Category: Jewish World

A LOVE LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF MY COUNTRY

These past 7 months have demonstrated that Israelis are extraordinary in so many ways.

By Rolene Marks

It has been over 7 months of agony. It feels like years. I do not remember life before 7 October – I do not think most people do either. There is 7/10 – and life before that, which is blurred and fuzzy. We are not the same people who went to sleep on 6 October. We never will be again. How could we be?

This year, the national holidays in Israel have a distinctly different tone. They are sacred days, filled with sorrow – and dread. Yom Hashoa (Holocaust Memorial Day) in the shadow of 7/10 was extremely poignant and difficult. The images of our brothers and sisters burnt to ash or herded onto the back of trucks and taken away as well as the raw, unbridled hatred that fueled the attack was reminiscent of the experiences of our ancestors – and family.

On 7 October, Hamas intended to terrorise. And they did. The trauma we have is so deep; it is at a cellular level. They came into the one safe haven of the Jewish people, our collective home and into our individual homes as families, and raped, mutilated, tortured, burnt, murdered and kidnapped. We thought it could never happen again – but it did.  We are so deep in our collective trauma that we have not even begun to emerge into post trauma but no sooner had the news broken, Israelis began to flex our well-toned resilience muscle. War and trauma are not new to Israelis or the Jewish people, but this time it was different. The level of depravity was beyond our comprehension – and many of us feel that we have been transported back in time, to the pogroms and persecution of our grandparents and great-grandparents.

We are now approaching two Days of Awe – Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror – and Yom Ha’atzmaut, Independence Day. The two days take place one after the other so that we never forget the price we paid for what we have – a Jewish state. This year it is all the more emotional and heightened as we are fighting a war for our very survival – while antisemitism soars to astronomical levels.

Hamas made no distinction between any of us – left or right, religious or secular, Muslim, Christian, Jew, and foreign national – everyone was a target. Our answer to that, despite our differences, is to come together as a nation and focus on what is most important – supporting our bereaved families and families of hostages, demanding the immediate return of our hostages, ensuring the world does not forget what happened on 7/10 and standing behind our army.

In our grief, we each adopted a personal mission. Through our pain, we have each found a purpose and this article is my personal love letter to every single one of my exceptional fellow citizens and women. On 7 October, we experienced the worst of humanity. On 8 October, the best of Israel and the Jewish people trudged through their pain, shock and grief and rose to meet the challenges.

These Days of Awe, I want to express my profound love for my fellow citizens.

To the men, women and canines on air, sea, land, tunnels and airwaves, who are fighting not just for our survival, but for our very existence, there are not enough words to thank you. You are the best of us. You are our husbands and wives, sons and daughters, lovers, colleagues, friends and you are not just fighting for us, you are the vanguard in the clash between good and evil. We are proud of you, we stand by you and we know without any doubt that you adhere to the strictest moral and ethical code as you fight a monstrous entity that does not respect the laws of armed conflict, but instead uses their civilians as human shields. You can hold your head up high.

To our warriors, human and canine, who paid the ultimate price for our safety, your names will go down in the annals of our history, and we will honour you eternally. We will wrap our arms around your families. May your memories forever be blessed.

The 7th of October was the darkest day in Israel’s history, but it was also a day that ordinary people became superheroes. There were parents who drove down south to rescue their children in the carnage, risking their lives and saving many. Noam Tibon, a retired IDF General, and his wife got into their car and headed straight to Nahal Oz to help rescue his son and his family, trapped in their safe room.  Tibon and his wife would not only rescue injured soldiers, shepherding them to safety, but Noam engaged in combat with terrorists before managing to free his family. Civilians like Yusuf Marhat, a Bedouin bus driver who transported revelers to the Nova festival and then drove towards the carnage to rescue as many as possible. He saved many lives that dark day. Aner Shapira was amongst a group of people hiding in a shelter when Hamas opened fire on them and threw grenades in. Video footage shows Shapira throwing at least 7 grenades out before he was eventually killed. His best friend Hersch Goldberg Polin was taken as a hostage and remains in captivity. These are just a few of the many who drew superhuman strength to save as many lives as they could.

To every first responder who ran into the danger, we salute you. It was the call centre operators who took those first calls from terrified kibbutz residents. I keep thinking of the operator who took the distressed call of Avigail Idan’s siblings, who saw their parents murdered and did not know where their baby sister was. The siblings hid in a cupboard where their mother Smadar had safely hidden them before she was murdered. The operator told them to hide there “till the good people come”. Images of Jewish children hiding in cupboards from killers takes us back to that darkest time in our history. The remarkable first responders from Magen David Adom, firefighters, United Hatzalah, Zaka, IDF soldiers, doctors, nurses, police and all who ran into the gates of hell went above and beyond the call of duty. They were nothing less than magnificent.

The attacks of October 7 left many orphans. Statistics estimate 119 children who lost either one or more parents. Breastfeeding mothers rushed to donate their breast milk so that our smallest and most vulnerable treasures would receive sustenance. This is love in a profound time of sorrow.

The Beautiful Israel.  Young kids making sandwiches for soldiers who may be their fathers or mothers defending their country in the north and the south.

To the volunteers, near and far, who are diligently picking fruit and vegetables, thank you! You are helping to feed a country who faces the real threat of a lack of food security. Many of the agricultural workers who came from Thailand, Nepal and other countries returned to their countries in the wake of 7/10, leaving farms without labourers. Israelis sprang into action, making sure cows were milked, fruit, vegetable picked, and that the farms that form the country’s food belt have continued to function. Volunteers have been streaming in around from around the world to help – including a team of cowboys from the USA.  It has been an incredible show of love and solidarity.

Stepping up to the Plate. Braving warm smiles on faces traumatized by national tragedy, Israelis preparing food for their soldiers.

To my colleagues who are journalists or are in the field of public diplomacy – we are tasked with bearing witness, recording history and testimony and sharing it with the world. It has been at times, an agonizing task. We have had to see the images and footage from the atrocities that are unfathomable in their cruelty. We have had to see them again and again in order to ensure the story is told, the atrocities not denied or forgotten. It takes a massive toll. We will continue to speak.

To the lawyers who are defending Israel in the international courts against libelous accusations of genocide – some heroes really do wear capes. In this case, robes. You are our legal heroes in your robes, presenting Israel’s case with alacrity, dignity and forensic detail, compiling case after case that easily disproves the accusation of genocide. You have had to pore over the evidence of a true genocide, the atrocities of 7 October, in all of its savage imagery. This is unbearable but proves without a doubt who the perpetrators are – Hamas.  

To my sisters, the Zionesses roaring on behalf of our mothers, sisters and daughters who no longer have a voice, who were raped and tortured and then violated again by feminists and women’s organisations who not only denied the violence they endured, but built a wall of silence. We, the women of Israel, will tear down that wall by speaking up. We will not be silenced.


Country United. As they say an army marches on its stomach, it didn’t take long for Israel’s restaurants to get into the kitchen to feed their heroes. Within days of the war began following the massacre of October 7, even Israel’s top restaurants rallied to provide food for the soldiers.

