BS"D
Ok, so this is officially THE hardest post we've had to write. I've been pushing this one off for ages because there are SO many things in Israel's history that I'm proud of, it's been nearly impossible for me to narrow it down to just four. Every single second that passes in which this country still stands makes me proud of our resilient little piece of land that pulled herself up from nothing, and is still here against all the odds. I see every moment of our existence as a Jewish state, in a sea of Arab lands, in the twenty-first century, defying all of those all around the world who hate us and are awaiting our destruction as an absolute, definitive accomplishment of which I am schepping so much nachas, I can't even put it into words.
HOWEVER, since I need to pick four accomplishments, here are a few historical moments and other accomplishments that make me proud:
HOWEVER, since I need to pick four accomplishments, here are a few historical moments and other accomplishments that make me proud:
1) Recapturing Yerushalayim-War of '67
(see picture above-apparently, I am technologically inept and could not figure out a way to get that picture down here where it belonged. )*
The year of my Bat Mitzvah, the calendar worked out perfectly. Yom Yerushalayim coincided with the all-important Canadian national holiday-Queen Victoria day, and being the zionists that we are, there was absolutely no other day we would have preferred to celebrate my Bat Mitzvah. While writing my speech, I looked to this very picture for inspiration and all of the feelings I sought and found in this moment still resonate today. Can you imagine how it must have felt, to have fought and bled for your country, to watch your friends fall, to despair...and at the end of it all, to regain the physical heart and soul of our entire nation? Standing before the Kotel, our holiest site, our brave soldiers returned pride to our people. They gave us hope for the future, they stood in the epicenter of Jewry everywhere, and realised that the sweat, blood and tears of our youth had not been in vain. Jews from all corners of the world once again turned their bodies, three times a day and sent their prayers in the direction of Yerushalayim, OUR holy city, which was truly ours once again. And then these same Jews started following the direction of their prayers and came to Jerusalem for the first time, and fell in love. For every single Jew who has come to Jerusalem, for every Jew who has cried at the Kotel, for every Jew who had a spiritual epiphany, felt their connection to Hashem and their place in our nation, for every Jew, like me, who feels a physical ache in their bodies like part of their insides are missing when they are not in this golden city-we have this moment to thank.
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2) Operation Entebbe
(aka Operation Theunderbolt/Thunderball or Entebbe Raid)
On the night of July 3rd, 1976, IDF swooped into the Ugandan Entebbe airport on a mission to rescue the hostages of hijacked Air France flight 139. Under the command of Major General Yekutiel "Kuti" Adam, they landed an hour before midnight, their plane's cargo bay doors already open. Screaming "Get down!" in both Hebrew and English, they burst into the main hall of the airport building where the hostages were being held and attacked the hijackers (unfortunately, 3 hostages were killed in the crossfire). They completed their assault with hand grenades and shooting, killing all 7 terrorists. Without accruing any fatalities, the commandos calmly loaded the hostages on board, under fire from Ugandan soldiers. Yonatan Netenyahu, Binyamin's heroic older brother, was the only casualty, most likely killed by an Ugandan sniper. This entire superhuman effort was polished off in under a half hour. Our soldiers managed to save 102 of the 105 hostages, and only around 10 were injured. The beauty of this operation is that not all the people on board were Israelis (other nationalities represented amongst the hostages included Belgians, Danish, French, Greeks, Germans, Italians, Japanese, South Koreans, Spanish, British and Americans). The IDF took a stand for justice and freedom-they did not give in to the demands of the terrorists and release the various detainees imprisoned in Israel, Kenya, France, Switzerland and West Germany as the PLO and German "revolutionary cells(RZ) terrorists asked. They took matters into their own hands and efficiently and effectively put innocent human life above anything else-an ethos to which we still hold true today.
