Rabbi Yisroel Spalter
ISRAEL MISSION DAY 1
From the airport , we headed to Kfar Chabad for Shacharis and breakfast,at “770” - (the first replica of Chabad Headquarters in Brooklyn,) built at the behest of Rebbe in 1985.
At breakfast we were briefed by Rabbi Menachem Kutner, who heads up Chabad’s Victims of Terror Division.
From Kfar Chabad, we went to Kibbutz Shfayim Hotel near Netanya, to visit bereaved families from Kfar Aza near Gaza, who are now taking up temporarily residence in the hotel.
Seventy of the 700 hundred Kibbutz residents were brutally murdered in the kibbutz, and another 50 kidnapped.
The scene was surreal. On a sprawling lawn, there were groups of families sitting Shiva, for mothers, fathers , daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers.
We heard first hand stories of the horrors they endured- forty eight hours in bomb shelters and the tragic loss of loved ones.
One young mother sitting Shiva for her husband alongside one of her two children, related how in the midst of the mayhem her nine year old son, an avid “fortnight” video game player, said to his mother, “ I know how to make a Molotov cocktail”! She described her husband as a brave, decisive, “Chuck Norris” like, strong man, who she always considered to be invincible…
We let the families know that we were here on your behalf, that we all share in their pain and give them all the love and support we possibly can. That they are not alone. The people of Israel are one Mishapacha - one family. The message was warmly and lovingly received and reciprocated.
One man who had just buried his mother the day before, said: “I’ll be honest with you. We appreciate you coming to share in our pain, but truthfully, we don’t need you to share in our pain, we need you lift up the Jewish people, to inspire us and them! And I believe that with all my heart, even though I’m an atheist...!” (how’s that for a quintessential “Jewish atheist” …)
Next, we headed to a search and rescue army reserve unit near Cholon. We prayed and we danced together and we thanked them for being on the front lines of defending the Jewish people. They were extremely appreciative and moved by our coming to Israel at this time, and shared how much strength it was giving them. One of the commanders of the unit, a reservist who is an optometrist by profession in his civilian life, shared that he had led rescue missions to Thailand, Haiti and other parts of the world, and thought that he had seen it all, until now……. The carnage, the brutality of what he witnessed in the communities near the Gaza, was unlike anything he had ever seen… May Hashem avenge all their innocent blood.
From Cholon we travelled to Tel Aviv, to the “hostage command center”. The command center came together organically as parents, family and friends of the hostages banded together and mobilized in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy as the government scrambled to manage the overwhelming unfolding tragedy.
The command center is a hub teeming with activity, with multiple teams operating on various fronts. We were briefed by some of the staff. We learned how priority was given first and foremost to assessing the medical needs of each hostage and to making sure that packages of meds were prepared accordingly. We heard the gut-wrenching stories of mothers and fathers and siblings of the hostages. But what we heard was not just pain and anguish. We witnessed incredible faith, resilience and resolve. In the words of one: “we cannot afford to drown in our pain, we must channel it into action.” They appealed to all of us do whatever we can to create public awareness, to engage and mobilize, to not rest until every hostage is free.
As we concluded our meeting with the families we began to sing “Acheinu” – a song and heartfelt prayer for the immediate safe return of the hostages and their loved ones. We held hands and all of us were transported to a different world. A world of hope, faith, trust and victory. There was not a dry eye in the room.
The day concluded with an evening of prayer at the Kotel, with the participation of the Rabbi of the Kotel, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch and the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Dovid Lau. From the Kotel, we made our way to our hotel in Jerusalem, which is currently “home” to hundreds of people from the Kfar Maimon community near Gaza.
Spending the day with the people most directly affected by the tragic events of two weeks ago, deepened the connection we all already feel to this great tragedy, we had come to encourage support and share love. As much as we shared and gave, we received so much more. “Mi K’amcha Yisroel” - “who is Like Your people Israel?” A nation who in the face of so much grief, so much pain, so much loss, has come together like never before, with indestructible, resilience. resolve, fortitude and faith.
ISRAEL MISSION DAY 2
Our first stop was the southern city of Ashkelon, where were briefed by Rabbi Mendel Lieberman - head Chabad Shliach to Ashkelon that is home to 25 Chabad Centers, and an extensive network of schools and social service organizations. We heard from the director of the central security command center and were astonished to see a video presentation that featured the precise locations of the thirteen hundred rockets that were fired into Ashkelon in the last two weeks alone. In the words of Ashkelon’s mayor Tomer Glam, “no people should have to live this way”!
