Parashat Vayeshav: Sharing in the Pain of the Goldin and Shaul Families

Fallen IDF soldiers Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin

During Operation Protective Edge, in the summer of 2014, which was aimed at halting the rain of Hamas rockets and mortars on Israel’s southern population, Hamas captured the remains of two soldiers who were killed in action. Staff Sgt. Oren Shaul was killed when an anti-tank missile destroyed the armored personnel carrier in which he was traveling, and Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was captured during an attempted kidnapping when terrorists emerged from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, was declared killed in action by a special IDF commission. For over two years now, Hamas has refused to return the remains of either Shaul or Goldin, holding them as bargaining chips to extract concessions from Israel. As we learn from this week’s Parashah, a parent’s inability to bring a child to his final resting place can cause terrible emotional trauma.

After Yosef’s brothers decided not to kill him but instead sell him into slavery, they devised a plan to convince their father than Joseph had been killed. They took the special “Coat of Many Colors” that Jacob had weaved specially for Joseph, dipped it in goat blood and sent the coat to their father, who recognized it immediately. Yaakov arrived at the only logical conclusion: “It is my son’s coat; an evil beast has devoured him; Yosef is without doubt torn in pieces.” (37:33) Following a prolonged mourning period, Yaakov continued to mourn for his beloved Yosef. Although his children tried to console him, “he refused to be comforted,” and declared that he would mourn for Yosef for the rest of his life. Commentators wonder why Yaakov refused to be consoled, even many months after Yosef was lost. While no parent ever fully recovers from the loss of a child, why did the sands of time fail to dull Yaakov’s pain even many months later? Rashi, (on verse 35) quoting the Midrash, explains that “the living cannot be consoled for the living.” Somehow Yaakov sensed that Yosef was not truly gone forever. Yet, Rashi’s comments point to a truth about a parent who must mourn without the ability to bury a child. Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein explained that, “According to many psychologists, seeing the body carries great significance for a number of reasons: First, witnessing death allows a person to comprehend its finality, and its unalterable nature. A normal human being cannot comprehend such a final and absolute fact until he sees the dead with his own eyes. Secondly, a person who has not seen the death with his own eyes can continue to hope that perhaps, maybe, maybe—the dead remains alive. Perhaps it is an inconclusive rumor...It is possible that Yaacov hoped whether consciously or unconsciously, that in the end it will turn out that Yosef is indeed alive.” Yaakov could not be consoled because he never experienced the psychological and emotional closure that comes with the trauma of burying his son. Therefore, the pain does not ebb, but instead remains a constant anguish that never fully dissipates.

It is this pain that the parents of Goldin and Shaul have suffered for the past two years. Since Israel declared the two soldiers killed in action, the families, and especially Simcha and Leah Goldin, have campaigned tirelessly for the return of the two sons’ remains to Israel for proper burial. This past June, following a request from the Goldin family, Israel’s Defense Ministry officially changed the classification of the two soldiers to “fallen soldiers with the status of missing prisoners.” Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul were previously classified as “fallen soldiers whose burial place is unknown,” and the family felt that the earlier official status “sent the message that Israel viewed Hadar’s case as closed even though his body had not yet been recovered.” In September, the Goldins traveled to the United Nations in New York to lobby the international community to pressure Hamas to return their son’s remains. According to the Israeli news website Mako, at a conference late last month marking the 30th anniversary of the abduction of IAF pilot Ron Arad, Major General Hagai Topolansky, head of the IDF's Personnel Directorate, acknowledged that there has been a “stagnation” in the negotiations with Hamas. “After two years, we still do not see a way forward,” he said.

I don't pretend to know how to resolve this terrible situation. Today Israeli policy is to withhold the bodies of Hamas-affiliated terrorists, clearly in a bid to compel Hamas to release the bodies of its fallen soldiers. I trust that the government really is doing all that it can in this challenging situation. At the same time, we must share in the suffering of the Shaul and Goldin families, who not only made the ultimate sacrifice protecting and defending the Jewish people, but must now live through the anguish that Ya'akov avinu himself suffered, unable to bring their sons to their final resting place.

