I had the great privilege of being able to remain in Israel for a week longer than the Jewish Link Mission participants.
Each day I cannot get enough of this country and the holiness surrounding every drop of it. What is so holy? Let’s begin with every pebble that we walk on and pass on the street. Let’s talk about the people who are overwhelmed with gratitude that we are coming here to show them support. How do they even know? I make it a point of speaking to everyone and anyone. I was in a store on Machane Yehuda and began to talk with the lady working in the store. I explained to her that I was in Israel only because I wanted to walk the streets and show people how much I cared about them. I wanted to make it clear to people how much we are thinking of them constantly. This lady began to cry and immediately we were hugging each other and both crying.
This country is, on the one hand, so sad, yet so resilient. Life goes on. The hardships they are living through are evident in the faces of so many, but seeing people walking the streets, volunteering and shopping in the stores is very uplifting for them and they are extremely grateful. It is painful to see the number of closed stores. There are two factors which determine their reason for shuttering their entrances: One is that so many are called into the army and another is they are suffering from lack of business.
One of the most heartwarming aspects of our trip was the fact that within our group most people did not know each other at all prior to signing up. Within a day we were a family, all here with one goal—to observe and go back and spread the word.
Don’t think we had the opportunity to relax after disembarking from our very comfortable EL AL flight. From the moment we arrived we were off and running. Our flight arrived at 8:15 a.m. and we did not check into our hotel until 3 p.m. Immediately, we were immersed in the history and the present situation in the amazingly capable hands of Peter Abelow. We stood at the tayelet in Yerushalayim and Peter skillfully explained to us exactly where we were in relation to the rest of the country and how precarious the situation is no matter where you are. Following that, we were off to the Kotel, then walked up to the Old City where we had lunch and absorbed the beauty of Yerushalayim
Just a few minutes after we checked into our hotel, we were off to Pantry Packers to help pack food products ready to be shipped out to various food depots throughout the country. This endeavor is organized through the efforts of Collel Chabad. It was especially touching and exciting that one of our participants, David Bessaleli, was able to join his granddaughter, a student at Sha’alvim for Women, who each week volunteers at Pantry Packers with other young women and that just happened to be her day!
Needless to say our day was exhausting. I must warn anyone that if they think they are coming to Israel on a mission to rest, relax and go to lots of restaurants you are living in a fog. Yes, the restaurants are there and we did manage to try out quite a few, but keep in mind that at the end of the day the exhaustion takes over and nothing is more comforting than getting into bed! There was no rest for the weary as we were either on the buses at 7:30 or 8:30 a.m. There was not even that much time to enjoy a delicious Israeli breakfast, for which Israeli hotels are well known.
I am going to skip to our day on Wednesday and will, over the next few weeks, expound on various escapades that were part of our experience. On Wednesday, we were geared up to go “down South.” We were one of the few, if not the last, group that was still allowed to enter Be’eri. The devastation that we saw is beyond describable. Homes, buildings, stores totally demolished. Some were ridden with bullet holes; toys were on the ground everywhere; hammocks, barbecues thrown everywhere. Dogs walking around trying to find out what exactly was going on. It was like a death town, though we did see very few people who returned, perhaps to retrieve their belongings, which I cannot imagine was possible, or just to have a taste of what used to be this extremely beautiful tropical paradise. Pain is not enough of a word to adequately describe what we saw. Yet, in response to many who have told me that they would not want to go south to see the devastation, I believe they are wrong. Our visiting this area is not only for us, but even more so for the Israelis who are facing total uncertainty. With our visit, we are acknowledging and bearing witness to what has happened. Just yesterday Hamas announced with great pride that they had killed two of the hostages who were from Be’eri, although they are not releasing their bodies.
From there we traveled to the site of the Nova Music Festival, another painful reminder of the savagery of Hamas. Next to the festival was a field piled high with burnt-out cars, one on top of the other, piles and piles of cars that had either been torched, blown up or shot at. On each car was a sticker from Zaka which meant that they had gone through each vehicle and cleaned the blood, and other human remains. It is said that some bodies were found with pieces of cars intertwined into their skin.
Adjacent to the Nova site is a large field where poles have been erected with pictures of either the victims or those still being held hostage. As we walked through the field, Binyamin, our security guard who accompanied us throughout our trip, called me over and showed me a picture of a friend of his from his army group. They both were French lone soldiers and his friend had been killed in Gaza. He asked me to take a picture of him together with his deceased friend.
I am going to write more about our trip at another time, but I want to emphasize the fact that Israel needs us now. The people need us to walk the streets, give them a hug, tell them we care. This small country is ours just as it is theirs and we need to support them at this very crucial time by rethinking where we should be raising our children and where we should be planning our next vacations.
The country is alive, they need our help and we have an obligation to fulfill their wishes. More to come; next week from the USA. It will be difficult for me to leave here.
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