Someone once said that an army marches on its stomach. The IDF must be the most well-fed army in in the world. Israelis and volunteers from abroad have been packing food parcels, donating, hosting barbeques on the border and ensuring that the army that defends its nation, eats well. Restaurant owners have koshered their restaurants to ensure that all food meets religious requirement and no soldiers is excluded from enjoying a delicious meal.  Druze women and restaurant owners have closed their restaurants to the public and are catering solely to soldiers. When they open to the public again, we will support them in our masses.


What’s Cooking? In wartime Israel, everyone does their part – even if that means cooking dinner in a parking garage. Seen here at the Keshet school in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood, are student volunteers in their school’s parking garage, which also is functioning as a makeshift kitchen feeding as many as 300 people per day.(Photo by Neil Weinberg)
 

To the hostages – our brothers and sisters held in torturous conditions, and those who have been released – no amount of words do justice to explain your courage and your dignity.  Former hostages who have bravely shared about their horrific experience have done so with the greatest dignity and continue to fight for the 132 that remain captive. The stories are shattering – torture, starvation, systematic sexual abuse and more accounts that speak of unfathomable trauma. We will not stop until every single one of you is back.

The people who have vowed to rebuild their devastated communities and kibbutzim, you are the beacon of hope, of resilience. You remind us of what we have, what we cherish and what our commitment is.


Seniors in the ‘Service’. Volunteers sort donated resources for Israelis displaced by the October 7 attacks and Israel-Hamas war. (Photo: Foni Mesika)

Young people who have risen to the challenge. You are more than our greatest hope, you have more than proven our future is radiantly bright – you light the way. You have shown up in our darkest moment in the most magnificent way and while we look around the world at the chaos on campuses and in marches, alarmed at how the young and more often than not, gullible have been radicalized, we do not fear for the future of Israel. You are our future. You are the generation that will go down in the annals of history as one of our greatest. I believe that.

To you who has gone above and beyond and who I may not have mentioned, thank you. To every single one of us, navigating our own trauma and pain, but showing up, every single day, there is no greater love than the love we have for each other.

Every single one of us. Am Yisrael Chai!







While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

UCT COUNCIL ELECTION

Shaping a safer future today for tomorrow’s students

“A university is supposed to be a safe space for young students to learn, debate, and discuss things,” said Daniel Bloch, the director of the Cape South African Board of Jewish Deputies.  He was sadly referring to Cape Town University (UCT), that in recent times has emerged as an increasingly hostile environment for Jewish students.
Once the bastion of academic freedom and free speech, Jewish students frequently face frightening abuse and threats from Israel haters.
In the light of the forgoing, Lay of the Land was approached to bring to the attention of its readers, many of them UCT alumni, that there is an important Council Election taking place at present that closes on the 23 April 2024.
See below for details.

David Kaplan
Editor Lay of the Land


UCT Alumni Action Alert 📢📢📢

UCT has announced the commencement of its Council Elections. This allows alumni to have a direct impact on the future of the university. The UCT Council is the highest decision-making body at UCT. The election runs until 23 April 2024.

Over the past number of years UCT has become notably hostile toward Israel, academic freedom, independent thinking and opposition voices.  Events in which Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi speakers have even been hosted have been held on the campus.

Four alumni candidates are running for the UCT Council to help restore stability and support the university’s commitment to academic excellence and freedom.  They are:

David Ansara, Think Tank Director; Mark Oppenheimer, Advocate; Kelly Phelps, Legal Academic; Brian Kantor, Professor Emeritus

VOTE NOW FOR ALL FOUR CANDIDATES – Support the future of the University of Cape Town and all South Africans

To Vote:

You can only vote if you have received a ballot via email from UCT.  If you haven’t received a ballot, request one by emailing convocationelection@uct.ac.za and follow the instructions. To learn more about the candidates  https://tinyurl.com/fnftnvyd

PLEASE PASS ON TO OTHER ALUMNI!

Warm Regards

Adam Frank
Researcher in Geo-Political Risk
UCT Alumni Action Alert





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).



IT’S NOT CRICKET

It is also not the direction South Africa should be going stripping the cricket captaincy of a Jew while falsely accusing Israel at The Hague of “Genocide”

By Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe

For heaven’s sake, let’s depoliticise sports.

It was the late statesman, Nelson Mandela, who reminded us that “sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”

Wrong Turn. No longer following the path of Mandela, South Africa has taken a dangerious slipery road  by its changing attitudes towards Jews.

The recent nonsensical decision by Cricket SA (CSA) to strip David Teeger of the captaincy of the SA Under 19 team cannot be justifiable in our reputed democracy. The young man was cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent adjudicator. Is Cricket SA not happy with the outcome of the investigations – into sentiments expressed by Teeger – that were instituted by CSA itself? Those who accused Teeger of any wrongdoing should surely be apologising to him instead of causing him yet more distress.

The timing of demoting Teeger is of interest as it intriguingly occurred during the International Court of Justice’s case where South Africa is accusing Israel of possible acts of genocide against the people of Gaza. CSA’s excuse was that there were “security concerns”. It is highly plausible, however, that there was direct political interference aimed at pressuring CSA to unceremoniously dethrone Teeger on the eve of the tournament.

‘Howzat!’ South Africa. Cricket South Africa, the country’s governing body for the sport, stripped David Teeger, an observant Jew, of his captaincy just weeks ahead of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
 

Are we going to be coerced into making foolish, unjustified and unfair decisions because a group of people threaten to terrorise us? There is nothing that Teeger has done that justifies CSA’s baseless action, therefore he should be reinstated to his captaincy position. Those who still believe that he has done anything wrong have to exploit possible legal avenues to challenge what is already on the table rather than thrive on the spirit of terror and aggression.

South Africa under the ANC is being turned into a useful tool for the East-West ideological battle. A few months ago, we were accused of helping Russia with armaments, which has not helped our struggling relationship with the Western powers. Our foreign affairs minister Naledi Pandor further had a “cozy” phone call with her friends, the bloodthirsty Hamas organisation. The ANC could not wait to meet these friends, when barely three weeks after the brutal attacks it carried out against Israel, South Africa hosted a senior Hamas delegation that – incredibly – visited the country for a “solidarity gathering”.

True Colours. Showing support for terrorism against the Jewish state, South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor wasted little time following the massacre of Jews on October 7 by  calling  the organisation’s leader Ismail Haniyeh to offer her country’s support.

The treatment of Teeger does not only undermine him personally, but undermines all the citizens of this country. Our leaders appear to just wake up in the morning and decide what should happen without justification or reasoning. We should be taken seriously as people, and those in authority should be held accountable for their actions or inaction.

Is it wrong for Teeger to hold political views?  The issue that began this disgraceful reaction of South Africa’s cricket authorities was when the 18-year-old David Teeger accepted an award as the inaugural Rising Star of the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards, he dedicated it to the young soldiers fighting for Israel following a horrendous massacre of his Jewish people.

Aristotle reminds us that a man is by nature a “political animal” because he is a social creature with the power of speech and moral reasoning. This means that we all are influenced by politics, like it or not. It also denotes that each person has political views. Are sportsmen or journalists not allowed to vote and align themselves with the party of their choice? They are indeed, which affirms that they are political animals.

