few weeks, but they are completely dedicated to each other and to their mission, and no one seems to complain about the hours, the conditions or the infrequent days off. Today we combed a valley near Kibbutz Miflasim to search for anything that could possibly shed light on the fate of the people who fled the dance festival and are still missing. Miraculously, considering that we were the third group of soldiers to search the area, we found a bracelet that somehow had been missed on previous sweeps! We passed it on to the intelligence officers working with us and can only hope that we may have been able to bring some closure to someone’s family. 

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The Keshet Israel Emergency Relief Fund 
I am more than proud to be able to report that we have raised and distributed some $325,000 from 416 veterans of Keshet programs and their personal networks. Of this amount, $188,000 was given to our general relief fund in response to our original appeal.  (The rest was specifically earmarked for our Drone Project, see below)   As promised, we distributed the funds wherever we could identify an immediate need for intervention that was not being met by the government or any of the large American or Israeli organizations. This included monetary grants to the kibbutzim attacked on Simchat Torah and to individual families forced to flee their homes and places of work, purchases of truckloads of food, washing machines, driers and household goods for evacuees, books and tablets for school children who are studying remotely, toiletries-primarily for women and mothers, boots, fleeces, flashlights, tactical glasses, winter gear and tents for reserve army units. We have also funded counseling services to members of the haredi community serving in the burial societies and in Zaka, who together with the Military Rabbinate had the unimaginable task of identifying and burying the dead with dignity and compassion. In some cases, we have partnered with and supported other organizations whom we know and trust, such as the Jaffa Institute, which has been focusing on the evacuee population in the Tel Aviv region.  As word of our initiative has spread we have received more and more requests for assistance from those whose lives have been so cruelly disrupted, and as more donations arrive we will continue to offer our help to those who have “fallen between the cracks”. 

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The Drone Project
About two weeks ago, I was made aware of an enormous shortage of hi-quality and commercially available drones for special units of the IDF actively engaged in Gaza and along the Lebanese border. Initially this information came to me in a very Israeli way- during a conversation with one of my daughter’s best friends that took place at my granddaughter’s birthday party!   It turns out that her friend (who was also a Keshet counselor)  serves in a Special Forces unit as an expert on the use of mini-drones capable of flying inside buildings and locating booby-traps, enemy ambushes, innocent civilians and hostages without risking the lives of our soldiers. Such drones are already approved and in use by the IDF but nowhere near the numbers required at present. She arranged for me to receive a series of in-depth briefings at her base and together with her colleagues convinced me that the need for these and other types of drones is immediate and urgent in order to safeguard the lives of our soldiers. 
 
Purchasing equipment suitable for tactical use is generally beyond the scope of normal philanthropy, but because these drones are available commercially and serve in a warning capacity, I agreed to take upon the mission of providing as many as possible. During the last ten days we have raised $125,000 for this purpose and are buying as many as possible. 
 
Donations for both the Drone Project and the general relief fund can be made through the Keshet Israel Emergency Relief fund.  (donation information below.  Please note that only donations specifically earmarked towards the Drone Project will used as such.)
 
General Reflections
Many friends, family members and Keshet program veterans have written to ask me to share impressions of the overall situation. I apologize for my reticence during the last month. Tonight is perhaps the first time I have had a few hours to myself. The time will come when I will hopefully write full blown articles dealing with many different aspects of our current reality.  But for now, given that I am writing in between my shifts in my IDF unit, I will take the liberty of only offering bullet-point responses to the questions that I receive the most. I cannot offer in-depth analysis tonight to support any of these responses, so please view them more as free associations from someone who has been far more involved in the practical sides of this war than the theoretical ones. In any case I am always eager to discuss and consider other views.
 
Can the Hamas be Defeated?
In a word, yes- if we stay the course. I am in daily contact with soldiers operating in Gaza and we are making steady progress. 97% (!) of Israeli Jews and over a third of Israeli Arabs support the total military and political defeat of the Hamas. My own belief is that anything short of that will place the State of Israel in grave danger. Our immediate enemies will be encouraged to attack us again and again despite the cost to themselves in the belief that if we can be forced or pressured to leave the Hamas standing after the Simchat Torah massacre, then ultimately we can be defeated. This would indeed be a tragedy for Israel and a catastrophe for Palestinians, as well as for the people of Lebanon and even Iran. 
 
Can the Hamas be defeated if Israel loses much or all of its international support?
Yes. Calls for a permanent ceasefire are in fact calls for a Hamas victory. Israel can and must defeat the Hamas. In order for the army to kill as few innocent Palestinians and lose as few of its soldiers as possible, it would be better to have all the time in the world to implement a slow and cautious strategy. If pressure for a cease-fire becomes overwhelming, the IDF will be forced to step up the pace of its attacks, risking the lives of far more soldiers and Palestinians alike in order to achieve the same end.
 
Is the price being paid by Palestinians civilians in Gaza justified?
That is a question for the Hamas to answer. Were it to surrender tomorrow the battle would be over, Hamas members would be arrested, while the reconstruction of Gaza could commence immediately. Otherwise, Israel will continue to wage a war designed to defeat its enemy while killing as few innocent civilians as possible. Alternatively, I’m sure Israel would be willing to cede the battlefield to the U.N., or anyone else who could guarantee to bring about the surrender and destruction of Hamas with less collateral damage, but I don’t see anyone standing in line. Ultimately this is a war we will need to fight ourselves.
 
