The Necessity to Bear Witness

Naaseh v’nishma is a Hebrew phrase that means “we will do and we will understand.”  It’s when an individual begins to observe the laws of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and then studies them to gain a deeper understanding.  Perhaps this phrase could also be used for the many times in life where one dives into unknown situations, sometimes by choice, and the individual is influenced on such a profound level that it forever alters how she/he sees the world. 

I was asked the other day where I was on October 7, 2023.  I was able to recount this without blinking an eye. Although I was not in Israel on that day where the unimaginable attacks occurred, I am a Jew. I am linked to every other Jew on the planet, and therefore, I was and have been deeply affected by October 7 and its aftermath.  Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l describes the brit (covenant) in this week’s parsha, Yitro:

“The first [founding moment of Israel] took place… on Mount Sinai…when the people     made with G-d, not a contract but a covenant…what happened in the days of Moses – long before they had even entered the land – was the birth of Israel as a nation under the sovereignty of G-d…a covenant is about neither wealth nor power, but rather about the bond of belonging and collective responsibility… in Moses’ day it [the covenant] allowed the Israelites to become ‘one nation under G-d’ despite their division into twelve tribes.” (Sacks, 2020, p.88-89)

When I found out about an opportunity to spend a summer month in Israel helping with the war effort, I decided I was going to seize the opportunity and go back to Israel again.  As Sherri Mandell describes in her book, The Road to Resilience, “No matter how strong our faith, when suffering strikes, we need others to help us unlock the prison of our suffering.  Furthermore, when people join together, pain is lessened.  The Talmud states that when one visits the sick, the visitor takes away one sixtieth of the patient’s pain (Nedarim 39b)” (Mandell, 2015, p.19).

I joined a cohort of accomplished individuals from Canada, France, Georgia, Germany and the United States, ages 35 to 50, on a Destination Israel program funded by Masa Israel Journey.  Many were at a crossroads, reassessing their lives, and some had experienced antisemitism in their countries of origin; the trip gave each of us the opportunity to pause, and connect with our Homeland, before being propelled forward.  In exchange for volunteering, housing accommodations were provided in Tel Aviv along with meaningful programming.  As a side note, similar programs are also now available with Birthright Israel.

From the moment I arrived, I felt the effects of the war. The taxi driver to my apartment shared how his parnassah, salary, was diminished because of the halt of tourism and flights to Israel.  I was one of hundreds of individuals marching with signs stating  

?איפה איפה איפה איפה איפה העסקה 

‘Where, where, where, where, where is the deal?’, for the release of Ariel Bibas, who still remains in captivity today with his brother and mother, while his father, who was just released, anxiously awaits to hear news about his family.  Everywhere one walked, there were posters of the hostages – members of the brit being held by monstrous, inhuman beings only hours away.  The preparation of an emergency bag was necessary for an imminent attack by Iran that could have left the country with no water, and perhaps no electricity.

My volunteer assignment was at Reuth Tel Aviv Rehabilitation Hospital where I transported patients to/from the therapies that they were receiving.  The dedicated professionals at this hospital were outstanding and the patients received top notch care.  Two of the patients I transported were very memorable.  One was a lady from Kibbutz Kfar Aza who had lived at the kibbutz for 55 years and was receiving rehab because she had fallen while walking in Tel Aviv.  She missed the October 7th attack because she went on a trip with seniors to Bulgaria; many of her best friends were killed.  She shared with me that her daughters, who were in the safe room for over 24 hours, were physically okay, and then she just looked at me – how does one describe the lingering anguish and the PTSD of their family.  Then there was a young man, whose image will always stay frozen in my mind.  The picture of how he looked before the war hung on the wall in his room – young, healthy and smiling.  A device detonated near where he was in Gaza and now, he was in a wheelchair, not able to walk, talk, or eat/drink on his own.  I happened to be nearby when fellow soldiers walked into his room to visit; I felt the resilience and pride of the IDF, yet I was commingled with awe and profound sadness.

The day trip to the Nova Festival site and the Car Wall were gut wrenching.  Most of the vehicles at the Car Wall site have a QR code that gives a description of the drivers and passengers.  The postcard shown below of Libby Cohen-Meguri, hy”d, was given to a fellow MASA participant by the aunt of the victim, who my friend happened to have met in the Tel Aviv area.  The aunt was not able to emotionally handle visiting the Nova Festival site and asked that we find the memorial for her niece.

