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The Determination of Israel’s Reservists
IDF soldiers are seen at rest stop near the border with Gaza. Photo: Reuters/Jim Hollander
JNS.org – Who is the Israel soldier? They can be of any age and profession. It may have been a long time since they held a weapon. Many of them are at Tze’elim, one of the IDF’s largest bases, just across the border from Gaza on yellow sand.
When I meet them, they are waiting, as the brief ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was still holding. A short time later, Hamas broke the truce, attacked Israel with rockets, and the fighting began again.
These soldiers are older and more emotional than you would imagine. Their intentions are clear: “Never Again.” The Oct. 7 massacre will never be permitted to reoccur. Israel must be freed from the nightmare of Hamas.
In Tze’elim, rows of barracks and numerous disorderly tents house thousands of soldiers of all kinds. We meet with a group of them from Brigade 252. They are soldiers from the miluim—the reserves. They have completed their three-year military service—or two years, if they are women—but they all keep their “miluim bag” under the bed. If the phone rings, as happened on Oct. 7, they rush to the front, whether they are in Tel Aviv or traveling in Japan, whether they are left-wing or right-wing, professors or taxi drivers. They tear themselves away from the operating room and the shop, the lawyer’s office and the bus they drive.
Commander A. is thin, with gray hair and a kind smile. He is religious. On the morning of Oct. 7, he was in synagogue without a telephone. Someone told him “something never seen before is happening.” A. rushed to his collection point in the south and has yet to return home.
On Oct. 7, the reserves were immediately thrown into the battle to retake the kibbutzim that had been attacked and massacred by Hamas terrorists. They hunted down the Hamas men who remained and collected the wounded and dead Israelis in the fields and on the roads. A. closes his eyes. He has seen hell.
The 252 was then sent into the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, home to 50,000 inhabitants who serve as human shields for what is essentially a massive rocket launching pad. The reservists were trained in a mock-up of a Gaza city. They practiced how to enter, shoot, exit, climb, attack and go through tunnels full of TNT. They trained against ambushes, snipers and RPGs.
A. says that, when they went into Beit Hanoun itself, “We had to quickly learn a lesson: Beit Hanoun’s ambush is in his heart, not its outer circles. The terrorists let you enter easily. There’s a row of houses, two or three more, and that’s where Hamas is waiting for you—where you don’t expect it, in civilian structures.”
A. explains, “If we decide to destroy a structure and there are civilians inside, we warn the civilian population. … There are precise rules for evaluating whether we have to act, whether it’s essential because if we don’t act, the lives of soldiers or Israeli civilians are in danger. We try to stop Hamas’s continuous use of human shields by moving the civilians out completely.”
A. is happy to say, “Of civilians killed in Ben Hanoun, the number is zero.”
Israeli soldiers, however, were killed. Maj. Moshe, a 50-year-old engineer who works in high-tech, explained, “An army generally advances on a territory that, once occupied, is the starting point of your next step. But here, through the tunnels under the ground, suddenly you find the enemy shooting at you from behind.”
Thus, great efforts were made to locate the tunnels. “With the use of sophisticated instruments, and also sometimes suffering unexpected explosions given that Hamas’s specialty is to mine everything with large quantities of explosives, we quickly understood that the tunnels were a very sophisticated network, not holes of various sizes dug here and there, but an enormous spider web that converged on the urban center.”
“The structures used by Hamas, which they protected with human shields, included a mosque, a school, a hospital, a public swimming pool, civilian homes, children’s rooms, even their beds. There were weapons everywhere,” he says.
As a result of the truce, Moshe states, some of the evacuated civilians have begun to return. “We can block them,” he says, “but not attack them or approach them. There is a truce.”
Nonetheless, I point out, three soldiers were wounded two days ago in an attack. “True,” Moshe replies, “and we returned fire. If we are in danger we respond.” He notes that some of the returnees are Hamas terrorists, “but we are in a truce, we act according to the rules of defense.”
“We have two ways of being at war: offensive and defensive,” he continues. “The offensive is much easier: You face the enemy. You can move. Defense is unnerving, even dangerous, especially when there are civilians around.”
However, he says, there is much to do, even during a truce. “For example, we had completely dismantled the explosive systems inside a building, and then we realized that everything had been mined again.”
Hamas, he says, is “easier to deal with than endure while you can’t move. So, we wait for orders. The mission is to destroy Hamas and bring the kidnapped people home. That and nothing else.”
Now that the soldiers are back at war, the humanitarian issue is certainly important to them; not because of what the Biden administration tells them, but because that is what an Israeli soldier is.
