Whats Happening Behind Closed Doors In Israel

As many of you know, I just returned from Israel on Sunday (July 23, 2006) and everyone has been asking me “so what’s really going on there, what was it like for you?” and my response is always the same…it was complicated, thrilling and very sad.

Israelis themselves said to me, “Oh, it hasn’t been this bad since the Gulf War.” I laughed to myself saying, “Huh, that’s funny because I was in Israel during the entire year of the Gulf War as well.” So I have some perspective on it.

Tonight I could tell you about all the things that you yourself can read in the newspapers or get from the T.V. or radio here in the States:

• Like how the Hezbollah are shameful cowards because they hide their ammunition, ketusha rockets and their bombs in civilian people’s homes. Increasing the likelihood that the number of Lebanese casualties will increase and innocent Lebanese people will be hurt.
• I could talk about the how Hezbollah keeps regular Lebanese people almost captive in their own homes because they charge thousands of dollars just to leave their neighborhood and go north which most of these Lebanese can’t afford.
• And I could talk to you about how Hezbollah has built underground bunkers that are very extensive, sometimes going forty meters underground, hiding all of their ammunition that is supplied to them from Iran and Syria. And unfortunately Israel has discovered that when they bomb these camouflaged bunkers from the air they can only destroy down ten meters underground, leaving Israel no choice than to go in by foot.

But instead tonight I will talk to you about some of the things you won’t hear about in the American media. Some of the stories of everyday life in Israel that I hope will illuminate and capture some of the feeling of what is going on there on the streets, on the roads, and amongst the people today. So here are the stories I’d like to share:

• Rabbi David Hartman started the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where I’ve studied for the past 2 years. His son, Rabbi Donniel Hartman has a son himself Itzick Hartman that just started basic training, he’s been in the Israeli Defense Forces for exactly three months and one week. But what happened was that after the war broke out with Hezbollah, the soldiers who were guarding in and around the West Bank and Gaza were sent up north to fight at the Lebanese boarder. Therefore, Itzick, this eighteen year old boy who has had only three months and one week of training is now in the middle of the West Bank at a temporary road block. He called up Donniel (his dad) to tell him about his transfer. Donniel said, “Itzick who are you with and what are you doing?” and Itzick said, “Don’t worry Papa, I’m OK. We’re just supposed to make sure that everyone who goes through the temporary road block is safe”. “Well how many people pass through this road bock a day, Itzick?” “About 1,000”. “And how many soldiers are there?” “Three.” “Three!” said is dad. “Yes, it’s the sergeant’s job to check every single person’s identification papers and to only let those people in who we find secure, it’s my job to protect him and it’s the third persons job to protect me - but don’t worry Papa” he said “if anything happens somebody will be here within seven minutes.” Seven minutes a long time.
• Rabbi David Hartman’s other granddaughter Racheli is also in the army. But she’s based up north. I started talking to Racheli over Shabbat lunch. Racheli said that she wasn’t exactly allowed to tell me what she’s doing in the army, but her mom Tova chirped in and said turning to me “you know there are no shelters at her army base.” I looked at her and said “What are you taking about?” And Racheli said, “Well you see in the army we don’t have shelters for the people who are in the army, only for the civilians.” This is what mom’s have to live with on a daily basis.
• Micha Goodman is an amazing Tanach scholar and one of my teachers at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He came into class last week and sat down. He’s this young vivacious guy in his early thirties and before he started class he said, “I just want to let you know two things before I begin: one is that my child’s birthday party today so I have to leave exactly at 5 o’clock and the second is that my commander just called me and told me that I need to be on notice because I might be called up very soon along with the rest of my unit. He wanted to make sure that I was in the country and now it’s my responsibility to call the rest of my unit to make sure that they are all in the country.”