On a visit to Moshav Talmei Yosef, a father shared how his son and grandchildren, located at a nearby kibbutz, were saved from a terrorist because the children were sent to the mamad (security room in the home) and given timeout on October 6th and had to sit in a chair brought into the room; that chair saved their lives on October 7th when it was used to help keep the door lock closed when terrorists broke into their home.  

Each week the group went to a different place – Tzofit, Zavdiel, and Beit Uziel – to help the farmers, many of whom had foreign workers that were sent back to their countries of origin after October 7th.  The MASA group made a big difference on these farms.  The MASA program also arranged a workshop with The Tisch Center for Jewish Dialogue at the ANU-Museum of the Jewish People about individual and collective narratives since October 7, a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and educational ladies’ gatherings with Jeff Seidel’s Jewish Student Center.  Separately, I also had the opportunity to participate in a challah bake, tie tzitzit for the soldiers, partake in programming at JTLV, hike with Hiking the Holyland and network at a female entrepreneur event with HER Tel Aviv.

I went on this trip seeking meaning each day and from each encounter I had, and I tried embracing the concept of b’tzelem elohim, that each person is created in the image of G-d.  As a social worker, I appreciated learning about the uniqueness of each person with whom I spoke.  The participants in my MASA cohort have become part of my redwood forest.  “Only when you’re surrounded by people who have and understand your potential will you achieve your greatest success” (Grow).

Before I left Israel, I stood with my hand on the Kotel.  A quiet voice within said dig deeper.  And suddenly, there it was – the enormity of my identity as a Jewish woman.  From that moment, I would no longer state, ‘my [Hebrew] name is Sarah’ but ‘I am Sarah.’  I embody the fortitude, persistence, and courage of my great maternal grandmother, Sarah, who was taken to the concentration camps and slaughtered because she was a JEW and died al Kiddush Hashem. Her story is my legacy to never be forgotten, and unfortunately it can now be shared with the details of October 7th.

I returned to the United States early morning on Sept 1st and immediately upon turning off airplane mode on my mobile, I saw the horrific news of the six hostages executed by Hamas – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, hy”d,  Eden Yerushalmi, hy”d, Ori Danino, hy”d, Alex Lobanov, hy”d, Carmel Gat, hy”d, and Almog Sarusi, hy”d, – and their bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah, shortly after they were murdered.  Before I could process what I had just read, the El Al pilot stated ‘we didn’t get great news.’ Yes, WE, because every Jewish person lost fellow members of the Tribe.  The news shook me to my core as I left the plane and unfortunately the hostages have not, yet all been freed.  Every weekday, Sunday to Friday, at about 12:59 p.m. EST/7:59 p.m. IST, I receive a reminder that is sent to Jews around the world to say the Jewish prayer, Shema, in unison; today’s message will state: 

Today marks 496 days in captivity.  It is almost 8 p.m. in Israel.  Have in mind: Release of all hostages and safe return of all soldiers.  

February 18th, as stated by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, “will mark the unthinkable milestone of 500 days since October 7th—500 days since that tragic Saturday, and 500 days of captivity. We must end this suffering and give our brothers and sisters the chance to begin healing” (Hostages).

The Jewish calendar is in the middle of the month of Shevat.  “In the Land of Israel, the Sages teach us that during the month of Shevat, after a long winter period of dormancy, the sap begins to flow in the trees again.  What has been in hibernation and held in reserve due to the cold of winter is roused afresh…returning a sense of vitality to the natural world” (Pinson, 2015, p. 45).  Today is the 15th of Shevat, called Tu b’Shevat (the new year of the trees).  One of the main purposes of today is “to sensitize us to what is happening in the world around us and to help us realize that, as ‘a human is like a tree,’ the same dynamic shifts are occurring within us as well” (Pinson, 2015, p. 45).

AM YISRAEL CHAI

Thank you MASA for a life changing experience.

Sources:

“Grow a Personal Forest.” Intersection of Purpose and Now, https://purposeandnow.com/2009/07/03/grow-a-personal-forest.  Accessed 12 February 2025.

Hostages Forum, Dana. Email to Julie Bernstein. 8 February 2025.

Mandell, Sherri. The Road to Resilience. Toby Press, 2015.

Pinson, Dovber. The Month of Shevat. Deuteronomy Press, 2015.

Sacks, Jonathan. Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas. Maggid Books, 2020.