Happy Jerusalem Day #57 by Sivan Rahav Meir

Posted by JewishMom on Jun 5, 2024 in Current Events, Inspiration | 3 comments

These are challenging days in Israel. In the North, in the South, and especially in the heart.

This week is the anniversary of the Six Day War. An important reminder of what we are capable of, with God’s help. The small state of Israel was 19 years old in 1967. It faced an existential threat, to exist or to cease to exist. Our response was: to exist, and in a big way. In six days little Israel defeated the Arab armies that were certain they would destroy and finally stop this attempt of the Jewish people to finally return home.
It is important to remember the difficult feeling that existed here before that war, during the waiting period leading up to it. Out of desperation, a common expression among Israelis was “the last one left turns off the light.” Instead, the whole world watched in disbelief as the territory of the state of Israel tripled, in less than a week.
The IDF’s “Focus” operation almost completely disabled the air forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, while they were still on the ground. Then the Gaza Strip was liberated, and Samaria was also back in our hands. On the third day, Jerusalem was liberated and united, on the fourth day Hebron was liberated, on the fifth day – the Sinai desert and on the sixth day – the Golan Heights.
Israel then had only 2.5 million inhabitants, and the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq were simply wiped out. The newspapers did not have enough time to cover all the achievements, the amazing events, the ever-growing map, so they published extra editions to cover all the news.
We can discuss that war, compare it to today and of course suggest what can be fixed, but this is first of all a day that reminds us that it is possible. The 6 Day War did not happen in the days of the Bible. It happened in our generation.
Just as evil can surprise us on Simchat Torah in the most horrible scenarios which we never imagined – so too can good exists and dreams we did not dare to dream can come true. May we hear good news!