Modern Day Clouds of Glory: A Story from the Battlefield in Gaza

The commander of Givati, Col. Ofer Winter, who made headlines with an impassioned letter of encouragement to his troops that borrowed heavily from Tanach and other Jewish sources, told the following story, which appeared today on NRG.
"I have never seen a miracle in my entire military career like the one that took place in the ruins of Chiza.
We decided to attack a certain target before sunrise so that no one could identify us. The advance force arrived at the location on time, the fighters themselves for some reason were delayed. We didn't know what to do, because the sun began to rise, and the rays of light began to illuminate the soldiers. We we almost forced to attack, when suddenly the clouds protected us. Clouds of Glory. Suddenly, they covered us - all of the fighters - with a heavy fog, that accompanied us during the entire attack. No one saw us. Only when the targeted houses had been destroyed and there was no longer any mortal danger, did the fog suddenly lift. Literally, is was, "For the Lord your God walks before you to save you." (Devarim 20:4)

An IDF Ripped From the Pages of Daf Yomi: Mi K'amcha Yisrael!

The Gemara in Megillah 3a (which happened to be yesterday's daf), in the midst of a discussion about which is more important - sacrifices or the study of Torah - notes that an angel visited the great prophet Yehoshua in the middle of the night, as he was busy preparing for the war to conquer the Land of Israel, in order to offer his "constructive criticism". The angel tells the prophet,

אמש בטלתם תמיד של בין הערבים ועכשיו בטלתם תלמוד תורה

Yesterday you cancelled the afternoon Tamid offering, and now you're cancelling the study of Torah?
Yehoshua asked him, "Which one did you come for? (i.e. what are you upset about - the sacrifice, or the Torah study?)

The angel answered, "Now I came" (Meaning that he was upset about the lack of Torah study in the camp)
The Gemara tells us,

מיד (יהושע ח, ט) וילן יהושע בלילה ההוא בתוך העמק אמר רבי יוחנן מלמד שלן בעומקה של הלכה

Immediately, "And Joshua laid that night in the midst of the of the valley" - said Rabbi Yochanan: This verse teaches us that he laid in the valley of halachah.

According to the Gemara, Yeshoshua understood that fighting a war isn't an excuse not to study Torah. Rather, we are commanded to do both: fight by day, and study Torah at night. So, after a long day of training and preparation, he spent the night studying Torah.

I couldn't help but think of this Gemara when I came across this incredible article and the accompanying video of an officer in the paratrooper corps (Unit 101), who finished Masechet Taanit yesterday, and wanted to make a siyyum. So, by the light of the soldiers flashlights, he made the siyyum you see here, literally bringing the words of the Gemara to life: Our soldiers fight by day, and lay in the "Valley of Halachah" at night.



מי כעמך ישראל, גוי אחד בארץ!

Winners and Losers - A Thought for Vayishlach

Following the recent "exchange" with Hamas in Gaza, the world seems preoccupied with the question of who "won" and who "lost"? My fourteen-year-old son asked me this very question last night: who won? How can we say that we won if they can still shoot at us?
My answer was simple: we're not trying to "win" - at least not by the standard definition.
After all, it seems like we - Israel and Hamas - are playing a very different game. They're trying to kill as many of us as they can, and we're trying to kill as few of them as we can. How do you define "winning" and "losing" when the two sides are playing with different rules? How do you fight a war when you're trying specifically not to kill people.
And yet, we're not the first Israelis who had an aversion to fighting. Actually, the first Israeli to demonstrate such an aversion was Yisrael - Ya'akov himself.
As he returns from Haran towards Canaan, Ya'akov sends a message of peace to Eisav, hoping to avoid a confrontation. Yet, when he learns that Eisav too approached, with 400 armed men, we read that, ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו - "and Yaakov was greatly afraid, and he was distressed." Essentially he was frightened twice. What's the difference between ויירא - "he was afraid" and ויצר - "he was distressed"? Rashi explains,

ויירא שמא יהרג, ויצר לו אם יהרוג הוא את אחרים

He was afraid of being killed, and he was distressed that he might kill others.

Ya'akov wants to have his cake and eat it too. He'll fight if he has to, to protect his family. But he's particularly disturbed about the prospect of having to kill others, no matter the justification.
That's the way of the Jewish people. We'll fight if need be, to defend ourselves. But there's no thirst for blood, and whenever possible, we will try and protect the even the lives of those who despise us and wish us ill will. Ya'akov was distressed not just about the possible deaths of innocents; rather, he worried about having to kill anyone - even among Eisav's four hundred warriors.
The fact that we didn't "win", I told my son, isn't a weakness. If anything, it's a source of strenght, and a badge of pride worn proudly by the soldiers of Israel. I go to sleep well at night knowing that, if need be, our soldiers will do what they must to protect us. But, first and foremost, whenever possible,
דרכיה דרכי נעם וכל נתיבותיה שלום - "Her ways [of the Torah] are ways of pleasantness, and all of her path are peace."