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3) Aliyah
This is, obviously, a very wide subject matter to categorize as a "moment" I'm proud of. In our shmona esrei (amida) prayer, we beg Hashem to "Tka b'shofar gadol licherutenu, v'sa nes l'kabetz galuyotenu, v'kabtzenu yachad m'arba kanfot ha'aretz-sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the banner to gather our exiles and gather us together from the four corners of the earth"** With these word, we beseech Hashem three times a day to return us to the land of our forefathers, the home of our people-Eretz Yisroel. Despite this request, hundreds of thousands have taken this matter into their own hands-Aliyah! Sure, we've all said the words (quite recently, in fact!) "Lshana haba b'Yerushalayim-Next year in Jerusalem!" at our seders, but Aliyah has been happening from as early as the 13th century! Pre-zionist Aliyah between the 13th and 19th centuries saw religious persecution across Europe. Expulsion from many countries and the general Messianic fervour of the people both contributed to mass movements of Jews to Israel, establishing religious centers in Hevron, Yerushalayim, Sfat and Tiberia, and generally building up the population of the land. 1882 saw the first wave of biluim from Russia, and marked the start of "Zionist Aliyah", amassing the country in waves. Aliyah Bet organised by the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet and Irgun illegally brought Holocaust survivors to the refuge they so greatly needed and deserved. None of these olim had it easy and all of the above, who had suffered through difficult lives, unimaginable hardships and a perilous journey to "Palestine" helped establish a land for us to live in today. Aliyah continued with Middle Eastern Jews, Ethiopians, citizens of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states and these early sabras worked the land and paved the way for the Jews of today. Nowadays, we have unbelievable organizations like Nefesh B'Nefesh (www.nbn.org.il) facilitating the Aliyah of thousands of people. There is no other place in the world where even getting pushed out of the way by someone else who is trying to get to the same place as you on the sidewalk is an actual PLEASURE-who can complain about being surrounded by their brothers and sisters? Being able to walk in a crowd and know you are surrounded by Jews who feel just like you, think like you, act like you and have the same awesome responsibilities as you is an absolute blessing which we could never have experienced, had it not been for Aliyah. (and if, after reading this paragraph, you think that there just might possibly, perhaps, be a secret message here for you to make Aliyah, well.....you'd be right! :P MAKE ALIYAH!)
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And last but not least, my fourth moment would have to be
*drum roll, please*
4) THE COMING OF MOSHIACH
Ok, if you have stuck it out this far (props to you, if so, I'm impressed) you are probably regretting every word of mine that you have read because you're likely thinking "wow, this girl is clinically insane..doesn't she know Moshiach isn't here yet?" Well, you're right. To my great dismay, Moshiach isn't here yet. This fourth moment is a little bit optimistic. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not waiting to hear the shofars blowing, and to see the masses of people drop everything and rush out into the streets. I can't wait to see every single person who didn't believe me when I talked about Moshiach and go "Haha, told you so!" (juuuust kidding!) Seriously, though, there will be no greater moment in the history of our state, in all the times of our people, than the glorious moment when Hashem decides to turn his face towards us and bring us our geula. This moment in the future justifies and validates absolutely any possible moment of our past that I could have put here- every war we have ever fought, every hostage we have ever saved, every single person who has ever made Aliyah, every governmental decision made, every building built, organisation or movement established, risk taken, life lost. Every baby born and every Jew on any corner of this earth who has turned towards Jerusalem, shed a tear and begged Hashem from the depths of his soul to have mercy and bring us home-each and every single moment in our ENTIRE history has been an effort to bringing us our final geula. So sure, maybe this counts as a "cop out" answer since it's really every moment that ever has and ever will exist, but there is no other moment that will ever make me more proud. And although I say I couldn't be happier about our 60th anniversary, I actually could-if we got the chance to celebrate it with Moshiach Tzidkenu!
----------------------------------------
2) Operation Entebbe
(aka Operation Theunderbolt/Thunderball or Entebbe Raid)
On the night of July 3rd, 1976, IDF swooped into the Ugandan Entebbe airport on a mission to rescue the hostages of hijacked Air France flight 139. Under the command of Major General Yekutiel "Kuti" Adam, they landed an hour before midnight, their plane's cargo bay doors already open. Screaming "Get down!" in both Hebrew and English, they burst into the main hall of the airport building where the hostages were being held and attacked the hijackers (unfortunately, 3 hostages were killed in the crossfire). They completed their assault with hand grenades and shooting, killing all 7 terrorists. Without accruing any fatalities, the commandos calmly loaded the hostages on board, under fire from Ugandan soldiers. Yonatan Netenyahu, Binyamin's heroic older brother, was the only casualty, most likely killed by an Ugandan sniper. This entire superhuman effort was polished off in under a half hour. Our soldiers managed to save 102 of the 105 hostages, and only around 10 were injured. The beauty of this operation is that not all the people on board were Israelis (other nationalities represented amongst the hostages included Belgians, Danish, French, Greeks, Germans, Italians, Japanese, South Koreans, Spanish, British and Americans). The IDF took a stand for justice and freedom-they did not give in to the demands of the terrorists and release the various detainees imprisoned in Israel, Kenya, France, Switzerland and West Germany as the PLO and German "revolutionary cells(RZ) terrorists asked. They took matters into their own hands and efficiently and effectively put innocent human life above anything else-an ethos to which we still hold true today.