We should encourage more young people to engage in politics and current affairs in general. Young people must have a say about what is happening around them, and should be allowed to hold and express their views on the issues of the day, be it climate change, conflict, sports, technology and science, politics, food security, gender-based violence and other topical issues.

While we are always going to hold conflicting views on political questions, it is sport that will enable us to have common grounds and positively engage with each other. Cricket SA does not have a right to punish players for their political views. Had David Teeger expressed his support for the other side of the conflict, Palestine, would he have suffered the same fate?

If he had wrapped his neck with a Palestinian flag, would he have been demoted? I doubt it very much.


About the Writer:

Kenneth Mokgatlhe is a political writer and columnist studying Master’s at Ben Gurion University in Israel.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

ISRAELI POLICE WOMEN

Defenders of the state of Israel, woman heroes in the line of fire

By Rolene Marks and Marc Kahlberg

When police in Israel’s southern community first started to receive calls from terrified residents in the kibbutzim and small communities that came under brutal attack by Hamas terrorists, Israel’s police responded as quickly and forcefully as they possibly could.

Israel’s valiant police defended as hard as they could with the limited firepower they had at the time – and many paid with their lives. Hamas murdered at least 58 police officers and women – and that number is expected to rise. Brave women joined their male counterparts, fighting with all their might to eliminate the enormous threat of Hamas.

As the days go on, we learn more details about that horrific day when Israeli civilians were murdered, tortured, raped and kidnapped in the most barbaric and depraved way. We are also starting to hear the stories of those that were first on site, the first responders of the Israel Police alongside local community security personal, who witnessed the carnage and fought it with all their might.

Israel is now at war against Hamas and the police are in the frontlines of not only classic policing, but also dealing with an existential daily terror threat.

Many police officers have been called up for reserve duty in the army. It is the women of the Israeli police that are our frontline of protection in our cities and communities across the country as most of their male counterparts move from protecting our cities and communities to protecting our borders.

Those that serve in the Israel Police represent a cross-section of Israeli society – Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Bedouin, Druze and are a mosaic of the diversity that is Israel.

These are a few of the Israel Police real life heroes;

Meet Israel’s Policewomen:

Major Moran Etedgi (Picture Credit: Israel Police International Spokespersons Unit)

Saturday morning 7 October 2023, a Jewish holiday celebrating happiness, “I woke up together with my family to the sound of the sirens indicating that we were yet again under rocket attack from the terrorists in Gaza. I quickly gathered my family and hurried downstairs to the protected and sheltered area. After a few minutes the alarms blared again, and then again and again and at this point, I understood something unusual was happening; I realized that the rockets being launched were far beyond that which we have grown accustomed to in such situations.”

Moran Tedgi, is a major and in charge of operations at the Aror police station in the Negev. She lives in Ofakim, and is the mother of two young children.

“I received a report that there were dead and injured in the Aror community, a predominantly Bedouin community and began to give instructions to strengthen our station and alert off duty officers, after fully understanding that we were under attack by terrorists.

At the same time, I turned on the walkie-talkie and listened in on the Ofakim [a large city] police radio channel, and heard commanders and police officers reporting on various encounters with terrorists. I made an instinctive decision to put on my uniform to protect myself and go out. On my way, I picked up another police officer from my station and together we went to the scene.”

Arriving at the first scene:

“we became aware that three police officers were murdered and many police officers were injured. The sight was one of immediate shock. The initial picture of the situation was four terrorists in a house with civilian hostages. As I took command, it was only a matter of seconds before we received a barrage of automatic weapons fire that included grenades and a RPG.

During this never-ending battle, an officer and a police officer were injured and were rescued under fire. We then faced a standoff – not uncommon in a hostage situation – until the arrival of our skilled tactical units.”

When the senior commander of the area arrived at the scene, “I briefed him of the situation while still under attack and returning fire , when suddenly an officer appears and reports that there are three terrorists in his friend’s house on the opposite street. I asked him to show me the photos he took on his cell phone.

The commander of the area asked me to take some police officers and take command of the situation. We approached very carefully until we understood fully which house it was.

I examined the area from all angles to understand where it was possible to counter attack until we became aware that the terrorists were hiding in the backyard of a house.

During this chaos and in the middle of a battle, I had to stop and call my children and tell them that I love them and that their mom is taking care of herself. We surrounded the house in the initial phase from two directions; we saw a body in the house lying lifeless through a hole in window.

In the initial phase, we managed to get some of the family members out safety.

I gathered strength and gave instructions to fire to try to draw out the terrorists that were hiding and waiting to surprise us. We opened up and the terrorists returned the fire wounding an officer. Then the terrorists threw a grenade which injured several more police officers. I was struck in the face by a  fragment of the grenade but I knew must keep calm, and I give a directive to retreat and reorganize.”

Constantly reporting on the dire situation:

  “I asked for help from our helicopter to size up the situation from above, relay photos, and to instruct residents not to leave their homes due to the security situation. I decided to enter again and this time we encircled the house completely.

The challenges were many, continues  Moran with, “constant terrorist fire, grenades, injured police officers, hostages, and logistics, trying to control the additional officers and now IDF soldiers that arrived, over 50 in total. It was imperative that we were all on the same page and to prevent friendly fire between the Police and IDF. My first thoughts were constantly Command and Control, even under fire.

Ordering the firing each time from a different direction, Moran had to scream “since we were barely able to talk on the walkie-talkie and not everyone had walkie-talkies. I also had to ensure I screamed the orders clearly. We then used grenades accompanied by aggressive firepower.”

During one of the firefights, “we shot two terrorists. Another officer was on the roof and started shouting at the last terrorist to surrender, who refused. After further confrontation, the terrorist became visible and I give instructions to shoot him.

Once we neutralised all the terrorists, our bomb squad sappers arrived and disabled several booby traps and other lethal devises designed to kill us. Then it was the job for the medical teams.”

The place now secure, Moran gathered her officers, reorganized and proceeded to the previous scene.

“At this point, I assumed command of the entire city of Ofakim under the direction of the commander of the area. Together with other forces, we responded to dozens of events that happened throughout the city on what can only be described as a bloody Saturday.”

Attending a situation assessment together with the mayor and the commander of the IDF officer’s school, “we divided the city into combat and reaction sectors.”

Reflecting back starting from Saturday 7 October at 7.30 am when the war began, “I participated at the battles of Ofakim, and then continued until Tuesday 10 October and then went back to aid my police station. Certainly, the longest days of my life.”

Every day the brave officers of the Israel Police protect us on the home front. We owe these exceptional men and women a massive debt of gratitude. They would never ask for it or expect it, but they deserve it.

Major Hodaya Loyani

“The late Major Hagai Bibi told his soldiers before he fell in battle in the Kissufim area: “Some will call us fools, but I call it Zionism, giving and true love,” recalls Major Hodaya Loyani, Commander of Municipal Police, Jerusalem district municipal policing.

Major Hodaya Loyani. Commander of Municipal Police, Jerusalem distric municipal, Israel Police, (Picture Credit: Israel Police International Spokespersons Unit).

“In these complex and difficult days, the State of Israel and in particular the Israel Police, experienced a great disaster and lost some of the best of its sons and daughters.