First and foremost, however, they are Jews who know exactly what was done to their people on Oct. 7 and will continue their war of justice and survival. One of them tells me, “Yes, I feel when we fight, feel it physically, that our kidnapped citizens are not far away, and I fight for them too with all my heart. This is the most just war of all time.”
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IDF Releases Investigation into Discovery of 6 Hostages’ Bodies
i24 News – The IDF released on Tuesday the investigation into the murder of six abductees at the end of August: Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi,
Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lubnov, Almog Sarusi, and Sergeant Ori Danino.
According to the findings of the investigation, when the IDF operation began in the area of the tunnel, Major General Nitzan Alon did not believe abductees would be in the area. As the operation continued, the military assessment said the probability was even lower.
The abductee who was extricated, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, was found alone, as neither he nor additional terrorists taken from the area provided indications to the additional abductees.
In the absence of new information, the operation continued in the area, the investigation said. Only then did the forces locate the bodies of the six abductees. In addition, forensic findings were found indicating that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been there. It remains unclear whether he gave the order to murder the abductees himself. No signs of struggle during the murder were found in autopsies.
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagri visited the tunnel and described the harsh conditions in which the six abductees endured. “They were heroes who were cold-bloodedly murdered by terrorists who build tunnels under children’s rooms,” he said. “We will hunt them down and know exactly who they are, we will find the one who murdered them. The teams here collect all the evidence from the scene.”
“We didn’t know the exact location of the hostages in the tunnel. They were killed before we could reach them. We are investigating the incident of their names being leaked prior to their rescue. This is a very serious event that is harmful to the families and the security of the forces on the ground.”
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Actress Emmanuelle Chriqui Talks About Jewish Pride, Growing Up in Modern Orthodox Family
Emmanuelle Chriqui attending the Creative Coalition Celebrate Election Night with a Star-Studded Dinner & Watch Party Held in Beverly Hills, California, Nov. 6, 2024. Photo: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images via Reuters Connect
Jewish actress Emmanuelle Chriqui opened up in a podcast interview on Tuesday about being raised in a Modern Orthodox household in Canada, being proud to be Jewish and how pro-Israel activists in Hollywood inspire her.
Chriqui, 49, was born to Moroccan Jewish immigrants in Montreal, Canada. Her late mother, Liliane, was born in Casablanca, while her late father, Albert, was born in Rabat and moved to Casablanca as a child. Growing up herself in Canada, Chriqui kept kosher at home and celebrated Shabbat every week with her family.
“I was raised in a small town outside of Toronto and we were two Jewish families but I lived in, I would consider, a Modern Orthodox home,” the former “Entourage” star told Jewish comedian Elon Gold during a guest appearance on his podcast “Stars of David with Elon Gold.”
“We did Shabbat dinner every Friday [and] Shabbat lunch Saturday. Dad went to temple,” she said. “All our biggest fights were [about] going out on Friday night. And my mom was an extraordinary cook. In Canada in the winter time, I would race home from school [on Fridays] so I could plug in the water, light the candles, cuz I’d be the first one home, turn the oven on low, all the things. We had milk and meat separate at home.”
The “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” star added that she still lights Shabbat candles every week in her home. She also noted that her favorite Jewish holiday is Rosh Hashanah. Explaining why, she said: “I love new beginnings; renewal. I love the symbolism, the food, [and] as much as I dread that it means Yom Kippur is around the corner, I love this time and I love how I feel after Yom Kippur.” She said in a previous interview that she includes a clause in her acting contracts, stating that she will not work on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.
Chriqui has been an avid supporter of Israel for many years. After the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel last year, she expressed solidarity with Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas. She signed an open letter condemning the US-designated terrorist organization, has advocated for the release of the hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and shared posts on social media about the need to bring the hostages home. She has also supported efforts to counteract boycotts of Israel, including efforts to have Israel banned from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Since 2020, Chriqui has been in a relationship with American actor Sam Trammell, who in early 2024 condemned antisemitism.
“Obviously this past year has been incredibly confronting on so many levels and things have come up that I’ve never lived through before,” Chriqui said during her podcast interview this week, referring to the global experiencing a rise in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack. She also said she thinks the “silver lining” of this past year has been seeing how Jews in Hollywood are embracing their Judaism in different ways than perhaps before the Oct. 7 massacre.
“Like in my 20-plus years of being in Los Angeles, it’s never been like this. Like I can’t keep up with the invitations,” she said. “It’s never been that way. Jews, fellow Jews that were like Jew-ish, suddenly it means something different. And I think that’s the thing – being Jewish in this moment has taken on a different meaning.”
