The community of Naveh is part of the Eshkol Regional Council, on the southwestern border with the Gaza Strip. On the morning of Simchat Torah, after a series of unusual and relentless sirens, the community security officer, Omri Cohen, entered the shul to interrupt the services and send the residents to lock themselves in their homes.
Members of the emergency response team already understood what was happening in the neighboring communities – terrorist infiltrations, and Israelis murdered, injured and kidnapped. Terrorists had gained control of the nearby road, making it impossible to evacuate the wounded to Soroka Hospital in Beersheva. And so, the place where the prayers had been halted was not turned into an improvised emergency clinic.
The residents of Naveh began to receive wounded people from the neighboring communities of Kerem Shalom, Shlomit, Prigan and the entire area.
Without cell phone reception, electricity, and mainly, without any military forces in sight, the Naveh emergency response team vigilantly stood guard. One of the members related that lacking proper equipment, he grabbed a pair of binoculars from his son’s Bar Mitzvah gift pile. Meanwhile, local medical personnel set up a medical command center until helicopters arrived to evacuate the injured.
Due to the shortage of basic equipment, they used whatever was available. There were no stretchers to carry out the wounded, so they improvised and used a parochet (the curtain that covers the Torah ark). One specific parochet held symbolic significance; after the disengagement, it had been purchased by the residents of the former community of Atzmona in Gush Katif. The parochet accompanied them to their temporary location in Yated before moving with them to their permanent home in Naveh.
Fast-forward one year. Baruch Hashem, every one of the wounded who were in the shul that morning survived and are still alive. The residents of Naveh, who had been evacuated to Jerusalem under fire, returned to their homes as soon as it was possible. The blood-stained parochet was sent for cleaning, but the results were only partially successful.
Nevertheless, it was decided to leave the faded stains and turn the parochet into a cover for the bima (the stand for the cantor in the synagogue) and to embroider it with the following:
“B’damayich, chayi (live in their blood). During the events of Simchat Torah 5784, this beit midrash served as a first aid center for the wounded. This cloth was stained with their blood, restored, and returned to its sacred use, with its doubled sanctity. Tishrei 5785.”
A World Without Nasrallah
Wow! Nasrallah is no longer part of this world. Here are some more reflections on what happened last weekend.
1) Nasrallah was known for his famous “Spider web speech” in which he expressed his “cobweb theory” of Israeli society. Remember that one? He stated, with great arrogance, that Israeli society is broken, crushed, and weak. He could not have been more mistaken. We are not a “spider web,” but a “a people that rises up like a lioness” (Bamidbar 23:24). We rise up from the pain and shock, wake up, and surprise the world – we even surprise ourselves.
2) Nasralla did not only threaten Israel’s north, nor was he only the enemy of the State of Israel. He was the enemy of the entire world – the enemy of G-d and of all that is good, holy, and life-affirming.
3) We must continue to dream big: The magnitude of the evil perpetrated against us on October 7 was shocking. It turns out, that we can also be surprised by the good. Yes, it is possible. We must continue to act on this belief and to reach for the top. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those involved in even the most minute details of this massive operation. Even beyond its practical success, this mission demonstrates that we are capable of achieving great things and it also fills us with encouragement and hope. It is possible to change our reality.
4) And here we stand on the brink of Rosh Hashanah, in which so many of our prayers describe a healed world in which “all wickedness will vanish like smoke.” Evil is indeed like smoke; it has no real substance. It only appears dark and frightening. And the good is like a wind that blows the evil away, leaving the skies pure and clear, just as they appear this morning.
May all our longings and prayers come true, and may the Good completely defeat the Evil – in our hearts and minds and in the entire world.
Translated by Janine Muller Sherr.
