| Dear K.I.N.S. Community,
The past 24 hours have been extraordinarily powerful, as Margaret and I have participated in an RCA/Mizrachi/YU-REITS Rabbinic Mission to Israel.
There are so many experiences we've had, people we've spoken with, and things we have seen that it is hard to know where to begin.
But I guess the beginning is a good place, which was at the Mizrachi building in Yerushalayim on Tuesday morning, where we heard from Rav Doron Peres, the CEO of World Mizrachi. Rav Peres and his wife Shelley are parents of two chayalim, Yonatan, who was wounded on October 7th, but was able to walk down the aisle a week later at his wedding, and Daniel, who has been missing since October 7th, and just a few days ago was reclassified as a hostage.
It was the first time Rav Peres was back at his office since the massacre of October 7th and only the second time he had spoken in person to a group about his family's challenge. It was a profoundly emotional presentation and hard to capture everything he said. However, two items were clear - his faith in G-d and his faith in the Jewish people.
Repeatedly, he noted that despite the unbearable pain of not knowing the fate of their son, there were other families who suffering was far worse - families who had three generations of people taken hostage or three generations murdered. His perspective and continued faith was inspiring as was his ability to look beyond this war, to imagine a future when the Jewish people will be stronger and the world will understand the danger posed by the terrorists.
From there, we went to Hadassah Hospital, where we heard from the Rav of the hospital, the CEO, the COO and one of the social workers. Together, they drew a picture of the immediate response of the hospital and now, the continued care they provide - both for the refuat hanefesh and the refuat haguf. We met with a soldier, Roni who lost his leg in battle and heard from him in excruciating detail about the first hours of the war, the bravery, and the confusion. One thing I will not soon forget is the the way he described how, as he lay hiding, severely wounded, with his two comrades were unconscious (they tragically died from their wounds), he he frantically using his cell phone to call friends to try to find someone who could rescue him. Ultimately he found someone he knew in the airforce who ultimately dispatched a helicopter to extract him from the battle.
We visited the army base in Anatot, where there is an amazing volunteer effort, preparing 50,000 meals a day, and bringing in firefighters, EMTs and others to support Tzahal. As we were heading to the bus, we saw a group of six Christian volunteer cooks from Texas who came on the second day of the War to work kitchen. They projected such a love for Israel. It was inspiring!
We ended the day at the army base in Ramle, called Shura. It's on this base where the headquarters of IDF Chief Rabbinate is located and where the rabbinate works with the army to identify military (and in the war, civilian) casualties. Rabbi Binyamin Zimmerman, who I know from his role in Mizrachi, led us on a tour of the place. As he was describing their work, we were standing less than ten yards from eleven freezer containers where the remains of nearly 300 unidentified victims of October 7th are currently stored. Another member of Mizrachi staff, Rabbi Bentzi Mann, who is also in service, described to us the heart-wrenching process of trying to identify the victims and the realities of this war, where many of the victims were tortured and their remains desecrated, making the job of identification so difficult. But they continue to work.
As they were speaking to us, some of the chayalim went over to one of the containers and opened the doors - revealing to us the makeshift morgue with shelves upon shelves of body bags. It was a heart-wrenching sight and the stench of death was overwhelming, but the heroic efforts of the military rabbinate are unbelievable.
Of course, they also showed us the inspiring work of distributing tzitzit, siddurim and chumashim to the troops. Hundreds of thousands of tzitzit have been distributed, and nearly every soldier going into Gaza, observant and not-yet-observant, is wearing tzitzit.
Finally, we went into the storehouse for sifrei Torah that are provided for Tzahal, a room filled with hundreds of sifrei Torah and staffed by a full-time sofer, who sat in his military uniform and checked and repaired them.
This morning, we went to Yeshivat Shaalavim, which is now the home not only to its own students but to nearly 250 students of Yeshivat Sderot. Rav Fendel of Sderot described what happened in the Yeshiva on October 7th, the miracle that Hamas did not attack them, and the heroism of his students, who ran to defend Sderot.
And then Rabbi Michael Yammer, the Rosh HaYeshiva of Shaalavim, joined us. He shared with us that he can't sleep at night because his boys are now in Gaza, comparing this moment in history to the Akeidah because we too are now engaged in a battle to fulfill the will of G-d. Their faith in the Jewish people, the Torah that continues to be studied and their mesirut nefesh for their students and Torah is impressive.
We are now on the bus traveling to Kibbutz Zikim, which was attacked on October 7th and hear from the people who were there.
Over the years, I have been in Israel many times; I have been here during the Gulf War, the Intifadas, and other times of crisis. But never have I been here at a time such as this, when the stakes are so high, but the spirit of the people is so exceptional. This is truly a time when we should exclaim, מי כעמך ישראל!
Of course, we must continue to do everything we can to support Israel. But as we pray, and as we volunteer, and as we collect funds, we also need to remember, as Rav Yammer told the students of Sderot - לישועתך קויתי ה - we remain confident and anticipate G-d's salvation.
B'vracha,
Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky
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