She said “very much so,” Jews are starting to express pride and unity in their Jewish heritage that she has not seen before. She also told Gold that Jewish friends and pro-Israel advocates in the Hollywood community inspire her, including Hen Mazzig, Noa Tishby, Mandana Dayani and Montana Tucker. “I’m very inspired by all of them,” she explained.
Chriqui was also asked about the backlash that some Jewish celebrities receive for not speaking out publicly either enough or at all in support of Israel.
“In the beginning, I think the sentiment was that we felt so alone so who are the Jews who have millions of followers that can affect change,” she said in response. “But it’s also about releasing expectations; releasing judgments. What I might do works for me, might not work for you. And I think really we need to be more tolerate with each other, especially within the community. That’s something that breaks my heart a little bit.”
“I think that speaking out against antisemitism on my platform, for me, is about standing tall in who I am. So it’s much less about what happened but really embracing who we are,” she noted.
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A History of Hanukkah and Jewish Survival
A Hanukkah menorah. Photo: Pixabay
We like to think that Hanukkah was the great victory of Judah, the son of Mattiyahu the Priest (who initiated the resistance) against the mighty Syrian or Seleucid Greeks over 2,000 years ago. The Seleucid campaign against Judea began when Antiochus the 4th invaded in 167 BCE). He believed his culture was far superior to that of the Jews. Jewish merchants were beginning to rival the Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean, so commercial rivalry was a factor too.
Judah (the name Maccabee is not mentioned in Talmudic sources) did indeed defeat some Seleucid armies and retook the Temple and purified it in 164 BCE. But in fact, the fighting went on for some five years.
Although in between, the Temple did indeed function the way it did before Antiochus, nevertheless it was not a clear-cut victory. The in-fighting in the court of the Syrian Greeks, the assassination of kings and rival generals, all contributed to stalemate with Syrians still holding on to their fortress in Jerusalem.
Judah was killed in the battle of Elasa in 160 BCE. Judah’s brother Jonathan was killed in 143 BCE. Only with the last brother Simon, who was recognized officially as Judea’s high priest and the head of the Judean state in 142 CE, did Judea become independent, for a while.
Judah did not establish the annual eight-day festival we have today. He did replicate the Eight Days of King Solomon’s original dedication of the first Temple when he re-took it. The late Talmudic rabbis established the ongoing eight days to commemorate the miracle of the oil not mentioned earlier. And their failure to mention Judah indicates their disapproval of the Hasmonean dynasty in general as it played out.
Was Hanukkah just a matter of military conquest — or just cultural disagreement with the Greeks? There were no Palestinians to be seen. In competing for markets, Greeks killed Jews and Jews killed Greeks back. John Hyrcanus, Simon’s successor ,was particularly effective at retaliating against those who attacked Jews even beyond his territory.
Within the Jewish community of Judea, there were huge divisions, which reflected the precise divisions that exist today within the Jewish communities in Israel and the Diaspora.
Succeeding generations could not even agree what the significance of Hanukkah was. For those who fought, it was a military victory that ultimately led to the establishment of regaining and re-opening the Temple and an autonomous state.
For the rabbis of the Talmudic era, who were scarred by the Roman conquests, it was a celebration of the spiritual flame kept burning by the few against the many. Judah the fighter was not mentioned. Some saw it as a response to the Diaspora festival of Purim, others as the interaction between the Diaspora and Israel, with both suffering from different pressures and antagonisms. What we now call antisemitism.
A lot has changed over the last 2,000 years — and a lot has not.
Empires have come and gone, rulers have risen and died, and Jews remain a people as Bilaam says (Numbers 23:9) “A nation that dwells alone and is not regarded (or valued) by the other peoples.” We have always been loners. Does this really matter? For some it does and that explains why so many Jews have always abandoned the confines of Jewish life to try to thrive in the non-Jewish world. It also explains why others have fought for their beliefs and freedom — and why some have become zealots.
We should not be surprised today to discover how many Jews are antagonistic to the Jewish people, and certainly not about how the non-Jewish world continues to be extremely ambivalent towards us. Both in the Middle East and in the West, communities are now no longer as monochromatic or as unified as they once were. Mass migrations have changed the complexity of many societies and divided them against themselves.
This is why the Hanukkah story is so important. It’s the only festival we have that records the military triumph of Israel against its opponents, and the survival of our tradition despite the continuous, repeated attempts to snuff us out.
We have thrived despite it all. In our prayers every single day of the year, we think of Jerusalem and returning to it in our minds if not in our bodies. This is something that the world just does not get — because they are not concerned with history or facts. This is our story, whichever the way the wind blows, and they will not snuff our lights out.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
The post A History of Hanukkah and Jewish Survival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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