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.

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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.

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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