The Israel Police officers, who responded first, directly into the line of fire, sacrificed their lives as heroes.

For the past 14 years, I have been privileged to wear the Israel Police uniform every day with pride and true love for the people of Israel and the State of Israel.

As a woman and as a commander in the urban policing unit in the Jerusalem district, I have the privilege to lead the police officers who do holy work.

The people of Israel have known quite a few wars and many battles, but have never been defeated, and this time too, we will win with God’s help.

We will stand at the front and be called to stand up for whatever it takes to protect the citizens of the country. We will maintain governance in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and in the country because the people are determined and not afraid of the difficult long road ahead.”

Inspector Sharon Cohen

“For me, ever since I was recruited into the Border Guards,” says  23-years-old Sharon Cohen from Pardes Hana, “I had no doubt that I was going to stay a soldier until the end. I would do the officer’s course and, above all, advance in the core duties”.

                                            Inspector Sharon Cohen (Picture Credit: Israel Police International Spokespersons Unit)

Sharon enlisted in November 2018 and serves in a reserve unit of the tactical brigade team in a command position.

“Following the war that befell us on 7 October, I realized that this was the moment for which I enlisted, for why I am an officer.

The sense of mission deeply embedded in me, even at times of great duress, did not leave me for a moment, saving the lives of residents in the State of Israel. All that I was trained for and taught since enlistment, as a soldier, served me well and allowed me to do my duty and save as many lives as I could.

More than ever, I am proud to belong and proud to serve. I am a defender of the State of Israel.”




About the writers:

Rolene Marks – Freelance Broadcast Journalist & Marc Kahlberg Israel Police (retired)






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

WE ARE ALL SIGNATORIES TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

By Yaakov Hagoel, Chairman of the World Zionist Organization

When talking about the Declaration of Independence, one usually focuses on its resounding opening sentences:

 “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books“, or in one of the following paragraphs, which talk about the natural and historical right to the land, the call for peace with all the inhabitants of the land and the partnership in the fight against Nazi evil.

All this is good and important. The Declaration of Independence is truly a work of thought of precise wording, every word of which was examined and weighed by the heads of the Jewish population on the eve of the establishment of the State. But no less is the last part of the scroll, dedicated to signatories.

David Ben-Gurion at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1948 (Photo: GPO)

Thirty-seven people were privileged to sign the founding document of the State, headed by David Ben-Gurion of course, and among them also Golda Meir, Moshe Sharret, Rabbi Yehuda Leib HaCohen Fishman Maimon and many others. Every time I look at the signature section, I come across David Remez‘s signature.

Why specifically  Remez’s signature? Because it is the most prominent of them all. Most of the signatories used a pen brought especially for the event by the People’s Administration that intended  uniformity for the signatures. Remez brought his own pen with him, a special and thick pen, and to this day  his signature stands out as the most prominent name among the signatories.

For me, the story of David Ramez’s signature – he has many accomplishments to his credit since the early days of the Yishuv, as a Knesset member and cabinet minister – is not just a historical anecdote. There is an important message, especially during  these days. Recently the Declaration of Independence has become a symbol of the national controversy that is burning within us. Some say it is all mine, and others say it is all mine. There are those who maintain  that the values that they support  are the correct balance between the different levels of government and the other side  which says that these values are actually the opposite.

But the truth is neither here nor there. The Declaration of Independence belongs to the entire Israeli public, and besides the thirty-seven actual signatures on it, there are millions more transparent signatures of every citizen. Everyone signed the scroll – each of us with his own special pen, values, stories and hopes. Over the years we learned to unite around the scroll, to add more and more signatures at the bottom, and today the Declaration of Independence is the place where all these signatures are gathered, and on the basis of which the Israeli partnership grows.

The Declaration of Independence must not be read as if it supports only one side of the political map. Such an appropriation will erase from it many signatures of Israelis, partners on the way. What we must do is the opposite: take out each and every one of us his special pen, re-sign the scroll, find our unique place within this founding text – and then take all these pens and continue to write, together, the great Israeli story.







While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

A LOVE LETTER

From driving “me crazy” to “no place I’d rather be” the author writes to her beloved Israel on her 75th Birthday

By Andi Saitowitz

Dear Israel,

I sit here listening to the radio programmes preparing for tomorrow, tears streaming down my face, each story and song piercing my heartstrings. 

How deeply you are cherished. 

How precious you are to us. 

Even now, especially now.

You are protected by living and fallen heroes, brave and courageous, and you are an eternal treasured sacrifice that our people make every day just to ensure your survival. 

As this difficult week will slowly turn into a festive one, I wanted to take a few minutes and wish you a very happy 75th Independence Day! 

Just as everything about you is extreme, that’s how I feel today; extreme loss and pain and extreme gratitude and will for better. I feel privileged, grateful and blessed to be able to celebrate you. Even when things feel as messy as they feel these days. 

I realize more and more as my life unfolds, how this honor was denied to many before me and painfully many today who don’t get to experience your glory and share their everyday with you. 

I know that despite all the fragility at the moment, there is no place I’d rather be.

You continue to amaze me in countless ways and with each passing year, your growth and accomplishments leave me in awe. And yes – you sometimes drive me crazy too….and what’s happening within you, this turmoil, upsets me more than you can imagine. 

While the uncertainty, division and unrest keep me up at night, I hold on to faith and hope, knowing we’ve come this far, despite all odds. 

And I specifically want to acknowledge all that you are, because all that you’re not, is what everyone is focusing on and what we focus on grows so I want to look for your good and grow that. 

In just 75 years – you have achieved unparalleled greatness. 

In every field, you excel.

How utterly proud you should be, knowing that you are a pioneer and world leader: in medicine, technology, agriculture, science, security, education, sport and culture and above all – the willingness to help whoever you can, wherever possible – no matter what. 

You have earned stature and status, recognition and power, you are often considered the center of the world’s stage and your position is so well-deserved.

In your humble, quiet and unassuming way, you have embodied the very meaning of transformation. Against all odds – you have not only endured tremendous pain and suffering, loss and agony – but you have thrived and shone and continue to be a bright light unto the nations.

It’s not easy having so many people wish you harm. I don’t doubt that for a second.

I can’t imagine the pressure you feel every day from trying to progress, using all of your might to advance and reach new goals, develop and expand and at the same time, facing harsh resistance internally and externally – every single step of the way. 

So many people want to see you fail. And yet so many people want to see you win. Because when you do, we all do. Everything in the world is better when you are at your best.

You know your values, you know your principles and your worth and you continue to live by them with integrity and authenticity. I wish all our leaders would live your values more. I wish we all would. Truthfully. 

It’s not always easy to like you – believe me, we’ve had our ups and downs, frustrations and reconcilements, I don’t always understand you, but it is completely effortless to love you – unconditionally. 

And I know there are huge improvements to make – internally – we all do. We all have to do better. We all have to work on ourselves.

I wish I could heal some of your deepest wounds. 

I wish I could tell you that next year will be so much simpler for you. 

I wish I could guarantee that your obstacles and enemies will soon see your magnificence. 

I wish I could promise that your contributions to the goodness of the world will be celebrated by everyone – but I can’t. 