Rabbi Lieberman shared that his city-wide staff members are without protective helmets. Rabbi Chaim Mintz from Belaire, CA, announced a pop-up fundraiser and within two minutes, twenty-five thousand dollars was raised on the spot for the purchase of the helmets to assure the safety of his staff.
From Ashkelon we traveled further south to Sderot, the closest city to Gaza, less than a kilometer away. This beautiful city is eerily empty, as most of the city’s residents have temporarily sought safe haven in other parts of Israel. Five thousand people are estimated to still be in the city but with most of the residents including most business owners gone, Chabad of Sderot is (one of) the only resources for basic goods, from groceries to toiletries. Rabbi Mentz got to work again and raised thirty-two thousand dollars for Chabad of Sderot’s operations.
After lunch at the Chabad Center, we proceeded to the Sderot Media Center for a briefing from Knesset member Amichai Shikli, who was introduced by the center’s director Gigi Butera, who shared the miracle of her surviving the deadly attacks on Simchat Torah, which she attributes to her Shabbat/Holiday observance, which accounts for why she did not come to the Media Center for safety. Because it is next door to the police station, many people go to the Media Centers shelter for safety. On this fateful day however, the center’s proximity to the police station proved fatal for the estimated twenty people that were murdered in the media center, as the police station was a prime target of the terrorists -- a police station that is in fact no more. That was the Police station which was set ablaze by the Hamas terrorists which killed scores of police officers. We watched as bulldozers put on the finishing touches of its demolition, which began the day of the attacks. In the parking lot of the Media Center, sits a bullet ridden car with blood stains covering most of the upholstery on the front two seats, where a couple were shot to death, while their young children hid in the back….
From Sderot, we made our way to the Soroka Medical Center in B’er Sheva, the largest hospital near Gaza. As we approached B’er Sheva, sirens were heard from inside our bus, the bus stopped in the middle of the highway as did all the surrounding traffic. We dashed for the nearest sidewalk and lay down, as rockets were intercepted over our heads. We later discovered that we were supposed to lay face down and not face up, with our phones recording the sky filled action…
At the hospital we were briefed by Tzachi Slutzki, the deputy director of the medical center, who we learned has not left the hospital since the attacks. The growing number of patients injured during attacks being treated at the hospital is staggering. Many of them soldiers. The daughter of one of the patients shared with us that eleven of thirteen soldiers in her unit were killed by the Hamas terrorists.
Chabad operates full time in the Hospital and was recently given a large room to serve as the official Chabad Center at the Soroka Medical Center.
We then split up into groups and visited with patients wounded in the attacks. Each one shared what can only be described as a miraculous story of survival. We listened and we prayed and we sang and we distributed gifts and get-well cards to the patients from members of our respective communities. We hugged, we shared your love and we wished them complete and speedy recoveries.
The climax of our day was an evening BBQ with over 125 spirited soldiers stationed in a military building in Ofakim. For two hours, we sang together, danced together, ate together, thanked them for being the Maccabee’s of 2024 and blessed them to return home with a resounding victory in Gaza. Their spirit and commitment to represent the land and people of Israel is unbreakable, unshakable and rooted in deep faith and love for our land and our people.
One of my colleagues on the trip, Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf from Chicago offered the following analysis from the day’s activities: Analysis:
Soldiers, young and old, are clear in their message: Eradicate the Hamas threat completely, or this cycle will inevitably repeat. These soldiers, both young and more seasoned, have left families, jobs, and normality to confront this pressing issue. Government officials and Minister Amichai Shikli expressed a steadfast commitment to fully eliminate Hamas. Israeli experts from various fields are lending their professional skills in this time of conflict. The evacuees from southern towns face daunting challenges. Families have abandoned their homes and livelihoods to seek safer grounds. Despite hardships like trauma and disrupted education, children show remarkable resilience and an indomitable will to prevail over adversity.
Many ordinary citizens I met seem skeptical that the government will withstand international pressures to cease air strikes against the Gaza terrorist strongholds.
Those who fled the south have faced unthinkable hardships, yet their spirit is unbowed. The children, especially, embody a resilience that defies their years. Chabad here has been on both, a spiritual and physical oasis for those in desperate need. There’s a spiritual awakening in this country, unparalleled to anything I have seen before.
While ordinary citizens may waver in hope, it's evident that a collective will, transcending politics and age, is forming against the enemy. May this trying chapter in Israel's story lead us not just to a ceasefire but to a Shalom that endures.