Does Israel’s ongoing existence as a Jewish state justify the human cost paid by its enemies?
Yes. We still remember what it means to be a people without an army to defend it. We are actors on the stage of history. Sometimes that demands a heavy price but we will never return to a state of permanent impotency.
 
Is a two-state solution possible?
Perhaps, were the Palestinian leadership to be replaced by people who actively reject and publicly denounce those who teach their children that Israel is fundamentally illegitimate, that violence against it is heroic, and that any feasible compromise is treasonous. There is no leadership in Gaza or the West Bank speaking this language today. I wish there were.
 
Was a two-state solution ever possible?
We may never know but it seems that Abba Eban may have gotten it right.

Could Israel have done things differently?
Undoubtedlty.  In particular, it's Israel's obligation to ensure that anyone living under Israeli law or jurisdiction is protected by a legal system with the right to due proess and equal human rights.  There's no excuse for indiviudals who take the law into their own hands-whether Israeli or Palestinian-and should be punished.

Can there ever be a solution to this mess?
If we get over the concept of all or nothing solutions there are many possibilities. For instance, with responsible Palestinian and Israeli leadership it would be possible to provide Palestinians with freedom, prosperity and dignity in the spirit of Yitzhak Rabin’s formula after Oslo, which admittedly was “less than a state”. If that were to work the Middle East as a whole could flourish and we might be able to imagine possibilities that are today out of reach.
 
What about Iran?
Iran is the head. Hezbollah and Hamas are the tentacles. While everyone is looking elsewhere the Iranians are racing towards producing nuclear weapons. A nuclear Iran led by people more invested in the meta-history of Shi’ite Islam than in the welfare of their own people will constitue a mortal threat to both Israel and the United States. Like Hamas, the Iranian leadership seems to be willing to risk the destruction of their own people in order to inflict intolerable damage on their enemies, meaning at least Israel and possibly the United States as well. The United States and the West in general have a history of waking up to unimaginable existential threats only after paying an enormous price. This is a human condition to which  even Israel has proven itself susceptible.  Israel and the U.S. should work together to put an end to this threat while offering the Hezbollah the option of saving Lebanon by standing aside. 
 
What about the Haredim?
The good news is that thousands of Haredim have joined the army or are serving in the most difficult of all jobs, collecting the remnants of those murdered and burying the dead. Haredim have also organized large grassroots efforts to support soldiers and evacuees, which is something new and welcome. The bad news is that with few exceptions no one in the Haredi community challenges the concept that young men of the same age as Israeli regular combat forces who are capable of putting in long days of yeshiva study should join the army, be trained for combat and in short, share the burden and the risk. At the same time they wrap themselves in the mantle of Torah, which from my perspective constitutes a Hilul Hashem (desecration of the Name of G-d). But first things first, it is slowly becoming more acceptable for at least some Haredim to serve in the army, and that is a good thing.
 
Is there any good news?
Plenty. Israel is more unified than it has been in half a century. Virtually everyone not serving the IDF has found some way to make a contribution.  It’s clear that the political leadership will undergo a massive upheaval sooner rather than later. The unprecedented rate of murders taking place within Israeli Arab society has dropped precipitously and Israeli citizens of Israel have exhibited restraint and even solidarity. A Bedouin Arab from Rahat saved the lives of 30 Jews by repeatedly driving under fire on Simchat Torah. Mansour Abbas, leader of an Arab political party in the Knesset, has publicly condemned the Hamas in Hebrew and in Arabic and offered a refreshing and desperately needed model for Jewish-Arab co-existence. Jews from around the world are buying more apartments in Israel than before the war, and I anticipate there will be more Aliya from North America than in many years.  Three hundred thousand Jews and non-Jews massed in Washington and hundreds of thousands more in London and Paris in support of Israel and the Jewish people. Despite what it may feel like at Harvard or Columbia (my alma mater), WE ARE NOT ALONE.
 
Am Yisrael Chai!

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We have partnered with our good friends Rabbi Arnie Gluck and Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, NJ to facilitate the donation process. Tax-exempt contributions can be made to TBE, which will in turn issue tax receipts to donors as a recognized U.S. based non-profit organization.  Based on your support we will expand our operations during the duration of the crisis, but in the interim we will continue to allocate our own resources based on pledges that we receive from you. This was the model we used during the war in Lebanon in 2006 and it enables us to disperse hundreds of thousands of dollars in response to urgent requests within 48 hours or less. 
 
How to donate to the Keshet Israel Emergency Relief Fund
Contributions should be sent to Temple Beth-El Israel fund via the TBE website: https://templebethelnj.shulcloud.com/form/israel-emergency-relief 

Or send a check made payable to: Rabbi's Discretionary Fund
 
Mailing Address:
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Attn:  Rabbi Gluck
67 US Highway 206
Hillsborough, NJ 08844
Memo:  KIERF

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