June of 1967. That was a very significant year in my life. It was the “Summer of Love’ which took place in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Fransisco. Many would say that the decline in American sexual mores could be traced back to that singular event. The Viet Nam War was in full bloom. And I was in the Yeshiva (HTC) attending Roosevelt University at night and exempted from the draft by a 4D divinity exemption. But that year had another significant event.
There are events that occur in one’s life that are so significant… that make such an impact, that they remain forever embedded in one’s heart and in one’s mind. Most of them are usually personal… an engagement, a wedding, the birth of a child... and so on.
But in some cases the event is not personal but national or even international. One of the more famous moments like that for those of us old enough to remember is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I don’t remember all that much about that year except that I was in my senior year in high school. But I remember precisely what I was doing when I heard the news. The scene is vivid in my mind as though it happened yesterday.
There are a few other events like that. One of them is when the Six Day War broke out on June 5, 1967. And the most significant event of the war is when Jewish people re-took Jerusalem. ‘Har HaBayit B’Yadenu” was the cry of Lieutenant General Motta Gur, head of the paratrooper unit that took it. ‘The Temple Mount is in our hands’. That was 40 years ago today.
What a moment that was! The spark of Judaism that is within all Jews no matter how far removed from observance was rekindled at that historical moment. I’m told that even Yitzhak Rabin, who was then Chief of Staff in the Israel Defense Forces and certainly no religious fanatic, was so moved. When he was informed of the capture of Har HaBayis he quoted Pesukim from the Torah.
I doubt whether there was a Jew alive then, having had any feeling for his religion that did not feel tremendous pride. We were all one people then. Secular and religious, The feeling of joy and pride was palpable in all. It was a great moment to be a Jew in the world.
I will never forget the image on a popular poster I saw after Israel won the six day war against all the dire predictions against it. It was a photo or a caricature drawing of a Chasidic Jew opening up his shirt to reveal the Superman costume he was wearing underneath. How that brought a smile to my face. It still does when I think of it. Little Israel which was then the darling of all the political liberals was seen as the underdog. They were applauded for overcoming their evil Arab enemies. That’s how Israel was viewed then, by both the politically right and the left. Military analysts in America were falling all over themselves on TV praising the military ‘genius’ of Israel’s quick and decisive victory. Like I said… It was a great time to be a Jew.
Many people trace the explosion of Kiruv directly to that moment. It became ‘cool’ to be a Jew. Young people flockied to Israel to see what all the excitement was about. Existing Kiruv organizations were not equipped to handle all the potential that explosion. But the void has been filled and many Jews have since ‘returned’ to the faith of their forefathers. All because of those miraculous days. And miraculous they were. Many stories have been told of that historical moment recounting events that could only be described as miraculous. And the explosion of Torah learning… is unprecedented in modern times. All that happened after the six day war.
Fast forward to today. All the joy and hopes and dreams of that time have been replaced by today's very sobering reality. The heady times of Moshe Dayan and Golda Meir are gone. Menachem Begin… gone. All have been replaced by the depression of our current times. Instead of being seen as the underdog we are now viewed as the aggressor nation who oppresses the underdog Palestinian. Instead of pride, there is now fear and even despair. We are under constant threat of suicide bomberss and unable to eradicate the ideology that produces them.
Jewish blood has been spilled in an un-winable war in Lebanon. We have an unpopular prime minster, a dictator in Iran that rivals Adolf Hitler, promising to destroy the Jewish nation and pursuing with abandon the nuclear weapons with which to do it.
Instead of cheering Israeli acomplishments we have a political Left full of Jews who, instead of feeling pride, feel shame about Israel’s existence.
Torah learning which is certainly as strong as it has ever been now suffers from unprecedented comunal poverty.
What happened?
Well, there are many explanations that come to mind. But the most important factor in my view is the lack of recognition of what God want’s of us, His people. As religious Jews we always turn inward to examine what is wrong in our own lives when things go wrong. I am the last one to point to causes and I do not do so now. But I do often point to problems that exist in the Frum community. We have become myopic, focusing too much on narrow interests and not seeing the big picture.
I do not mean to say that the problems that I address on a regular basis are the exact causes of the situation in Israel on this day... Yom Yerushalayim. I’m sure that there are problems I don’t talk about that can be pointed to with equal validity. But I would posit that a change for the better in all these areas can only help.
Yes, the physical realities are important. A strong IDF, a national will… all important. But no less important are issues like poverty amongst our people, educational policies, bitter divisiveness between varying Hashkafic groups, infighting within groups, Chilul HaShem that passes for Kidush HaShem, the existence of sexual abuse, and many other things written about here. All these things need to be looked at and dealt with.
Kochi V’Otzem Yodi did not give us back Jerusalem and Har Habyis. It was God. And the sooner we realize God’s hand in all this and change things for the better, the sooner we will have salvation. So this is my prayer on this Yom Yerushalyim. Teshuva Teffila U’Tzedakah Mavirin es Ro’ah HaGezeira.
