Doc's Talk: Bar Mitzvah at the Wall

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Bar Mitzvah at the Wall

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תמונות נדירות מהפריצה להר הבית. Rare footage of the Israeli conquere of Jerusalem, 1967

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Added on 8/14/06

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What does Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall mean to a Jew can hardly be described in words. Only when one understands the sacred meaning of Jerusalem and the Wall one can express these feelings that overwhelms any person who visits the Jewish Capital Jerusalem.

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Bar Mitzvah at the Wall

December 23, 1985

May 21, 2012

Nurit Greenger

Today, April 20, 2012, in the Hebrew calendar 28 Iyar 5772 is Jerusalem Day, in Hebrew Yom Yerushalayim.

Looking back, it will be worthwhile putting on paper a story I own that directly relates to that historical day, most emotional for the Jewish people. It is when, on the second day of the Six Day War, Mordechai "Motta" Gur, then the Commander of the Paratroops Brigade that regained Jerusalem shouted, and which was recorded for the history books, "Har Habayit Be'yadeinu," Temple Mount is in our hands…

On June 5 at 7:45AM Israeli time, Israel's civil defense sirens sounded all over the country and the Six Day War began.

On June 7, 1967, IDF paratroopers broke into the old city through the Lions' Gate, advanced through the Old City toward the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, bringing Jerusalem’s holiest site under Jewish control for the first time in 2000 years. As Lt. General Gur's brigade approached the Old City he announced to his company commanders, and there are sound recordings of the scene, “We’re sitting right now on the ridge and we’re seeing the Old City. Shortly we’re going to go in to the Old City of Jerusalem, that all generations have dreamed about. We will be the first to enter the Old City...” and shortly afterwards, “The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands!” General Rabbi Shlomo Goren, then the chief chaplain of the IDF, sounded the Shofar at the Western Wall to signify its liberation from enemy hands. To Israelis and Jews all over the world, this was a joyous and momentous occasion. Many even consider it a gift from God. Israel conquers Jerusalem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpS8z8pzQgs AND http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__f3-j_2DN0).

Immediately after the war, on my last days in military service, I was privileged to take a "tour" of Gaza, the Golan Heights, "West Bank" and Jerusalem. For the first time I saw the land our army returned to us, land that legally belongs to the Jewish nation and was taken from us, in an aggressive war, the Arabs launched on Israel the day after David Ben-Gurion declared our independence, on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708).

Being in Jerusalem, walking its mystical narrow streets, standing at the Western Wall and leaving a prayer-wish note in its cracks was the highlight of that first visit to the Holiest of Holy to the Jewish People, the outside Wall to the Jewish Temple.

Since then, though I am living abroad, I visited Israel and the Kotel-the Wall many times.

When my son was about to turn thirteen, on December 7, 1985, in the Jewish tradition a symbolic birthday named Bar-Mitzvah, I have decided that there is no other place on earth to celebrate this special birthday date than the Wall.

From the USA, where I live, with the help of my sister, now deceased, who lived in Israel, I planned a Bar-Mitzvah day event that turned to be one of the highlights of my life.

My son A. and I arrived to Israel few days earlier. We could only schedule the ceremony at the Wall for Monday, December 23, 1985, slightly later than my son's authentic birthday date being December 7th.

The night before it rained especially hard. Since the ceremony was to be under the skies I could not sleep; if it continued raining the ceremony could not take place.

But God was there, the entire day and beyond. The clouds moved on and the sun, specially bright that day, warmed the earth, smiled at us and caressed us lovingly. So that people would not have to travel and fight traffic, I hired a bus and a tour guide for the day. What better day could it be to have a tour guide to deliver, even to Israelis a lesson in geography and history about their own country. The bus arrive on time and we departed from my, now deceased, mother's home in Haifa, heading to Jerusalem and picking up guests along the way. It was great kinship to see and get together with many family members and friends who I invited to share the special day with us.

When we got to the Wall, the rabbi who was assigned to guide my son through the ceremony greeted us. He was concerned that since the Bar-Mitzvah boy did not speak Hebrew he will not be able to recite well the Biblical chapter and the Haftarah assigned for his birth date and for which he studied for months. I was nervous too.

(The Haftarah is a series of selections from the books of Ne'vi'im-Prophets of the Hebrew Bible-Tanach that is publicly read in synagogues as part of Jewish religious practice. The Haftarah reading follows the Torah reading on each Shabbat.)

At the Wall the guests split; men were to stand near the Bar-Mitzvah groom on the Wall's courtyard while the women stood in close proximity behind a stumpy wall.

My son A. was nervous; his blood was drained from his face. Since I was divorced, his father did not attend the ceremony and my brother-in-law and a childhood friend took over the father's position to assist him.

My son was sent to an enclosure near the Wall to fetch the Bible scroll from which he was to read. He emerged majestically embracing and carrying the scroll and walked to put it on the podium table where he was to stand and read . Then the ceremony began; my son began to read his assigned Bible chapter and Haftarah in perfect order. First he read softly with slight nervous vice and then he picked up the tempo. His voice grew louder and the reading flawless. As he was reading, in flowing Hebrew the rabbi's face lit up; he was impressed how well my son was trained to deliver the reading. And the guests, oh' the guests, they were in happy land. The sun was especially caressing and the Jerusalem wind was cooling; standing by the Holiest of Holy Wall, the tears and smiles of joy while being among friends and family and the flawless Bar-Mitzvah ceremony all reminded us how proud we need to be as Jews.

I was in Heavenly Jerusalem and in heavenly happiness. I could not have been happier. There is no other place on earth where a Jewish boy can celebrate his beginning of manhood and his entering a an adult life of responsibility than the Wailing Wall, near where the First and Second Jewish Temples stood. The candies the guests threw at the birthday boy, the singing and the smiling faces attested to that.

From there we all gathered in the Holy Land Hotel where we held the most delicious later lunch event.

The day turned as perfect as God can deliver in His city, Jerusalem

There is no greater national joy that I enjoy more than knowing that ALL of Jerusalem is in OUR HANDS, in Jewish hands. There are no other emotions to compare with to the emotions that engulf me and burst out of me when I stand at the Wall, before, then, at my son's Bar-Mitzvah and till today.

Har Habayit Be'yadeinu. Har Habayit Hu She'lanu-Temple Mount is in our hands, it is ours.

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Clips from Israeli paratroopers entering ancient Jerusalem and arriving at the Wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpS8z8pzQgs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__f3-j_2DN0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1JRweGwYCM

Too anyone who still accept the myth that so-called “East” Jerusalem is an Arab city, historically separate from Israel’s capital…here is a video to watch. On this 2012 Jerusalem Day, in honor of the 45th anniversary of the final reunification, please share this video: Jerusalem: The Media Myth of Two Cities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXSvrAe5xEM

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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