ISRAEL MISION, DAY 3 - “HaLev Sheli Nikra Lishnayim” - “My Heart is Torn Apart”
Our first stop was the town of Peduel located in Samaria between the Arab villages of A-Dik and Deir Balut, at a strategic point known as "Israel's Lookout". The town overlooks most of the coastline of the State of Israel - from the outskirts of Gaza to the city of Haifa. From the lookout one can see Ben Gurion Airport and the Tel Aviv metropolitan- the largest concentration of Jews in the world. We were greeted by the Chairman of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, and were briefed on the needs of the civil defense units stationed at this critical strategic location.
Israeli TV station Channel 14 was doing a live feed, featuring an interview with our group’s principal organizer and spokesman, Rabbi Dovid Eliezri. As we stood behind the pop-up studio, we began to sing “Acheinu” - a song of prayer for the release of the hostages. In true fluid Israeli fashion, the network carried the singing live, with the in-studio anchor joining in the chorus. The onsite anchor, visibly emotional herself, commented to the viewing audience how the song of the Rabbis, sung with evident heartfelt emotion, was making a deep impression on all the soldiers present at the site.
While in the Shomron, Yossi brought us to the town of Kiryat Netafim, to the home of Avi and Urit Baruch who just rose from the Shiva of their twenty-two-year-old daughter Adi of blessed memory, may Hashem avenge her blood.
We came to offer our condolences, but left with so much more. What we saw and what we heard speaks volumes about the indomitable spirit, idealism, and faith of the people of Israel - “a gentle people with a faith of steel.”
Urit and Avraham shared some of the story of their daughter Adi. Adi, who was soon to be engaged, lived a life infused with joy, passion, idealism and love for the Land of Israel. She was a photographer, a poet, and an activist who had at a young age envisioned pioneering the building of a new town in the Shomron, and had recently undertaken the first steps towards realizing her vision. “And what if you are not able to build a new town” her mother once asked her. “I will go wherever I am needed,” she said.
When news of the attack on Simchas Torah reached the Baruch family, Avi was called up to reserve duty. Adi, who was not called up, insisted that her people needed her now and that she was going to serve voluntarily. Her parents could not convince her otherwise. With her expertise in multimedia, the army assigned her to create a coordinated video command center in Sderot, the Southern City closest to Gaza. A family friend who also enlisted, picked her up and assured her parents that he would take responsibility for Adi’s safety. As they entered Sderot to the sound of a siren, they jumped out of their vehicle. True to his word, her friend did his best to protect Adi by jumping on her to protect her from the explosion. Miraculously, he survived. Adi, tragically, did not.
Currently recovering from his wounds in hospital, Adi’s companion is hesitant to see Adi’s parents, but Urit shared that they conveyed to him that they look forward to thanking him and hugging him. They know he did the best that he could.
Adi’s groom-to-be asked if the family wanted the ring that he had intended to give Adi. The ring was his, they assured him, knowing that Adi would always have a place in his heart. They also shared with her groom-to-be that they looked forward to him one day finding someone with whom to build a home and family and to celebrating with him at his wedding…
Throughout the Shiva, Urit and Avraham learned things about Adi that they did not know. The multiple circle of friends and causes that she was involved with, and how she was wholly dedicated to each of them. Most of all she was dedicated to her family, and would always opt for a family gathering over a social one. As Adi was scheduled to leave for Sderot on Tuesday, she asked the army if she could stay home just one more night. That was the last night she spent at home.
As Urit and Baruch reflected on Adi’s life throughout the Shiva, hints of what was about to occur began to emerge. Astonishingly, they discovered the following poem that Adi wrote for her parents. Here is a translation for the original Hebrew:
And if one day I die
Before my time has come
I want you to celebrate life
And do not grieve over my death
That you wake up each morning with a smile and longing in your heart
And don’t allow a single moment to be wasted
See the world for me, appreciate every moment
And every once in a while, smile up to the clouds - I will be there.
I’m sorry for the pain I have caused
Know that I am in a good place
Longing
And ever loving.
Avi showed us the last picture he took with Adi, as they left to serve. Incredibly the space between Adi and her father is the shape of the land of Israel. As they took the picture, Adi was brimming with pride and said to her father, who she knew was so hesitant at her leaving for the front, “What did you expect of me? To become a chicken farmer?! This is what you raised me for!”
A box arrived at the Baruch home during the Shiva. In it was a necklace that Adi had ordered online, with a pendant in the shape of the land of Israel - the land she loved, the land that she gave her life for. The necklace that is now being worn by Urit, a grieving mother, a proud mother, a mother who is doing her best to live her daughter’s call to live life fully and joyfully.