I can only promise that we will keep trying to make you proud.

We will keep creating, inventing, contributing, helping, giving – and in time, more and more will know your worth and acknowledge your legacy.

I can only share with you that the people who already love you – want to see you win – and the same very faith and unwavering belief in justice and G-d’s miracles will always continue to guide and support you. 

I love that my children think in Hebrew. 

I love that the supermarkets and gyms light a Chanukiah and the buses and highways wish us all a Chag Sameach. 

I love that the entire country is wearing white tomorrow night and that on Yom Kippur, there isn’t a car to be seen. 

I love the “only in Israel” moments because they are uniquely ours and one has to be here to feel it, to truly appreciate and understand it – you and your incredible polarities and idiosyncrasies. 

I love the chutzpah, the deepest love and energy of your people for what they believe in and for one another. 

I love that this tiny country has such a vibrant non-profit charitable sector.

I love representing you in the sports arena, you have instilled a spirit in your people that is filled with passionate fire and I try my hardest to showcase your beauty to all those who don’t know you well, or haven’t had the utter nachas of spending time with you and getting to know your incomparable personality.

Israel – thank you for inspiring me.

Israel – thank you for challenging me.

Israel – thank you for allowing me to live a meaningful life.

Israel – thank you for being my home.

I only wish you peace. In every single prayer.

G..d knows, it’s more than anything I wish you. 

You bring me joy. 

You make me smile and give me so many reasons to be thankful.

May you be showered with Hashem’s richest blessings. 

May you grow from strength to strength. 

May you remain true to your spirit and continue to drive change, empower others to bring out their best, and leave your indelible mark of greatness, excellence and contribution to whatever you develop, create, touch, grow and share with us and the world.

Here’s to many more happy, healthy and wonderful years ahead filled with plenty of new dreams coming true.

I know that when things seem like they’re falling apart, very often it means they just might be falling into place. Hold on. 

Hold tight. The craziness inside you right now is necessary for transformation. It’s how all worthwhile change occurs; with cracks, discomfort, fear, pain, courage and hope. 

We haven’t lost hope. 

עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו





About the author:

Heroes of Israel4

Andi Saitowitz, a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, published author and lover of inspiration. Also a Personal Development Strategist, Life Coach, Mentor and Transformation Leader.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

CELEBRATING A MODERN PERSIAN HEROINE

Reflections during Purim of a latter day heroine, Marzi, a defiant and brave Iranian Christian

By Jonathan Feldstein

Marziyeh  “Marzi” Amirizadeh is not a Persian queen.

Unlike the biblical Jewish queen, Esther, an orphan in Persia expelled from Judea following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and exile of the Jewish people, Marzi is a native of Persia. Today that is Iran. She lives in the United States, her adopted country where, like Esther, she has risen to the occasion “for such a time as this.”  Like Esther who put her life on the line to approach the King, her husband, and to save her people, Marzi also put her life on the line.  She did not go before the modern “King” – the ayatollah – to save her people from imminent death, but rather worked stealthily behind the scenes – against the ayatollahs – to affirm her faith and for the well-being of Iran.

Beauty and the Beasts. Former Iranian prisoners Marziyeh “Marzi” Amirizadeh, (l), and Maryam Rostampour (r)  were sentenced to death in 2009 for spreading the message of Christianity but the regime’s punishment backfired when they evangelized hundreds of fellow prisoners – even prison guards – in the 259 days before they were released following intense international pressure. “God had a purpose for being in that dark place,” says Marzi.

Marzi is an Iranian-born Christian who fled the land of her birth, the land in which she found her faith.  Just doing so put her life at risk. Christians, like Jews are persecuted, as is pretty much anyone who does not fit into the narrowly defined version of extremist Shia Islam that hijacked Iran in 1979.  Sunnis, Kurds, Bahais, and other religious and ethnic minorities are all in the regime’s crosshairs.

Coming to faith as a Christian in Iran is not something to be taken for granted.  While there is the morality police enforcing Islamic dress code, such as ensuring women in the country wear hijabs, simply being a Christian and affirming that in any way publicly can be dangerous, if not life threatening. Marzi knows all too well!

Arrested and thrown into one of the most brutal prisons in the world – the notorious Evin Prison outside Teheran – Marzi was subjected to months of physical and mental hardship, including intense interrogation before being brought to trial, where she was sentenced to death by hanging for the ‘crime’ of “apostacy”.

Behind Bars for Beliefs. The notorious Evin Prison in northwestern Tehran has held during its brutal history, hundreds of peaceful activists, journalists, intellectuals, human rights lawyers and Christians like Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour who chose to take the dangerous step of sharing their faith inside the very walls that was meant to silence them.

But like Esther, Marzi is not only brave, she is astute.  In her interrogations and even at her trial, when accused of ‘apostacy’ -the  renunciation of a religious belief – which she did by converting from Islam to Christianity, Marzi simply said:

 “No.” 

Although forced to study Islam, Marzi never considering herself a Muslim, despite that under Islamic law a child born of a Muslim man is Muslim, and that children born as such in Iran are registered as Muslims. Marzi never avowed Islam; never embraced it and so she could never disavow it. Baffling her accusers, they were left without much to challenge her, despite that she and everything about her so enraged the Iranian regime.

Living on the Edge. Marzi was arrested and imprisoned in 2009 for converting from Islam to Christianity, an offense which carries the death penalty. Placed in Evin prison’s notorious Ward 2-A, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Marzi was denied a lawyer and contact with her family for three months.

But she didn’t stop there. Marzi shared her faith with her accusers, her captors and her interrogators. If Allah was really God, why could she not have a personal relationship with him?  Why could Allah not speak to her directly? There were many “whys” in her search for faith, and then her affirmation of it.

Marzi related that their God is a God who is distant, with whom you cannot have a close relationship, is always ready to punish, even inflict torture for the most minor infractions. She never accepted Allah as the true God.  She was always searching for a personal relationship with God, to find the truth.  Even something as mundane as only praying to God in Arabic, not in Persian or any other language, challenged her and caused her to challenge their theology. If their God was God, he would surely be multi-lingual and receive prayers in all languages?

She understood her accusers were lying, and her eagerness to find God intensified. Eventually, God spoke to Marzi in a dream, revealing the true face of Islam, and God’s love for her and all people. A God of love was comforting, made sense, and upended her accuser’s God of fear. After this, God made Himself present in her life, and became her rock.

In coming to faith in the land whose Islamic leaders brand Israel “the Zionist entity” and “the little Satan”, Marzi also had a spiritual awakening about Israel and the Jewish people, how important they were to her faith and very existence as a Christian. This alone could have earned her another death sentence.  Even in our conversation for the Inspiration from Zion (podcast), she dispassionately notes how that this would assuredly be used by Iranian extremists to demonstrate her “spying” for Israel.  She is aware that should the Iranians arrest her in the future, she will be accused as a spy.

Marzi enraged the judge in whose hands her life precariously lay, by recounting how God spoke to her. This was totally at variance with the judge’s and Islam’s belief that God only speaks to prophets and holy people. Some of her captors even admired the strength of her faith for standing up to the many forms of intimidation and threats of consequences of not renouncing her Christianity, even while challenging fundamental principles of Islam.