----------------------------------------
3) Aliyah
This is, obviously, a very wide subject matter to categorize as a "moment" I'm proud of. In our shmona esrei (amida) prayer, we beg Hashem to "Tka b'shofar gadol licherutenu, v'sa nes l'kabetz galuyotenu, v'kabtzenu yachad m'arba kanfot ha'aretz-sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the banner to gather our exiles and gather us together from the four corners of the earth"** With these word, we beseech Hashem three times a day to return us to the land of our forefathers, the home of our people-Eretz Yisroel. Despite this request, hundreds of thousands have taken this matter into their own hands-Aliyah! Sure, we've all said the words (quite recently, in fact!) "Lshana haba b'Yerushalayim-Next year in Jerusalem!" at our seders, but Aliyah has been happening from as early as the 13th century! Pre-zionist Aliyah between the 13th and 19th centuries saw religious persecution across Europe. Expulsion from many countries and the general Messianic fervour of the people both contributed to mass movements of Jews to Israel, establishing religious centers in Hevron, Yerushalayim, Sfat and Tiberia, and generally building up the population of the land. 1882 saw the first wave of biluim from Russia, and marked the start of "Zionist Aliyah", amassing the country in waves. Aliyah Bet organised by the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet and Irgun illegally brought Holocaust survivors to the refuge they so greatly needed and deserved. None of these olim had it easy and all of the above, who had suffered through difficult lives, unimaginable hardships and a perilous journey to "Palestine" helped establish a land for us to live in today. Aliyah continued with Middle Eastern Jews, Ethiopians, citizens of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states and these early sabras worked the land and paved the way for the Jews of today. Nowadays, we have unbelievable organizations like Nefesh B'Nefesh (www.nbn.org.il) facilitating the Aliyah of thousands of people. There is no other place in the world where even getting pushed out of the way by someone else who is trying to get to the same place as you on the sidewalk is an actual PLEASURE-who can complain about being surrounded by their brothers and sisters? Being able to walk in a crowd and know you are surrounded by Jews who feel just like you, think like you, act like you and have the same awesome responsibilities as you is an absolute blessing which we could never have experienced, had it not been for Aliyah. (and if, after reading this paragraph, you think that there just might possibly, perhaps, be a secret message here for you to make Aliyah, well.....you'd be right! :P MAKE ALIYAH!)
----------------------------------------
And last but not least, my fourth moment would have to be
*drum roll, please*
4) THE COMING OF MOSHIACH
Ok, if you have stuck it out this far (props to you, if so, I'm impressed) you are probably regretting every word of mine that you have read because you're likely thinking "wow, this girl is clinically insane..doesn't she know Moshiach isn't here yet?" Well, you're right. To my great dismay, Moshiach isn't here yet. This fourth moment is a little bit optimistic. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not waiting to hear the shofars blowing, and to see the masses of people drop everything and rush out into the streets. I can't wait to see every single person who didn't believe me when I talked about Moshiach and go "Haha, told you so!" (juuuust kidding!) Seriously, though, there will be no greater moment in the history of our state, in all the times of our people, than the glorious moment when Hashem decides to turn his face towards us and bring us our geula. This moment in the future justifies and validates absolutely any possible moment of our past that I could have put here- every war we have ever fought, every hostage we have ever saved, every single person who has ever made Aliyah, every governmental decision made, every building built, organisation or movement established, risk taken, life lost. Every baby born and every Jew on any corner of this earth who has turned towards Jerusalem, shed a tear and begged Hashem from the depths of his soul to have mercy and bring us home-each and every single moment in our ENTIRE history has been an effort to bringing us our final geula. So sure, maybe this counts as a "cop out" answer since it's really every moment that ever has and ever will exist, but there is no other moment that will ever make me more proud. And although I say I couldn't be happier about our 60th anniversary, I actually could-if we got the chance to celebrate it with Moshiach Tzidkenu!
May we have the zchus to take pride in this moment and see the coming of Moshiach bimhera b'yamenu-speedily in our times!!
*Photo credit: I copied this picture from http://www.answers.com/
**Translation from Siddur Ahavat Shalom-The Complete Artscroll Siddur
**Translation from Siddur Ahavat Shalom-The Complete Artscroll Siddur
