It was June 27, 1976, around the 200th birthday of the United States, when the awful news broke that an Air France jet flying from Israel was hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda. Dozens of Israeli/Jewish passengers were held hostage by Idi Amin’s hateful army. A passenger, Dorah Block, was killed during the takeover. Things looked very bleak for the remaining passengers.
A few days later, on July 4, worry turned to joy for the Jewish people. In one of the most stunning raids in military history, Israel Defense Forces personnel – through brilliant deception and guile – were able to fly over 1,900 miles to Uganda, take over the airport, free all the remaining hostages, and return to Israel. Jews the world over were elated. At the same time, we had to absorb the loss of the heroic Yoni Netanyahu, who gave his life during the rescue operation.
In reaction to the news, the outspoken Ponevezh Rosh HaYeshivah, HaRav Eliezer Shach zt”l, spoke critically of the raid. He said the rescuers were fortunate to have succeeded, but they risked the lives of many victims and soldiers.
I could not begin to understand Rav Shach’s thinking (not that he needed my approval). So, I discussed it with my poseik in Lakewood, Rav Yitzchak Abadi shlita. Rav Abadi told me in Hebrew that he doesn’t understand why the whole Jewish world is rejoicing and Rav Shach is upset. He suggested I write a letter to Rav Shach, which of course I did (shocking, I know). Naturally, I wrote to him very respectfully, trying to get an insight into his way of thinking on the matter.
Although I knew it was a longshot, I was hoping to hear back from Rav Shach. However, the response never came. Incredibly, about 20 years later, well after Rav Shach’s passing, I was sitting in my office at the OU, and I received a call from a grandson of Rav Shach. He asked me if I had a copy of the letter his grandfather had sent me on the Entebbe matter, as they are publishing a collection of his letters. He said his grandfather always kept notes of to whom he had sent letters, although he did not retain his own copy. I could not believe that for some reason I never received it.
It then dawned on me that at the time that I wrote the letter, I had moved from one apartment in Lakewood to another. It looks like the post office did not forward my mail. A loss for the generations.
This week, the Jewish people went through a similar experience. Miraculously, heroes from the IDF were able to save four hostages embedded deep within Gaza in the homes of “innocent civilians.” It tragically cost the life of one soldier, a member of the elite Yamim rescue unit.
The media reaction? “Israel kills hundreds of civilians as hostages are released.” That sums up The New York Times and CNN. Bilam, the evil-intentioned prophet with original designs to curse the Jews, famously declares, “Behold it is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned with among the nations” (BaMidbar 23:9). Rashi, in his commentary, states that “when Israel rejoices, no other nation rejoices with them.”
We are alone in so many ways. Even many of our friends in the political, media, academic, and religious worlds can’t find it within them to rejoice with us.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal (miles better than The New York Times) could not bring itself to see the joy in the Jewish celebration of the unification of Jerusalem since 1967. They instead focused on some unknown skirmish between a few Jewish kids and a Palestinian journalist. (See the accompanying photo of their headline. Yes, I wrote a letter to them, too. It ended up in the usual circular file.)
But we celebrate amongst ourselves, as Rav Abadi stated: Kol ha’am s’meichim.
And that celebration is what counts the most.
We mourn amongst ourselves, as well. As my rav here in Baltimore mentioned, the great hero who sacrificed his life to save the others was named Arnon Zamora. Arnon is mentioned in the Torah (BaMidbar 21:14) in connection with the “Book of Wars of Hashem,” who battled to protect the Israelites from the ballistic fire of the Amorite enemy. May Hashem protect his holy martyred soul.
We are about to celebrate the holiday of Shavuos, marking the receiving of our Torah at Mount Sinai. That moment made us unique among the nations. And unique we remain. If we don’t recognize that, ask the rest of the world.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