But Marzi does not do anything in half measures.  Though Iran is the land of her birth, and the United States is where she’s now a citizen and where she has even run for elected office, Israel is a dream on her radar. Next month she’ll get to fulfill her dream and visit the Land of the Bible, the Land in which her faith was born, where Jesus lived. She wants to see all of Biblical and modern Israel, and be inspired in her own faith.  But she also wants to bring a message of love to Israel that while the Iranian regime hates Israel, average Iranians do not. She knows that just as she was arrested and sentenced to death, and only a miracle saved her, the Iranian threat to Israel is very real, but that God will also protect Israel.

Fate Uncertain. Iranian women prisoners sit at their cell in Tehran’s Evin prison. While allegations of sexual abuse and rape against Iran prison officials have been made by former female political prisoners, information about the alleged number of rapes committed by IRGC officials in Iran’s prisons remains unclear.

2500 years ago, Esther beseeched the Jewish people to pray and fast for her, that she should be able to use her position to save the Jewish people from the death decree forced by Haman.  Today, Marzi represents Esther’s bravery and boldness, and is very much a bridge between Jews and Christians.

Purpose in Prison. In ‘Captive in Iran’, cowriters Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour who knew they were putting their lives on the line by sharing their Christian beliefs, recount how God used their 259 days in Evin Prison to shine His light into one of the world’s darkest places, following their arrest in 2009.

We should join her in prayers for Iran, that somehow miraculously the Iranian people can be saved from its evil rulers.



About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

WHAT’S NEW IN THE CITY OF DAVID

Step below modern Jerusalem to enter ancient Jerusalem and walk in the footsteps of  the pilgrims

By Jonathan Feldstein

Samuel 2 verse 11 recounts the beginning of the relationship between King David and Bathsheba. Wouldn’t it have been fascinating if, as part of his plan, David sent a letter to Uriah – the husband of Bathsheba – after he left for battle, so as to provide plausible deniability for Uriah being killed so David would be free to pursue the beautiful Bathsheba?  What if that letter was not only never delivered, but if it were found today, complete with King David’s seal, and if it were marked in ancient Hebrew with the phrase “Undeliverable. Return to sender”. Where would David’s letter been returned to?

If such a letter was discovered, it would be just one of numerous archaeological finds in recent decades pointing to the veracity of the Biblical account of King David and the Jewish people’s unbreakable connection to Jerusalem.  Until the City of David was discovered some 150 years ago, and excavations began just a few decades back, people could legitimately point to the lack of actual proof of King David’s existence, undermining the Biblical narrative as speculative.  Since then, the indisputable proof of all the evidence makes it impossible to refute with any integrity, and casts a cloud of dishonesty on those who would still deny David’s existence, establishing his kingdom in Jerusalem, making it the religious center of the Jewish people and remains so to this day 3000 years later.

‘Stairway to Heaven’. The Jerusalem Pilgrim Road – also known as The Stepped Street – was used in the ritual processions ascending from the pool to the Temple, Judaism’s holiest site.

The City of David is exactly where King David’s palace existed.  That’s where his letter to Uriah would have been written, and be returned to. Standing there, reading the account of him first setting sight on Bathsheba bathing, you can imagine exactly where that took place. In recent decades, the archeological evidence unearthed has been extraordinary. It includes something as mundane as an ancient toilet from which scientists have been able to determine what Jerusalem’s residents ate while under siege. It includes the excavation of the Pilgrim’s Road, upon which multitudes of Jewish pilgrims walked as they ascended to the Temple.  These pilgrims – that included ordinary Jews to more famous ones such as Jesus, would make their journeys from all across the Land of Israel to Jerusalem to visit the Temple Mount, significantly on the three major Jewish holidays of Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth), and the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot). Among the remarkable evidence discovered on the Pilgrim’s Road are first century coins, and a bell from the garment of the High Priest.  But there’s much more.

A Step in the right Direction. A recent analysis of more than 100 coins found beneath the Stepped Street point to the start and completion of its construction under Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion. (photo Jonathan Feldstein)

Recently, I asked Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs for the City of David, “What’s new in the ancient City of David?” As well as talking about the ongoing excavations of the Pilgrims Road – still unopen to the public – he shared some of the fascinating ancient findings recently unearthed. Prior to our conversation, I had a private tour with Shira, an outstanding guide, who brought to life what life was really like  in ancient Jerusalem. This included walking along much of the Pilgrim’s Road which is not yet open to the public, and seeing how the excavations are progressing.

Beneath the Surface.  There is no denying the connection of Jews to Jerusalem observes the writer as he personally witnesses a buried past literally unearthed. (Photo Jonathan Feldstein)

Ze’ev revealed that in addition to the current excavations, plans were announced to excavate the remaining two-thirds of the Pool of Siloam, a Biblical site significant to Christians and Jews. The Pool of Siloam sits at the lower foot of the Pilgrim’s Road and is the place where the pilgrims would participate in a ritual purification before ascending the last stretch of about a half a mile to the Temple itself.

Christians point to the Pool of Siloam as the site at which (according to John 9), Jesus healed a blind man.  Indeed, there is little if anything about the City of David that’s not as significant to Christians as much as it is to Jews. Jesus was a first century Jew and literally walked and worshipped there.  Understanding his life and the centrality of the Temple as part of Jewish Biblical history is significant to understanding the Jewish roots of Christianity.

From Roman Helmets to Hard Hats. 2000 years later, still working on the same street. (Photo Jonathan Feldstein)

Miracles are not uncommon in Jerusalem, but even some seem unbelievable. Ze’ev also shared the ‘miraculous’ way in which the Pilgrim’s Road was only by chance rediscovered during repairs to a burst sewage pipe that had inadvertently covered a series of ancient stone steps that led to the pool of Siloam – and the rest is literally history.

Affirming the veracity of Jerusalem’s Biblical history is not just a matter of affirming one’s faith, although that is very important. Today, when people don’t know history, or know and deliberately revise history to fit their own narrative, the thousands of years evidence from the City of David debunks that. Denial of Biblical history in Jerusalem is particularly egregious because it endeavors to undermine the convictions of the faithful of both Christians and Jews. This tactic by antisemites is to so loudly voice opposition to Israel’s right to exist on the basis that Jews have no historical connection to Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular. Despite the historical evidence refuting this lie, it nevertheless is a narrative frequently promulgated by Palestinian Arabs, notably at the United Nations. Their aim is to try erase the Jewish people from their ancestral homeland.

Jubilation in Jerusalem. An artist’s impression of the Pilgrim’s Road during a Jewish festival. (Photo credit: Kobi Herati, City of David)

In the City of David, it is possible to play a Biblical version of connect the dots. One can see landmarks and artifacts that point to numerous Biblical verses, and to historical records by Josephus and others.

In a few years time, 21st century pilgrims will be able to walk the full length of the Pilgrim’s Road, starting at the Pool of Siloam up to the southern steps of the Temple Mount. While not yet able to purchase the items needed for offerings in the Temple at one of the many shops along the way, they can marvel at the archaeological evidence affirming their Biblical scripture of the precise places where it all took place. What is being unearthed is providing undeniable proof of the Biblical account of King David and the connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem – literally at the feet of everyone.