We were all deeply moved and inspired by what we heard. Spontaneously we joined together in singing “ani Maamin b’emunah shlaima, b’vias HaMoshiach’. “We believe with a perfect faith in the coming of Moshiach. And though he may tarry, our belief is unshaken.” May he indeed come soon and usher in the time when Adi and all the fallen soldiers will be reunited with their parents and loved ones, together with the rising of all those who lay in the earth.
Next on our itinerary was a nearby shooting range, where reservists were being trained to use the latest Arad rifle, manufactured in Israel.
It was there where we met Elye Avichai, a Deputy Commander in the Golani 51 brigade, his hand in a cast and a scar on his face, who shared his incredible story.
He lives in the Shomron area. Simchas Torah morning, upon hearing the news of the attack, he immediately realized that this was an extremely dangerous situation. He jumped into his car with a few friends and sped towards the south of Israel - “Ground Zero” of the Hamas attack.
As they approached Ofakim, they began to see bodies littered everywhere, and terrorists ambushing the intersection they had stopped at. They realized that the scope of this situation was way beyond anything they imagined.
They arrived at Kibbutz Rei’im, but they were only equipped with handguns while facing tens of terrorists with long shotguns. A vicious gun fight ensued, during which Elye single handedly neutralized close to 40 terrorists.
Sadly, his friend Motti was killed in the gunfire, and Elye himself was injured with a bullet in his hand and one that grazed his face, grateful however to be alive.
Our next stop was Kfar Chabad, where we marveled at the sophisticated Chabad Emergency Operations Center, providing material, humanitarian and spiritual aid across Israel through the network of the hundreds of Chabad Centers. On a daily basis, truckloads of items, from food, clothing, games, educational and religious materials are delivered from Kfar Chabad to families all over Israel, reaching thousands of people on a daily basis.
One of the lesser-known stories to this war are the hundreds of thousands of people who have been uprooted from their homes in the south and north, to hotels, community centers and private homes, all in central Israel. This calls for massive humanitarian assistance efforts on multiple levels, of which Chabad is at the forefront.
From Kfar Chabad we visited the Shiba Hospital in Tel Hashomer. On the day of the attacks, helicopters were flying back and forth from the frontlines with hundreds of wounded soldiers, who now fill the hospital wards.
Words fail me to describe the pain of witnessing so much pain. Beautiful young women and men, confronting the reality of life with missing arms and legs, scars, burns, bodies ravaged by the savagery of the terrorists.
And words failed me then too. The best we could do was to hug, to kiss and to sing…
From ward to ward, together with fellow Shliach Michi Ravnoy on guitar and a chorus of my fellow Shluchim, we sang.
With many of the patients we sang the song “HaLev Sheli” by popular Israeli singer Ishai Ribo. As I began to sing the song with young men and women with amputated legs, the lyrics suddenly resonated on a whole different level. A raw level. An authentic level, a real level.
“HaLev Sheli Nikra Lishnayim” - my heart is torn in two
“K’var Moed Lo Omed al Haraglayim “ - I cannot stand on my feet anymore….
Shevet Kli Shekvar Ain Bo Ma- “a broken container, with nothing left…….
“V’rak Ata Yachol L’hafoch Mispedi L’machol” - and only You (G-d) can transform my sadness to joy..
“V’rak Ata Mayvin Aich Lageshet Lalev Sheli” - and only You know how to reach my heart….
“Merape et HaLev” - and heal my heart.
To behold the faces of these beautiful heroes singing these lyrics and witness the ray of hope and light come over their faces, “dayeinu”. It was one of the most humbling and hopeful moments of my life.
Lying in one of the hospital beds was Ofek. Here is his story:
Shabbat morning, Oct. 7, Kfar Aza
6:30 am.
Ofek, a resident and a member of the local security for Kfar Aza, was woken to frantic calls for help as terrorists had infiltrated the village.
Ofek and the 15 other members of the team were fighting to protect their village.
His phone rings, his wife is on the line. The terrorists are in their house, she and her two children are petrified.
They run into their room and hide in a chest under the mattress. They lie there quietly for hours, while the terrorists are wandering about the house. They sit on the bed, while the mother and two children hold their breath beneath them.
Ofek, upon hearing his wife, jumps into his car and drives around towards his home.
As he approaches, he sees close to 200 terrorists, armed to the teeth. A gun fight ensues. He kills tens of terrorists, while he sadly is badly injured in his arm. He continues to dodge the bullets while realizing he’s gushing blood.
He hides behind a bush and tries to tend to his wound.
The terrorists are done with his home, so they set it on fire. The woman and children begin to inhale smoke and cannot breathe. They have no choice and crawl out of the house. They see the terrorists, so they hide in an outdoor shed under a pool cover.
