I recently returned from a two-week visit to Israel. The primary purpose for my visit to Israel was to attend the wedding of my grandson. In this visit, I reflected that it seems as though the very nature of the Jewish existence has been an exposure to the best and worst of human behavior.
When I first arrived at the Prima Kings hotel In Jerusalem, I was surprised by the number of children playing in the lobby, learning in a makeshift classroom, and using the elevators as a kind of amusement ride. What was going on here? I learned that the children in the hotel were part of the thousands of Jewish refugees from the north of Israel who were forced to leave their homes because of Hezbollah’s constant attacks.
Fifty Jewish Israeli families, part of the thousands of internal Jewish refugees, were surviving in this hotel because of the help of the Israeli government in cooperation with the hotel. And these fifty were only part of the thousands who did not get help from the U.N., or the attention and sympathy of the international media. They simply were victims of a war that was brought on by Hamas during a cease-fire. Unlike the Hamas government that built tunnels and attacked civilians, the Israeli government did not steal from its citizens, but found a way to stave off a famine, provide shelter, and not rely on the United Nations.
I also got to visit, with my grandson (an IDF tank commander) the site of the Nova festival grounds. I was moved by the rows of pictures of young people who were massacred on October 7. We also went to see the automobile cemetery in southern Israel. There we saw dozens upon dozens of burnt-out cars and vehicles riddled by gunfire from Hamas soldiers and Gazan civilians who cooperated in the massacre.
As I see it, the latest threat is not a new threat but it has certain components that make things a bit different and yet the same. We have the “Promised Land” again, and we still believe that Hashem will keep the covenant.
