Defending Us All
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Aviva’s eyes look sad and sunken, but they still retain a glimmer of hope that somehow a miracle would occur. Aviva is the mother of Gilad Shalit, the 19-year-old Israeli soldier kidnapped by Arab terrorists 10 days ago. Gilad has not been seen or heard from since.
Aviva and her husband, Noam, are hunkered down in their home in Mitzpeh Hila in the upper Galilee. The only way to Hila is through an Arab village. If only Israel’s relationship with Palestinian Arabs would be as civil as Mitzpeh Hila’s with her Israeli Arab neighbors.
I had gone to visit the Shalit family together with my good friend and fellow New Yorker, Jeff Markowitz. Jeff had flown to Israel to express solidarity and try to bring comfort to the Shalits as well as the families of the soldiers killed and wounded in the attack in which Gilad was kidnapped. Jeff, a successful businessman, has spearheaded a program that has brought dozens of Americans to Israel to experience an Israeli Army boot camp. The Americans pay a hefty sum to be ordered around by Israelis half their age, with all the money funneled back to the army through the Friends of the IDF organization.
In the midst of her turmoil, Aviva was as cordial as could be to her American guests. Sitting around the table in the garden of her home, she told us something about each of her children. There was nothing extraordinary in the lives she described. Just a normal Israeli family, where one child attends the Technion and another is still in high school. Who could have predicted that Gilad, who finished high school as an exceptional student before being drafted last year, would become a pawn in international politics.
What does one say to someone in this impossible situation? Only words that come from the heart. We tried to impart the message that we had come from America to let the family know we care, that they are not alone, that our people are united. We told her how American Jewry is united in prayer and resolve for Gilad.
As we sat together, there were periods of deep silence. Silence that had its own power. It was as if we acknowledged that although we had never met before, we are together and our concern transcends words.
Still, Aviva appears exhausted and drained by the excruciating wait for any scrap of positive news. She knows that while Israel does all it can to spare civilians, the terrorists prey on the innocent. Just a few days earlier, I attended the funeral of 17-year-old Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri along with thousands of Israelis. The wailing of his teenage friends and siblings at the funeral was almost unbearable. Eliyahu was kidnapped while trying to catch a ride near Jerusalem. Within hours he was taken to a garbage dump in Ramallah and shot in the head. Israelis today are tense, wondering whether abduction is the next tactic of evil to be triggered by the enemy.
Most of all, Aviva looked uncertain. Uncertain whether Gilad will be able to handle what awaits him; uncertain as to how long the ordeal could go on. She has good reason to feel that way. After all, Ron Arad’s family still doesn’t know his fate 20 years after his capture. And Miriam Baumol, mother of Zachariah, one of those taken prisoner in the 1982 Lebanon war, is still in limbo almost 25 years later.
Miriam once told me that she would prefer knowing that Zachariah is dead, rather than continuing to live in the unknown.
Gilad’s father, Noam, had been sitting in the living room talking on the phone while we spoke with Aviva. When the opportunity arose I approached him. He expressed to us what many have said – that the address to free Gilad is Damascus. President Bashar al-Assad allows the leadership of Hamas free rein in Damascus and has it within his power to issue the order that would set Gilad free. Rep. Eliot Engel, a Democrat of New York, authored the “Syria Accountability Act of 2003” passed by both Houses of Congress, which calls for sanctions against Syria if they fail to stop supporting terror. President Bush has yet to fully impose these sanctions.
The Shalit house was full of caring family and friends. However, I was surprised to learn that no American official representative had been there. It just seemed to me that America, fighting a similar war against terror, should have sent its ambassador to offer support.
We left as the Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, arrived. As we parted from Noam and Aviva, a family member said to me, “Our message to the Jewish community in America is simple. Israel should not resolve its political problems on Gilad’s back.” And herein lies the obvious dilemma. For the family, naturally the top agenda item is Gilad’s freedom. Of course, Israel cares deeply about the fate of an individual soldier but the overriding concern is that dealing with terrorists by letting prisoners go in return for Gilad’s freedom could encourage more kidnappings. Indeed, as united as Israel is concerning Gilad’s welfare it is politically divided. The right believes the army should be far more aggressive, while the left believes the army has gone too far.
Gilad, as a soldier of Israel, was not just defending Israel but Jews everywhere. He was kidnapped because he was a soldier defending the Jewish state and a warrior against terror and not because he was Gilad Shalit. As such, not only every Jew but every freedom-loving person should feel violated.
We must come together and do more to express our solidarity in concrete ways. Perhaps, as Esther Wachsman suggested when her son Nachshon was kidnapped, everyone around the world should light an extra Sabbath candle. Children in summer camps should hear of Gilad’s plight. The American government should receive millions of letters requesting their intervention. Vigils should be held in front of Israel’s embassy and protests outside the Syrian consulate.
Sitting there near Aviva, I reached out and haltingly said, “Let’s try not to lose faith.” I invited the whole family together with Gilad to celebrate his freedom with our community in New York. A weak smile crossed her face. As we left we offered the prayer, may it only come to pass.
Avi Weiss is senior rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and President of Amcha – The Coalition for Jewish Concerns.