Dipping into the Bible. Young tourists at a section of the pool of Siloam where Jewish pilgrims in antient times would purify themselves before the final assent to the Temple.

REOPENING AN OLD ROAD

When the Pilgrim Road reopens to the public slated in two years’ time, it will be the first time in two millennia, since the Romans conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, that this ancient path will be open.  

I want to be there and welcome you to join in that celebration.



The Pool of Siloam (Episode 9) – City of David: Bringing the Bible to Life





About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CHANUKAH BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK

By Jonathan Feldstein

Recently, I was asked to teach about Chanukah with a church group in Dallas. I entered the conversation thinking it was really quite straight forward, that most Christians at least in America surrounded by a Judeo-Christian culture, know at least the basics about the holiday.

I began by relating a story about when I did a teaching two years ago with a group of pastors in Africa, who have no interaction with Jews or Jewish culture. One pastor stated excitingly that it seemed like such a great holiday, we should celebrate it more often. I always found that one of the most charming jumping off point for discussion, even with Christians in America who know much more, but typically don’t know as much as one would think.

Chanukah is the celebration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by Greek enemies of Israel. Rather than destroying the Temple, again, they desecrated it, which left it unfit for ritual use.

The answer to my African pastor friend as to why we don’t celebrate Chanukah more often is because Chanukah is always celebrated on the 25th of the Biblical month of Kislev, the day that the Temple was rededicated, some 2200 years ago.

The restoration of the Temple was made possible by a military victory under the leadership of Judah Maccabi. The name Maccabi has become synonymous with strength and overcoming enemies. It has also been adapted for use in popular culture, among other things the name of a popular musical group and a line of frozen kosher foods in America, as well as the name of one of Israel’s largest health funds.

Most Christians know that Chanukah is an eight-day holiday commemorating the miracle that during the rededication of the Temple enough pure oil was found to light the menorah for one day, but which miraculously lasted for eight days. For eight days we light candles, increasing one candle each night. We eat traditional foods that are fried in oil commemorating the miracle of the oil. Not so healthy but decadent and tasty.

Chanukah is also a musical holiday during which it is customary to sing Psalms 113 to 118, called Hallel, thanking God for the miracles He has performed. There are also many songs celebrating the miraculous victory over Israel‘s enemies.

But even if you were a biblically literate Christian with a deep knowledge of Judaism, how would you know all this about Chanukah since it is not featured prominently in the Bible. For answers to this and other questions delving into the how and why of what we do, I hosted Rabbi Avi Baumol on my Inspiration from Zion podcast.

During my teaching in Dallas, I received questions relating to who lights the candles and why. There were questions relating to the giving of presents as well, with a popular misconception that every family gives every member a present every night. I explained that each family has its tradition.

Also, because Chanukah is not one of the Biblical pilgrimage festivals during which all forms of labor are prohibited as instructed in the Bible, it offers an opportunity for families to have larger social gatherings, employ different traditions. Especially in Israel where it is a public holiday and schools are closed, it’s common for people to travel throughout the country, or even overseas during our popular winter vacation.

I also related how in Israel, weeks and sometimes months before Chanukah, the whole culture begins to focus on the holiday. This includes Chanukah displays in stores, the increasing number of Chanukah delicacies on offer such as latkes and brisket to kugel and jelly doughnuts –  and more. And it’s as mundane as hearing Chanukah songs as background music in malls and other public places, replete with seasonal sales that also employ the holiday themes.  

As much as this was new information for many of the participants, I especially liked engaging them about the place in the New Testament where Chanukah is mentioned. It’s so subtle that if you don’t know what the first century Jewish culture is about, you wouldn’t necessarily know that John 10:22 is talking about Jesus celebrating Chanukah in Jerusalem. But if you don’t know what “the Festival of the dedication” is, you would have no idea that Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.  

As an Orthodox Jew with less familiarity with the New Testament, this raised many interesting questions which we discussed, but many of which were still unanswered.

Since Chanukah is not a pilgrimage holiday like Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), Sukkot (Tabernacles) when Jews were expected to worship and bring offerings to the Temple, I asked why Jesus was in Jerusalem anyway.

I wanted to understand why this one reference in all of the New Testament was there to begin with. Was it the only time that Jesus came to Jerusalem for the holiday and if so why and what was going on? Or is there something that was unique about this one particular visit, and it’s assumed that Jesus spent many winters celebrating Chanukah in Jerusalem. Unlike today when one can drive between Nazareth and Jerusalem in under three hours, making a pilgrimage by foot or donkey would take days, and days of planning. Forget the time off work.

While the conversation was going on, one person googled and shared some information which affirmed that it was customary for first century Jews to go to the Temple. After all, the military conquest and rededication of the Temple was relatively modern history to them.

This did not answer my questions, but did affirm something that should not be forgotten and that is that Jesus was a first century Jew, his life and culture were Jewish, and he worshiped in the Temple according to Jewish tradition. In a world where ‘Replacement Theology’ (i.e. that God has rejected the Jews and they are no longer his chosen people) remains widespread, and some try to erase the centrality of Jerusalem to Jews (and therefore Christians), it’s important that we remember this, and that Christians understand that everything Jesus did was essentially Jewish.



About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

FORGOTTEN HISTORY REMEMBERED

The heroic past shall be ‘unveiled’ at an upcoming ceremony at Johannesburg’s Jewish cemetery illuminating ‘bloodlines’ between South Africa and Israel

By David E. Kaplan

On the 27th November, people of all faiths and races – some wearing medals of battles past – will gather at the South African National Jewish War Memorial at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg. They will do so to remember those South African soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the world wars of the twentieth century that not only “changed the course of history” but profoundly impacted on the destiny of the Jewish people. The acts of bravery by these soldiers – whether aware at the time or not – contributed to the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in their ancestral homeland in 1948.

Live stream link on Sunday 27/11/22, 10:30 (SA time) – https://www.facebook.com/SAZionistFed/

The drama of three long forgotten and for many never even known events, will be ‘unveiled’ together with the stones embodying their pulsating pasts.

STORY OF A STONE

When only a year ago, students at  UCT ( University of Cape Town) tried to expunge the memory of South Africa’s famed wartime Prime Minister Jan Smuts by defacing and covering his bust with plastic bags and ultimately removing it from the campus as well as renaming the historic men’s residence from Smuts Hall to Upper Campus Residence, the upcoming gathering on the 27 November has a contrary agenda of honouring his memory as it connects with the Jewish people. If UCT students sought to ‘cover’ Smuts’ bust, the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), JNF (SA), the South African Jewish ex-Service League together with its committee member, Selwyn Rogoff and its former Chairman, Peter Bailey also representing the Isaac Ochberg Heritage Committee in Israel, have sought to uncover Smuts’ less known past, notably his contribution to the State of Israel.

Century of a Stone. The cornerstone originally unveiled by Prime Minister Smuts in 1922 to be again unveiled by his great-grandson Gareth Shackleford on the 27 November 2022 at West Park Cemetery, Johannesburg.

