This is the story of two historical documents: a letter written 1,900 years ago and a video of a phone conversation I received a week ago in my family chat. The ancient letter was unknown to the young man speaking in the video. Still, remarkably, both documents convey the same message: the unwavering will of the Jewish people to fight for their land and their dedication to the precepts of the Tora in the most critical moments.
Let’s start with the video. Rivka, my sister-in-law, is one of my wife Coty’s younger sisters. Her husband, Shalom, passed away from cancer about 20 years ago when Shmuel Yosef was only three years old.
Rivka lives in Ashdod and has four sons and a daughter, Reina. Shimon, the oldest, served in the army and now handles security (Bitachon) in his settlement, Sha’are Darom, very close to Sderot. David served in an intelligence unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. Rafael, 30 years old, currently serves as a reservist (Miluim) in Zikim, a military base near Gaza. It is a warehouse (machsan) from which the army’s supply chain of ammunition, food, clothing, and other necessities is administrated.
Rivka’s youngest son, Shemuel Yosef, is fighting in Gaza alongside the troops in Jabalia, a Palestinian city north of Gaza. Israel plans to evacuate civilians from the northern part of Gaza, representing one-third of the strip, to turn it into a closed military zone under Israeli control. About 200,000 Palestinians remain in that area, and terrorists hide among the civilians, from where they prepare ambushes against Israeli soldiers. Israel is making significant efforts to clear the area of terrorists. Unfortunately, several Israeli soldiers have been killed in Jabalia, including the Druze colonel Ahsan Daqsa, commander of the 401st Brigade, the highest-ranking officer to fall since the beginning of the war, who died today, October 20, in a tragic explosion.
Shemuel Yosef is a very young soldier. His face and expression still have the innocence and purity of a child, which even the harsh army life has not managed to change. He wears a large white knitted Kippah and long pe-ot that peek out from under his green helmet.
A few days ago, I received a video in the family chat. In the video, Rafael can be seen talking on the phone with his brother, Shemuel Yosef. I cannot send the video for security reasons, but I will share part of the conversation for you to hear
First, Rafael identifies himself by his combat name and then says something like: “Right now, I’m taking care of getting the lulavim and etrogim for you and your battalion. I want to make sure you subdue the enemy, so aim (your prayers or the lulav movements) in all directions, but especially towards the heavens (kivune shamayim).” Then, more informally, Rafael asks, “How are you?”,” Baruch Hashem,“ replies Shmuel Yosef, “Today I spoke with Shimon. He said he would bring some lulavim to [mom in ] Ashdod.“. ” Yes, I know, Shimon was in Zikim, and we brought some sets [of lulavim] here too,“ replies Rafael.
When I saw this video, it gave me chills. Why? Because my mind traveled 1,900 years into the past.
The last time the people of Israel had an army, before the establishment of the State of Israel, was in the year 130 of the common era, in the days of Bar Kochba. Since the destruction of the Bet HaMiqdash in 68, the Romans had ruled the land of Israel, and Jerusalem was in ruins. In 117, Emperor Hadrian came to power, obsessed with ending the Jewish people and gradually restricting religious practice. He first banned the Berit Milah (circumcision) under penalty of death, then outlawed the observance of Shabbat, and later the study of the Tora. Around the year 129 CE, dissatisfied that Jews continued to observe the Tora in secret and risking their lives, he planned his greatest provocation: to build an idolatrous temple in Jerusalem dedicated to the Roman pagan god, Jupiter.
At that moment, a brave Jewish leader named Shimon Bar Kochba decided they could not stand idly by and organized a revolution against the powerful Roman Tenth Legion to regain their national and religious freedom. Miraculously, Bar Kochba’s makeshift army was entirely successful and destroyed the mighty Roman legion. They recaptured Jerusalem and even minted coins that said, “In the first year of the Liberation of Jerusalem.“ These coins were minted for three years, meaning that during this time, the Jews regained their religious independence.
But then the unexpected happened: Hadrian’s hatred of the Jews was so great that he decided to bring his entire army, the most powerful in the world, to fight against the Jews. His troops came from England, Gaul (France), and Germania (Germany). This event reminded me of what Hitler did in 1944, when, losing against Russia, he decided to allocate his military reinforcements to deport 500,000 Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz and abandon the Russian front.
After a heroic struggle that lasted years, Bar Kochba’s army was defeated. Many historians consider that despite the military defeat, Bar Kochba triumphed because, thanks to his struggle, a pagan temple was never built in the holy city, which would have been the greatest affront and humiliation possible to the ruins of the Bet HaMikdash.
In addition to being a military leader who fought against Israel’s enemies, Bar Kochba guided the people of Israel to fulfill the mitzvot and embrace the Tora.
A few decades ago, the famous Israeli archaeologist Yigal Yadin discovered a letter written in the handwriting of Shimon Bar Kochba himself, found in the caves of the Judean desert. In that letter, the Jewish leader addresses one of his combatants to request some essential supplies.
The letter reads: “From Shimon [Bar Kochba] to Yehuda: … I am sending two donkeys and two men. Take them to see Yehonatan bar Masabla… and they should ask him to load the donkeys and bring them back with palm branches [lulavim] and etrogim. He should also send other men to bring myrtle branches [hadasim] and willow branches [aravot] to our camp. Make sure the tithe (ma’aser) is already separated. Send everything to my camp. [Remember that we need a large number of lulavim, as] our army is very large. Shalom.”
In Rafael’s video and in Bar Kochba’s letter, we see the same pattern of behavior. In the midst of war, a general or a soldier of the Jewish army distracts himself momentarily from critical military matters to attend to something more urgent: ensuring that their fighters can have lulavim and etrogim to celebrate the festival of Sukkot.
Because both in the days of Bar Kochba and now in Gaza or Lebanon, what is at stake is not just a military operation to reclaim territory or defeat the enemy, but the unwavering will to remain Jewish, to observe our Tora, our connection to God, and to the land He granted us.
CHAG SAMEACH.
