Monday, January 16, 2006

The Sign of Faith

Hi folks!

I'm Labrab, your guest blogger for tonight and tomorrow. You can find more of my musings on Torah, Chemistry, and everything in between on my home blog.

First of all, before you continue reading this post, please hop over to the JIB awards voting page, click on the "Israel Advocacy" section, and vote for Jameel's blog.

DID YOU DO IT???

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Jameel just recounted his momentous Aliyah trip, which took place during the Gulf War on a special flight for Yeshiva University students called Operation Torah Shield.

In this post I'd like to share with you a powerful image that I encountered four years ago, in January 2002. Over a year had passed in the second intifada, and I joined 300 Yeshiva University students on an intersession mission to Israel, called Operation Torah Shield II. While the whole trip remains an inspirational memory, this picture in particulary continues to symbolize for me the indomitable faith of Jewish residents of Yehuda and Shomron.

Without further adieu, permit me to quote from my memoirs.

_______________

The Sign of Faith

On a windswept, barren mountain in Gush Etzion, half a mile from the nearest home, silently stands a singular evocation of the Jewish people’s unwavering emunah. A memorial sign rests at the entrance to the cave outside Tekoa where, last Lag Ba’omer, Kobi Mandell and Yosef Ishran were brutally murdered. Most readers of this essay could likely have guessed the text of this placard with 90% accuracy. I doubt, however, that they could have imagined the inclusion of a phrase, four words long, which transforms this sign from a mournful cry to a powerful statement of determination and hope.

The Israel ministry of tourism has adopted as its slogan Yehoshua and Calev’s idealistic assessment of the land of Israel: “Tovah haaretz me’od me’od” (The land is exceedingly good). Ten spies saw only giant warriors and fortified cities; only two religious leaders could penetrate beneath the image of invincibility to behold a beautiful, inspiring land. Our task, minister Benny Elon explained, was to reverse the sin of the spies by publicizing the land’s praises to potential visitors.

At the beginning of our mission I regarded this directive with an uneasy skepticism. How would I summon the courage to set aside the images of war that clutter our television screens and behold a beautiful, inspiring land?

When reading that memorial sign, however, I astonishingly encountered the very phrase that I was struggling to internalize. The murders, it insists, took place al ha’aretz hatovah hazot, on this good land. If two grieving families could still affirm their belief in the land’s goodness, I could do no less than follow their example.

For the residents of Yehuda and Shomron, sacrificing for the land of Israel brings out only a deeper love for the land. The next time you visit Israel, spend some time with these courageous people and try to share in their perspective. Tour the newest caravan colony in Eli, whose residents take pride in their simple homes as if they were luxurious palaces. Greet the wide-eyed smiles of the children of Chevron as they run to you to play, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of soldiers stationed around the city to protect them. Watch Avi Milstein, our guide in Tekoa, pick up a clod of dirt with his beefy hand and announce, “This is the reason we are here.” Join Ezra and Rina Ishran, Rabbi Seth and Sherri Mandel, and the rest of Tekoa on their tiyul next Lag Ba’omer to the Dead Sea in commemoration of their nature-loving children. On the way, stop for a few moments to gaze at that sign and ponder our nation’s indomitable faith.



Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran, HY"D

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"peace in prison"

Scottish ISM-activist Forcefully Deported From Israel After 7 Weeks
in Prison
January 15th, 2006

At 3:00 in the morning to Friday, ISM-activist Andrew Macdonald was
forcefully deported from Israel, 7 weeks after being abducted from
Palestine by the Israeli Border Police. Still refusing to comply with
the State of Israel's policy of deporting Human Rights Workers from
Palestine, he was carried on to the plane and accompanied by two
Police
Officers on the plane from Tel Aviv to London.
Before his arrest, Andrew worked in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, where ISM and
the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence to support
the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from
Hebron's violent settlers. Before and after his arrest, the IDF and
the Police in the area have repeatedly been trying to get as many
Human
Rights Workers (HRW's) as possible out of Tel Rumeida, by arresting
them on false accusations, trying to "negotiate" with Israel's
Ministry of Interior in order to get them deported, confiscating their
cameras and deleting video evidence of settler and military criminal
acts, issuing false Closed Military Zone Orders, and on two occasions
trying to enter their apartment without a warrant.
There is evident fear from the Israeli authorities that people around
the world will find out about their inability and unwillingness to
protect the Palestinian population of Tel Rumeida. Palestinians in Tel
Rumeida face daily acts of violence such as stone throwing, physical
abuse, spitting and insulting from the violent settlers. Out of 120
documented settler attacks in the last few months, no measures
whatsoever has been taken by the Kiryat Arba Police force, not a
single
arrest has been made, even when video evidence of the attacks has been
handed over to the police by HRW's in the area. Settlers are granted
virtual unaccountability for their violent acts in this neighbourhood.
Andrew has been imprisoned for 7 weeks, one week of which in
isolation,
after refusing initial deportation. He has been held in the detention
centres of Ramla and Tzohar. Throughout his imprisonment he has
received various threats from his prison commander. Threats have
varied
from transferring him to a mental institution, drugging him, and to
"play games with him". He has also been subject to light torture;
whilst in isolation he was deprived of his sleep when guards refused
to
turn off the lights at night. Furthermore, prison guards have
repeatedly interfered with his visiting hours, sometimes cutting them
short ahead of time, sometimes themselves sitting and wanting to take
part in the conversations between Andrew and his visitors.
For more information and to get in touch with Andrew:
ISM Media Office +972 2 297 1824 www.palsolidarity.org
Tel Rumeida Project +972 54 557 3154 www.telrumeidaproject.org
http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com/

Anonymous said...

Deported him? They should have pulled a Rachel Corrie on that terrorist supporter.

Anonymous said...

Like a typical anti-Semite guerrilla radio is also a liar.

Regardless, Andrew Macdonald could have been out on the first plane on the day he was arrested, but he instead chose to play games and refused to get on the plane.

So the Israeli authorities were forced to keep him in jail, until they simply got fed up with his game and deported him against his will.

The ISM are nothing more than a group of terrorist sympathizers that come to Israel to cause trouble.

It was ISM that helped the Mike's Cafe bombers reach their target in Tel Aviv.

I guess that upgrades them to accomplices.

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