Miraculously, they are not found and survive.
Later that night the woman and children are saved by members of the IDF. Ofek is found and rushed to Sheba Hospital where he undergoes a surgery to save his arm, and is currently rehabilitating.
This non-stop flow of miracles doesn’t stop here.
Ofek asked a friend to enter his home and see if anything was salvageable. The friend returned with the disappointing news that everything, their entire life, was burned to a crisp. Besides… for his Tefillin.
Rabbi Levi Gopin, shliach at the Sheba Hospital, arranged to have the Tefillin checked.
Today, Rabbi Gopin returned with a delegation of American Shluchim, and brought back the Tefillin. They are 100% Kosher.
We had the distinct honor and privilege to lay these holy salvaged Tefillin on Ofek. We recited Shema together in tears, while marveling at the incredible miracles that brought us to this moment.
As we took leave, we came out to the porch with many of the wounded surrounded by their families. There sat a young girl in a wheelchair with the face of an angel. “Please tell me your story”, we asked. She was on active duty with a small unit base in the south, when the terrorist attacked. She was running on the street shooting at terrorists as she made her way back to her unit, which consisted of seven soldiers.
She watched five of her fellow soldiers die from bullets, and having taken ten bullets into her own body, was waiting for her moment of death to come too…
Only it didn’t. Miraculously she survived. Her body is full of stitches as eight of the bullets have been removed. Two remain, she said, too embedded in her bones to extract…
It was excruciatingly difficult for us to leave the hospital but as we did, the local Chabd Shliach to Tel Hashomer, Rabbi Gopin, said to us:” you have no idea what you have done here. You transformed this place from a place of sadness to joy, from gloom to hope, from pain to healing.”
Though it is still too early to fully process what we have witnessed the past few days, at dinner that night in the hotel, each one of us shared something of their experience. Rabbi Moishe Bryski, Shliach to Agoura Hills CA, and a son of survivors, shared how the world’s silence during the Second World War always baffled him. Witnessing the world today he is baffled no more. We must then be the Shofars that wake up and shake up an indifferent and hostile world to the Holocaust of 2023.
Rabbi Glukowasky, a leading Chabad rabbi from Rechovot, reminded us of the sacred duty we have to galvanize our communities into greater awareness and most of all a call to action, to do our part in this war against the Jewish people, materially and spiritually, politically, diplomatically, through media. Whatever influence we have, we must use.
Rabbi Yitchok Wolf, from Chicago, one of the group leaders shared this:
I just had a meeting with the Rabbi of the town of Kfar Maimon, (most of whose residents are staying in the same hotel as us) located 7 km from the Gaza border.
On the morning of Shmini Atzeret, terrorists came within 200 meters of the town. At the same time, an Israeli military helicopter in the vicinity experienced a malfunction. The pilot made an emergency landing, and the soldiers quickly exited the helicopter. Within a minute, the helicopter exploded.
The soldiers immediately engaged with about 70 terrorists who surrounded them. Miraculously, they fought bravely and eliminated over 50 of the terrorists without any casualties.
The terrorists then realized that the village was well guarded and moved on to the farming area, where dozens of Thai employees were tending to cows, sheep, and agriculture. Unfortunately, these unarmed Thai workers were subjected to torture,
decapitation, and brutal violence.
The village of Maimon was miraculously saved - an open miracle.
What the villagers from Kfar Maimon did not have this year however, was a proper Simchas Torah celebration. Our delegation was about to change that. With guitar in hand, Michi Ravnoy and others from our group began to sing and dance in the lobby of the hotel. Before long, dozens of teenagers from Kfar Maimon joined in the spirited singing and dancing. The Hakafot they were denied on Simchas Torah they were now able to celebrate tonight.
I think it’s fair to say that for all of us, this trip was life changing. For us, the story of this war is no longer a news story from a distance, it is now up close and personal. It’s our story.
As the Rebbe’s Shluchim, we know that the strong emotional attachment to the story we now feel must be channeled into action and we must do it energetically and joyfully.
What we witnessed in Israel is the extraordinary story of a people who have come together as one, in pain, in trauma, and in resolve, determination, faith and optimism.
That the Jewish people are one “Mishapacha” - one family, is not a slogan, it’s a reality. Am Yisrael Chai!
With profound gratitude to the organizers and co-ordinators of this trip that came together in a matter of days, and to our Rebbe, who gave us the great merit to represent him - to be ambassadors of love, light, hope, healing, truth, clarity and redemption.
Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom,