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Reporting and Photography By Lieba Nesis
“It is clear to me one can’t be Jewish without Israel. Religious or non-religious, Zionist or non-Zionist-all these will not exist without Israel. I can live as a Jew outside Israel, but not without Israel”, said Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. On Monday January 15th 2024 the Gush Etzion Foundation gathered over 500 Miami Beach natives to Beth Moshe in North Miami for one of those evenings where “Never Again” felt more apropos than ever as both horrific and uplifting stories were recounted by eyewitnesses to the October 7th Hamas massacre. While Israel clears its way for a difficult and arduous victory the thousands of lives lost on October 7th remain eternally remembered. Rami Davidian, a farmer from Moshav Patish, who flew in from Israel for the evening recounted that nightmarish Saturday morning-receiving hundreds of texts from young Nova festivalgoers begging him to save their lives. Saving hundreds in his car was no easy task as he tearfully recalled seeing women being tied to trees and gang-raped by the bloodthirsty Hamas. The hundreds of thousands of lives impacted by these tales of woe are hard to bear as Miami resident Joseph Waks devotes 24/7 of his time and effort to the plight of devastated Israelis with daily trips of bringing necessities to the West Bank and displaced communities beautifully documented on his Instagram stories as his brave son Mendel fights on the front lines of Lebanon. Joseph’s friendly and upbeat demeanor puts a smile on everybody’s face; even 13-year-old Ori Ahoyon who lost his father and brother in Ofakim after Hamas murderers invaded the tiny community 11 miles east of the Gaza Strip. After following Joseph’s travels and travails for the past three months he feels like an old friend despite never having met face to face.
Tonight he greeted all his acolytes with genuine conviviality a testament to his social media profile reflecting his actual persona. With Channel 14 anchor Lital Shemesh as the moderator we were introduced to a half a dozen heroes including IDF soldier Mordechay Shenvald who enraptured the audience with his breathtaking violin playing after spending the past two months in the hospital. Mordechay , the son of Modiin Yeshiva head Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald, was injured in the Al-Shati refugee camp breaking 11 of his 12 ribs, his pelvis and suffering a severe back injury that nearly paralyzed him. With his humor and one rib intact, he remarked his lone rib “was for his future wife, since he is still single.” We also heard from long distance runner and physical therapist Shlomo Hammer who grew up in Teaneck moved to Israel and left his family for the past three months to serve in the highly esteemed 551st Brigade that lost 13 soldiers in Gaza. Hammer described the taxing war zone with no phones, no electricity, two hours of sleep and limited food-and yet he wouldn’t have it any other way. Back in Jerusalem, Hammer is struggling to restart his practice and move on as the hardships of life after fighting begin to sink in.
Who can forget the story of Rachel Ederi and her husband David who were held captive for 20 hours by 5 Hamas terrorists in their Ofakim home. Rachel entertained her murderous guests by cooking, offering cookies, and asking for Arabic lessons as her police officer son Evi called the SWAT team after walking in on his mother being restrained by the neck by a grenade laden terrorist. Tonight, Ederi was in tears as she recalled that fateful day when she returned home from the bomb shelter at 7 AM to terrorists armed with rifles and hate as she wowed them with her hospitality skills as one terrorist said she reminded him of his mother as he requested regular Coke as opposed to Coke Zero. Celebrating her 66th birthday, a day she almost didn’t see, the crowd erupted into song and applause as she was bombarded by photo requests as her Moroccan cookies have been the talk of Israel and President Biden-whom she met.
Strewn throughout the auditorium were signs of “Bring Them Home Now” alluding to the 136 hostages held captive in Gaza. This declaration is highly problematic as it all but puts the blame on the Israeli government for failing to retrieve them when Hamas refuses to negotiate due to its having killed, raped and tortured many of its captives. “Release our Hostages” is more apt as it correctly labels the perpetrators as the guilty party and demands for Hamas to give us back our civilians.
While the evening provided a cathartic release it also left me dejected at the realization that being Jewish has become daunting with anti-Semitism on the rise and our students being bombarded by threats of death and violence on a daily basis. Duty Free American chairman and avid Israel supporter Simon Falic remarked that Israel is the only country that has to face genocide charges after its people were raped, beheaded and slaughtered despite the United States history of dropping an atomic bomb on the Japanese in 1945 when they were about to surrender.
This glaring double standard masks a rabid anti-Semitism that South Africa has received global support for as it brings genocide charges at The Hague. Confronting both the demise of thousands of our best and brightest along with haters and naysayers on a daily basis has become de rigueur. The evening concluded with the heartwrenching testimony of Heli Efrat Ganot, the mother of murdered police officer Dan Ganot who ran from Harish to Kibbutz Be’eri with seven of his slain fellow officers to save the community from imminent slaughter. Burned to death in the early hours of October 7th she described her son hugging her days before and saying “Thank you.” She lamented being all alone as her son was the sole caretaker of her and her husband who suffers from Alzheimer’s as she burst into tears. His love for Israel was unparalleled as they found a poem in his house written to the State of Israel on its 74th birthday which said “even though you sometimes leave me frustrated I am willing to die for you until the end”-a prophecy that was unfortunately realized as his armored Jeep was ambushed by dozens of murderers.