When it was brought to Bailey and Rogoff’s attention that a cornerstone honouring South African Jews who had fought and died in the Great War that had been unveiled by Prime Minister Smuts in November 1922 at the old Jewish Guild War Memorial Building in downtown Johannesburg had after a century of travels to different locations  resurfaced in the garden of a bowling club, they felt a special memorial event marking the centenary should be held. Bailey felt further that it should include two other monumental contributions of South African soldiers who died in the service of that biblical land that would in time emerge as the state of the Jewish people – Israel. Through this writer’s intervention, he contacted Benji Shulman of the SAZF that set in motion the upcoming event that will have Smuts’ great-grandson, Gareth Shackleford, who will unveil again the cornerstone that his grandfather originally unveiled a century earlier reminding the world of the love Smuts had for the Jewish people and his role in the creation of the Jewish state.

Dead at Delville. Included amongst Jewish South African soldiers killed in WWI was the writer’s grandfather’s brother, Victor Kaplan, who volunteered for overseas service and was killed in the Battle of Delville Wood in 1916. (Family photo)

Too few are aware that when Smuts and Chaim Weizmann met in London during the Great War, the two began a close friendship that lasted for the rest of their lives and greatly influenced events in Palestine. In an essay on Smuts and Weizmann, Richard P. Stevens writes:

“perhaps few personal friendships have so influenced the course of political events during the twentieth century as the relationship between General Jan Christiaan Smuts, South Africa’s celebrated prime minister, and Chaim Weizmann, Zionist leader, and Israel’s first president.”

Meeting of Minds. They emerged friends with shared visions – Chaim Weizmann (left) and Jan Smuts, circa 1915 (photo credit: JERUSALEM POST ARCHIVE)

Research reveals that Smuts played a monumental backroom role in the drafting of the Balfour Declaration, providing Weizmann with a direct conduit to the War Cabinet. Another of Smuts’ great-grandsons, Philip Weyers, said of his great-grandfather, who he fondly refers to as “Oubaas” (old boss) that:

“he was the anonymous partner to the Balfour Declaration. The spirit and even some of the wording of the Balfour Declaration came from the Oubaas’ mouth. His thoughts and views carried a lot of weight, and is imbedded in that fateful document.”

It is little wonder that kibbutz Ramat Yohanan – founded in 1932  – was named in honour of Jan Smuts; ‘Yohanan’ being the Hebrew translation for the Afrikaans ‘Jan’ or English ‘John’, in recognition of his unstinting efforts on behalf of the Jewish people.

LETTER TO LEGEND

However, Israel’s ‘Magna Carta’ – the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – would have meant very little beyond a letter or footnote in history had not the actual ‘feet’ of commonwealth soldiers – including the Cape Corps comprising members of South Africa’s Coloured community – fought valiantly to relieve Palestine of the Ottoman Turks. Some 54 Coloureds  – Christians and Muslims – lost their lives in what became known as the Battle of Megiddo, opening the road for General Allenby’s breakthrough to Damascus. Most important from a Jewish perspective, while it “opened the road” for Allenby, it cleared the region of the occupying Turks, paving the way for a British Mandate and ultimately Jewish statehood in 1948.

Jubilation in Jerusalem. One month after the Balfour Declaration, General Edmund Allenby enters the Old City on the 11 December 1917 to accept the surrender of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks. Next battle to follow – Megiddo.

A year following the famous battle, Field Marshal Viscount Allenby, GCB, GCMG had this to say about the men of the 1st Cape Corps:

 “I heard you are creating a Roll of Honour containing Cape Corps names. I had the honour of serving with many of the Cape Corps in Palestine and I should like to add my tribute of appreciation. The record of those of the Cape Corps who fought under my command is one that any troops might envy. Especially on September 19 and 20, 1918, they covered themselves with glory, displaying a bravery and determination that has never been surpassed.”

A descendant of this battle, Cmdr. M. Adeel Carelse MMM (Ret.), whose grandfather Cpl. C. H. Carelse fought bravely at Square Hill and Kh Jibeit that were decisive battles within the larger Battle of Megiddo and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, will unveil on the 27 November a plaque to the Cape Corps. Today in Cape Town’s suburb of Retreat, there is Square Hill School that is named after this famous battle that too few remember or the sacrifices made.  However, these mostly forgotten battles fought in a biblical land, ended Ottoman Turkish rule and led to the eventual establishment of the independent states of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and ISRAEL!

Valiant Fighters. Men of the 1st. Battalion, Cape Corps(160th Brigade, 53 Welsh Division) in Palestine 1918.

WORKED TOGETHER, DIED TOGETHER

The third stone of history to be unturned at the ceremony, will be to remember and honour the 644 black Southern Africans who went down with 140 Yishuv Jews on the SS Erinpura during WWII.

They had all worked together as volunteers on a British labour project in Palestine for the war effort and were together in a convoy in the Mediterranean in May 1943 . The SS Erinpura was carrying more than 1000 troops, including Basuto and Batswanan members of the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps and Palestinian Jewish soldiers of 462 Transport Company of the British Army when on the evening of 1 May 1943, German bomber aircraft attacked the convoy 30 nautical miles (56 km) north of Benghazi.

They Made History. On parade but soon to be tested in battle are soldiers of the Cape Corp during WW1 who performed so heroically at the Battle of Megiddo in 1918 against the Ottoman Turks.

In one wave of the attacks, a bomb hit the Erinpura in one of her forward holds, causing her to list to starboard and sink within five minutes. The crew of her 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun continued to return fire until she sank with a loss of life of 800 that included the 633 Sotho, 11 Tswana soldiers and 140 Palestinian Jewish soldiers.

Lives lost at Sea. The ‘SS Erinpura Memorial’ on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem is dedicated to the 139 Jewish soldiers of the British Army  462 Moving Unit in British Mandate of Palestine  that lost their lives on the SS Erinpura  that was sunk in an attack  by the Luftwaffe on 1 May 1943.

The monument on Mount Herzl  to the 140 Jewish soldiers who drowned aboard the SS Erinpura is shaped like a ship  with a pool of water representing the sea where on the bottom appear the names of the fallen. Above the pool is a turret adorned with the Hebrew text of Psalm 68, verse 22:

“The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea.”

Ship of Soldiers. The ill-fated SS. Erinpura that went down with South African and Jewish Palestinian soldiers in WWII.

This did in a sense happen with the emergence five years later  with the gathering of Jews and the established of the Jewish state in 1948.

It is only fitting that  Israel’s Ambassador to South Africa, Eliav Belotsercovsky, will unveil a memorial plaque at the West Park Cemetery ceremony to the tragic loss of life of both the Yishuv Jews and black South Africans who lost their lives together in a cause that others may live.

Entrance to West Park Cemetery, Johannesburg

EPILOGUE

The years have rolled by and like packed away old unread books, heroic lives were lost tucked away in forgotten chapters in recedingly remembered conflicts. The upcoming ceremony on the 27 November 2022  in Johannesburg is designed to address this amnesia and all across the world are invited to attend on ZOOM

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Before all these events played out, the instruction of ‘being careful not to forget’ was already present in Deuteronomy 4:7–9:“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy son’s sons.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).