Josh's War Journal - Weeks 20-24

Holy People - Holy Places

God says to Moses at the burning bush: “…remove your shoes from your feet for the place which you stand upon is holy ground.” (Shemot 3:5)

Huh?

If the ground is holy, you probably shouldn't be standing on it at all!

And if Moshe, a holy man, should be standing on it, why necessitate the bare-footedness?

I believe the answer lies in the recipe of forging a relationship between the Who and the Where, and creating an understanding of Why I am Where I am.

We too often distance ourselves from reality by creating barriers. We allow our cell phones to be a filter. We might be capturing a moment, but in the process, we've also changed it.

Standing barefoot on the ground is symbolic of removing that barrier between the "who" and the "where." It forges connectivity.

I have been privileged to visit holy grounds over the past few weeks. Here are some highlights… and lowlights…

And you, my dear readers, before you read through the following anecdotes, please, physically remove your shoes, as doing this will allow you to remove other barriers, enabling you to connect even more emotionally and spiritually!

The Modiin community hosts a sheva brachot for Akiva and Moriya Lasson - my daughter and son-in-law, and reserves the entire restaurant. I am overwhelmed that so many people have come to make this simcha extra joyous! Two soldiers walk in and ask to be seated. "Sorry, private event," says the maître d. But no. The community invites them to a table and insists on paying for their meal. We may be wearing dressy clothes, but they are wearing holy garments – IDF uniforms. Our tradition holds that the bride and groom are like a king and queen. They are like regally dressed royalty and these soldiers are like priests in holy robes. The presence of royalty and priests – all holy people, and the generous actions of the hosts, turn a mere restaurant into holy ground. 

I guide an American academic mission. They meet hospital directors and university presidents. We are privileged to be granted a business meeting with Israel's President Hertzog. Our tradition imbues such people with holiness, as the national role they fulfill comes with an honor that is not their own, but rather the nation's. I cannot but help note the telltale linear depression in our president's hair. It is subtle. No one else notices but me. I am amazed that our president lays tfilin! When our president lays tfilin, it is as if our unified national body lays tfilin.

One esoteric tradition holds that God puts on tfilin as well. It indicates a binding relationship.

During these troubled days, it is meaningful to realize that God and the Jewish people are holding on to their joint covenantal bonds.

For me, a detail like this transforms an academic-political meeting into an experience of meeting a holy person on holy ground. 

I'm back in the recording studio.

After dubbing Auschwitz in 360 now I'm the voice for the VR of the October 7th massacre. I already know from our previous sessions that I’m at a disadvantage. My energy comes from the land of Israel and from the people that I'm with. In the studio I’m detached from both. I need to mentally and emotionally transport myself to the places of which I am speaking and picture the people there. Can you imagine? I'm physically in a Tel Aviv studio but my mind and heart anchor me to destroyed kibbutzim and entire murdered families. I've always taken my shoes off in the studio. I never really thought about it until now, but I guess subconsciously I was trying to connect to holy ground and holy people.

Another synagogue mission. Gaining access to one of the overrun army bases, we stand speechless in the communication command center. This is where the women soldiers who diligently observed the visual intelligence were stationed. The monsters could not break in so they surrounded the small building with mattresses and set them on fire. Only one survived. Blackened plasma screens. Fused keyboards. Melted cables.

Burned by fire.

Frozen in time.

The corpse of a deceased Jew is pure. The corpse of a martyred Jew is of an even loftier status… it is holy.

I am in the presence of very holy people in a very holy place. 

For the first time in 6 months, I have the opportunity to do a day of regular guiding. I take a couple to Masada and Qumran. Masada fell 2000 years ago and the modern Jews have sworn that it shall never fall again. Very few people know that at the base of this ancient site is a modern tomb containing the recovered human remains of ancient Jewish rebel soldiers. The tombstone has an identical format to all Israeli military tombs. It reads: "Here lie the remains of the brave defenders of Masada." Can you imagine? No other country in the world so deeply feels "they are us, and we are them." Our blood and body are as one with the land.

Qumran presented us with the remains of 23 out of the 24 books of the Hebrew bible. This discovery likely influenced the United Nations to agree that the Jews should have a country in this land. If you want to understand Why Israel is Where it is, go to Qumran. Qumran is the key to understanding "Why we are Where we are."

Our traditions teach us that as a soul is to a body, so too are the People of Israel to the Land of Israel, and so too are the Holy Letters and Words of God to a Torah Scroll.

Indeed.

Our spirit and body are one with the land.

With the amazing Australian Emunah Women’s Mission, I encourage the “remove your shoes”

policy as much as possible. We laugh and dance with the IDF’s newest elite unit recruits. Not one of these “greenies” hasn’t lost a friend. We weep as we console, and are consoled by, the IDF’s officers training course at Mt. Herzl military cemetery. Not one of these now-combat-hardened men hasn’t lost a brother-in-arms.

The living embrace the land.

The martyred lie embraced in the land.

The women support the center for abused children and run a carnival for children of displaced families. We weep over the necessity for the former, and we rejoice at the opportunity to provide for the latter.

And the most surreal... as we leave Sderot, random local residents excitedly show us the footage of terrorists invading the paradise of their home, as they pull us into their 4-year-old’s birthday party and we are force-fed cake and dance at a toddler's rave.

The Nova festival - where singing-dancing Jews were massacred is only 15 minutes away. But here in Sderot, Am Yisrael Chai, with renewed song and dance!!!

Indeed.

Holy People – Holy Ground

With love and blessings,

pJosh