On Tisha B’Av, I walked with a friend to the Christian Quarter of the Old City to visit Matti Dan, head of Ateret Cohanim. Matti told us of the great struggle he and his organization are waging in their efforts to hold onto homes purchased at great expense in the Silwan area of Jerusalem. Again, the Israeli court system seems bent on making life as difficult as possible for Jews while being negligently and dangerously lenient with Arabs.
That evening, I joined the former Gush Katif farmers for their return to Nitzan, the caravan community near Ashkelon where hundreds of Gush refugees are now living in temporary homes. I was a guest in the home of Keren and Dror Vanunu and their children, just as I had been their guest two years prior, in August 2005, in their beautiful home in Nevei Dekalim.
I have written elsewhere in detail about the July 25 special commemorative activities marking two years since the expulsion. We started in Kissufim junction with the emotional dedication of a special Gush Katif sefer Torah. We then drove to Netivot for a full day of movies, speakers, and activities. That was followed by a march with the sefer Torah to the grave of Baba Sali, amidst much singing and dancing.
The day concluded with a joyous celebration in Sderot, where survivors of the destroyed communities of Gush Katif demonstrated their solidarity with the besieged city by choosing to temporarily house their sefer Torah there.
My trip ended in Tel Aviv, where the beaches were filled with people enjoying the wonderful waters of the Mediterranean, the hot sun, the cool cafes.
What an amazing and paradoxical place is this land of Israel. It’s the most modern, most highly developed, most democratic and most opportunity-laden country in the Middle East, and yet everywhere one sees vestiges of the painful history of the Jewish people.
And one also sees the painful hatred that exists within Israeli society and in a government that permits the destruction of Jewish property and Jewish lives. Those of us who hold dear the sacred concept of a Jewish Israel must do everything in our power to prevent the forces arrayed against us from being successful.