20 Billion in Air Conditioning? Not A Good Sign

The forecast on the radio this morning: Hot. Tomorrow - a little hotter. The weather lady actually said, "And if you're looking for relief, ask again in October." Great.
A few weeks back, a young man from Detroit who made aliyah when we did came to visit for Shabbat. He joined the IDF, and has since served in a number of roles, including as a commando in places that he wouldn't tell us about.
We mentioned to him that my nephew is strongly considering joining the IDF. He's actually not "considering" it. He says that he's doing it, but I'm not so sure. In any case, when this young man heard about this, all he said was, "It was great, but Tzahal is hard." When I pressed him a little, he said that living conditions for soldiers was especially difficult. The food isn't great, and they live in tents much of the time. You simply put up with a lot that you're not used to in regular life. He went on to say that someone who served in the US Marines joined his unit, and after a few months got fed up and simply left. It was too hard for him.
That surprised me a little. Until I read this article about the fact that the United States spends $20 billion each year on the overall costs of making sure that US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have air conditioning.
I don't begrudge the soldiers for having A/C - I certainly like mine - but the idea did kind of surprise me. I didn't think about before, but I always assumed that soldiers out in the field didn't require the same creature comforts they do back home. I just have this picture of Hawkeye Pierce sweating out the hot summer days during the Korean War. (Remember the episode when he gave out sugar pills that kept people cool?) It makes me wonder: Does having creature comforts make soldiers worse at fighting? Are Israeli soldiers better fighters because they don't have air conditioning? Or are they just hotter?

Kol Hakavod Bibi! Kol Hakavod IDF!

For this. And this.
We complain, and rightly so, when things go wrong. But let us not forget that the thousands of people working to protect us are doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work!
We laud the soldiers who stand on the fence, or fly the planes the defend us. But this year, the greatest defender of Israel might very well have been a computer programmer sitting in front of a screen.
Thanks to the U.S. for its collaboration and assistance. And let us continue to pray to the Creator to give us continued strength to protect the Jewish State from all attackers.

The White Flag Investigation: Another Hamas Victory

The news media has recently reported into allegations against the IDF of shootings of civilians carrying white flags. The army allegedly shot people waving white flags to identify themselves as civilians. The Jerusalem Post reported that,

HRW concluded that "eyewitness accounts, tank tracks, an ammunition box and bullet casings found at the scene, and an examination of the grandmother by forensic experts indicate that an Israeli soldier fired upon identifiable and unarmed women and children."

Let's assume (for the moment) that the entire report is true and that IDF soldiers did fire on a group of civilians waving white flags, just another example of Palestinians suffering for the sin of living in an active and violent war zone. The question remains: Who is to blame? Whose fault is it really?
An even better (and related) question is: What does a white flag mean in Gaza? What would you have done if you were one of those soldiers? This story only carries moral weight if a white flag carries significance. But sadly, in Gaza, white flags could very well mean absolutely nothing.
Hamas' willingness to enmesh itself within the civilian population of Gaza has already been well documented. Hamas terrorists have operated in homes, schools and hospitals, giving absolutely no consideration to the safety and well-being of the civilians living in the area. Hamas has repeatedly used ambulances and other supposedly "neutral" vehicles to transport arms, bombs and terrorists. Firing rockets and mortars from backyards and school playgrounds is a favorite Hamas tactic, generating a response, and if all goes "well", causes civilian injury and death that's picked up and condemned by the international press.
Given this total disregard for it's own people, how can an Israeli soldier possibly know whether the civilian waving the white flag does in fact represent no real threat, or if that person - man, woman or child - is waving the flag in the hope of luring an unsuspecting soldier just close enough to shoot, blow up or capture?
The shooting of anyone represents a tragedy, much less someone carrying a white flag. But if IDF soldiers shot civilians waving white flags, the blame falls squarely on the Hamas tactics that made every civilian a potential threat.
In fact, this very investigation represents a victory for Hamas. They care less that three Palestinian children were killed than the fact that Human Rights Watch issued a critical report on Israel. To them, that's a sacrifice they're willing to make.
But I'm not. I'd rather our soldiers - our sons, brothers and fathers - remain careful and cautious, and not jeopardize their own lives. If Hamas wants to play with the lives of its own civilians, that's a tragedy. But Israel cannot allow their hideous tactics to force us to take the same risks with our children as well.