Page 33 - HaMizrachi Rosh HaShana - Yom Kippur 5783 USA

Rabbi Eliahu Rotem Aharoni Rabbi Yechiel
Birnbaum Yehoshua Wasserman

W hy did I serve as a shaliach? I want to W rom 1989–1992, I served as the shaliach for

hen I was in the army, I joined
a program that sent soldiers on
the World Zionist Organization’s Depart-
share a personal story from 40 years
ment of Education in Los Angeles, where I
ago, which determined the course
shlichut to summer camps in the
USA. I was sent to Camp Moshava
of my life.
was responsible for seven western states,
IO in Pennsylvania. On the first
In the First Lebanon War I
oversaw and trained fifty teachers from Israel.
fought in the famous Battle of Sultan Yacoub, Shabbat, we led the campers in singing Hatikvah, Fprepared educational programming, and
in which 20 soldiers fell, 30 were injured and 3 but most of the kids were talking and not Most importantly, it was my job to help Jewish
were taken captive and remain missing in action. treating the song respectfully. I asked the Rosh students develop a love for Israel and learn to
For an entire night, we were under fire from Edah if I could say something, and then I shared appreciate its centrality in Jewish life.
Syrian tanks, commando battalions and Sager with the campers experience as an Israeli and Every year, we brought groups of students on
anti-tank missiles fired by Palestinian terrorists. as a soldier, and what Hatikvah means to me. a meaningful ten-day tour in Israel. We always
Few tanks emerged whole from that inferno, the Afterwards, a number of campers came over to ended the trip with a powerful and joyous cer-
most difficult battle of the war and a painful tell me that my words were very meaningful and emony at the Kotel, just before bringing the
chapter in the military history of the IDF. had made a great impact on them. students to the airport for their flights back to
Immediately after the battle, I had a strange That was the moment that I realized that America. In 1992, we brought a group of students
feeling, despite the deep pain, that G-d had simply sharing my experience as an Israeli from the Hillel school in Los Angeles to Israel,
touched me. I felt in my heart a powerful drive could have a significant impact on Jews around and ended the trip, as always, with a ceremony
to go out and engage with the Jewish people, the world. And this is exactly what I tell our at the Kotel. On the way to the airport, the bus
to help preserve its existence and its spiritual shlichim. The power of shlichut is in forming was at the scene of a terror attack in Jerusalem
future. My conclusion was simple and logical. meaningful relationships and then sharing in which several people were seriously injured.
If G-d kept me alive I must be His shaliach to your Israeli identity and experience. This is the Thank G-d, none of the students were hurt. In
protect the lives of other Jews. “Everywhere I simple formula for making a tremendous impact those days, there was no internet or cell phones,
go, I go to Eretz Yisrael,” said Rabbi Nachman of on Jewish lives all over the world! I have been and the only way to communicate with their
Breslov. I chose a way of life of: “Everywhere I privileged to serve as a shlicha in North America, families in Los Angeles was by a landline phone.
go, I go to Am Yisrael.” It has been a magical and Sweden and South Africa, and I’ve learned that It was morning in Los Angeles and a number of
challenging journey of many years. no matter where in the world you are, the parents heard about the attack in the media, so
During my visits to Jewish communities formula for a successful shlichut is the same! I quickly called the principal of the school, Rabbi
around the world, I tried to understand their Menachem Gottesman z”l to tell him everyone
situation and needs with empathy and respect. was ok.
I went, not as a researcher coming to study an When we arrived back in Los Angeles, we
anthropological phenomenon nor as a tourist gathered the parents and told them what had
taking pictures, but out of a sense of partnership happened. At school the next day, we all recited
and love. We are family, one united people, no the Birkat Hagomel together, with great emotion.
matter where we live. The story of the students’ frightening expe-
rience received a lot of attention in the commu-
nity, but instead of deterring future trips, it had
the opposite effect – the number of school trips
to Israel increased!
Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum is the founding director of Rotem Aharoni Yehoshua serves as the Director
Ohr Torah Stone’s Beren-Amiel and Straus-Amiel of the Morim Shlichim unit of the World Zionist Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman is Co-President of World
Emissary Training Programs. Organization. Mizrachi.

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