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The Questions Every Jew in the World Asked After the Oct 7th Massacre
By: Seadya Oseary
October 7th forced every Jew in the world to ask himself questions of life:
Who am I?
What is my identity? What are my believes?
What am I willing to do in the name of my values?
History called out the name of each one of us and demanded answers and following them, actions.
That’s what happened to many of my friends.
My neighbors son – an officer named Roee Zabatani, whom I’ve known since the day he was born, made a split-second decision that saved the lives of so many.
On his own initiative, got into his car only minutes after Hamas struck and rushed to the Nahal Oz outpost. Dozens of female and male soldiers were found in there, observers who warned but were ignored, and now they see on their screens how hundreds of terrorists flood the area of the base and kill its soldiers in their sleep, kidnap and abuse them and set it on fire while there is no help on the way.
Roee alone, strives to contact other officers he found along the way and managed to save over 40 soldiers. He stayed there for more than 24 hours to guard the bodies of the 52 murdered and prevent their kidnap. He was unable to prevent the kidnapping of some of the female observers, some of whom have not returned to this moment.
Roy acted against all odds in a battle that seemed lost and overcame unimaginable challenges, I have known him for decades, I did not imagine that he had what it took to manage such an unbelievable operation. What was going on in his mind?
My youngest sister is a mother of two daughters. She lives not far from me, also in the north. Her husband is a firefighter and has hardly ever been home for over a year. She lives in a temporary trailer made of cardboard and plaster, the walls are not resistant even to a stone thrown at them, not to mention a rocket.
My sister didn’t come to visit us in Brooklyn because she’s afraid to get on a plane…
She does not define herself as brave in any way. For a year, her small home and the entire northern region have been under constant attack, alone with her two daughters, she must run to a shelter in the middle of the temporary neighborhood, sometimes even at 3 AM, when they are still asleep. This reality requires the revealing of unusual powers that she didn’t thought she had. What fills her with strength?
Your community is Zionist and loves Israel, the heart here beats to the rhythm of Israel and the eyes are always on it, but what brings Ronnie Novick, a young man who grew up here, the brother of one of my תלמידים, to dedicate two years of his life to the State of Israel? Yesterday I had the privilege of welcoming him back here to his family after a year of fighting in Gaza and recently also in Lebanon. What was the voice that called him?
Millions of Jews around the world living their lives, understood new things this year about Jewish existence in the world, it’s hard for me to even find the words to explain what I’m hearing from so many Jews of different backgrounds in the US.
Communities around the world, and even more so, the Syrian community here, stood by Israel’s side in so many ways, including traveling to the heart of the danger zones, to give without limit to the soldiers and communities that were affected all over the country, taught me and my family an eternal lesson regarding our collective Jewish identity. I didn’t imagine I’ll be witnessing it from the front row.
Today, on EREB Simchat Torah, a year and a few hours ago, the lives of so many Jews changed forever.
And this week in Israel, the winds were stormy again:
Should we celebrate Simchat Torah this year? How can we dance and sing on the very same day of one of the worst tragedies in our history. The discussions were tough, but fascinating and each community decided what was acceptable to it.
And what shined out to me, were the words of one Rabbi, explaining why he is going to dance stronger than ever this year:
I’ll use his words:
On the morning of Simchat Torah, when the shootings started in Sderot, Hodaya and Dolev Swisa, took their 2 girls and ran to their car. They were driving under fire and the father was killed on the spot, the mother drove the vehicle to the local police station, where she was also shot to death. Six-year-old Romi protected three-year-old Lia with her body. She screamed for help and police officer Yair Avinoam found her, opened the car where terrified Romi asked: “אתה של ישראל?-Are you of Israel”??
“Are you of Israel?”
This cry has been echoing for the last year in the entire world.
And the answer is: “Yes, I am of Israel”, and so did respond almost every JEW in the world; “Yes, I am of Israel”!
And for that, we have to put our feet up and dance.
There are so many reasons to be happy:
-שמחה Jews have always been happy. In Egypt and Rome, in Spain, in Auschwitz, this is how we make sure that even if they hurt our bodies, they can never hurt our spirits, and with this spirit soldiers go out to fight and achieve victory!
חוסן- We should dance because of the resilience of the people of Israel that has always been and always will rise and stand up like a lion. And turns failure into victory.
גבורה- We should dance because of the heroism – of all those stories we heard this year. Heroes who proved that אהבת ישראל is not just a slogan.
ההקרבה- We should dance in honor of the sacrifice of the fallen holy people. From all corners of our nation, they remind us that the terrorists are only interested in one thing: “Are you of Israel?”
The word Israel is an acronym for יש שישים ריבוא אותיות לתורה”there are six hundred thousand letters to the Torah” six hundred thousand, like the basic number of בנ”י when they left Egypt.
Every Jew has his own letter in the Torah, and it is his eternal connection to HASHEM and the Torah.
החטופים- We should dance for the freedom of the hostages who do not leave our hearts for a moment and the זכות of Torah will stand for them to get them home again today.
– אומץ We should dance in honor of the unimaginable courage of the חיילי צה”ל who give their lives for a whole year, away from their families, wives, kids and parents, hour by hour and day by day so that we can continue to live here as עם ישראל in ארץ ישראל and also around the globe.
-יהדותWe should dance because of the renewed longing of the Jews for the Torah and the misvot and for the tradition, the study of the Torah, הפרשת חלה קריאת תהילים, alongside the journeys of Jews from around the world to Israel. Prayers that tore open the gates of heaven and reached the כסא הכבוד
אחדות- We should dance in honor of the Jewish brotherhood that pours into Israel from all over the globe. And proves that in the moments of truth, we are a tight fist that no one can beat.
-תורה We will dance for the future of our children who see us as happy in the continuity of the Torah and gain faith from us.
– הקב”הLet’s dance acknowledging of the amazing miracles of God who never leaves us for a moment. and teaches us that we have a supernatural power by our side.
Let’s dance and the joy will take down the walls of גלות and bring us all together soon back to the ארץ ישראל לגאולה שלמה the coming of Mshiach and בניין בית המקדש השלישי במהרה בימינו
Tizku Lshanim Rabot.
My name is Seadya Oseary, I live in Israel and currently, along with my wife Liat and our 45 kids, we are Shelichim of the WZO to teach Hebrew in Barkai Yeshiva in Brooklyn.
