ָּברּוְך ַא ָּתה ה‘ ֱאֹל ֵהינּו ֶמ ֶלְך ָהעֹו ָלם ַהּגֹו ֵמל ְל ַחּיָ ִבים טֹובֹות ֶׁש ְּג ָמ ַלנִי ָּכל טֹוב.
Baruch ata Hashem, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, ha-gomel l’chayavim tovot she-g’malani kol tov.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness.
Birkat Hagomel is the blessing recited when one has had a close call with death, literally dodging a bullet. Lt. Col. Yaron Buskila of the IDF knows this blessing well. Retired from active duty, Bouskila is on a speaking tour throughout North America.
On Thursday evening, July 25, Bouskila came to Chabad of Blue Ash, where Rabbi Yisroel Mangel introduced him as genuinely humble, noting that this is a rare quality among Israelis. I had the privilege of hearing his presentation, From Crisis to Victory: A Hero’s Eye-Witness Account of Oct 7 and 100 Days in Gaza.
From 1993-95, as part of the Oslo Accords, Israeli and Palestinian soldiers soldiers went on patrol together in the same car. They talked and seemed to enjoy each other’s company. One night, Buskila heard a bullet whizz past his head. He returned fire, killing the sniper. It was the very soldier he had been on patrol with that morning.
In 2005, when Israel liquidated the 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza, Buskila’s commanding officer was optimistic. “You are looking at the next Singapore. Now that we are gone, they will have no reason to attack us.” Indeed, it had that potential. Sitting on miles of beachfront property on the Mediterranean, with some investment in development and infrastructure, it could have become a popular resort destination with a bustling tourist industry. However, Bouskila did not share his commander’s optimism. As the Israelis were pulling out, the synagogues were destroyed, and the greenhouses were looted and burned. Hamas took control of Gaza in 2006, and even more attacks ensued, including Operation Summer Rains and the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit.
One week before Oct. 7, 2023, there were 20,000 Gazans working in Israel, supporting their families with shekels. Many Gazans went to Israeli hospitals where they could get quality medical treatment. Then, on the morning of Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists attacked the Nova Music Festival. When the firing began, many panicked and tried to escape in their cars. Tragically, the ensuing traffic jam left them as sitting ducks. The terrorists shot them through the windows and set their cars on fire. Bouskila thankfully did not show pictures of the bodies but did show haunting images of the burned cars, one after another, in a long stretch.
Not all of Buskila’s stories and images were so grim. He also gave us pictures of hope. Hamas came with both guns and spray paint, tagging the kibbutzim with the name “Hamas” in Arabic. After one terrorist had been shot and killed, the kibbutznik took his paint can, blotted out “Hamas,” and wrote, “Am Israel Chai” (The Jewish people live) in Hebrew.
In response to Oct. 7, 350,000 Israeli reservists hurried to their nearest bases to sign up. They were not responding to orders but to their own sense of obligation. One young man was an immigrant from Ethiopia. He donned his uniform and got his rifle but didn’t have a car. So he jogged eight miles to the nearest base.
Jewish people worldwide have sent care packages to IDF soldiers with things like warm socks and shampoo, along with hand-written letters of encouragement, some with crayon drawings. When a company of soldiers occupies a house behind enemy lines, they sandbag the windows so that snipers cannot take them out. Buskila noted that one company taped the letters to the wall before they piled up the sandbags. He asked their commander what they were doing. Shouldn’t they pile the sandbags first? The commander explained that his soldiers needed those letters to remind them why they were there.
Bouskila closed with a verse from the Sabbath evening prayer, Lecha Dodi. ִה ְתנֲַע ִרי ֵמ ָע ָפר קּו ִמי. ִל ְבִׁשי ִּבגְ ֵדי ִת ְפַא ְרֵּתְך ַעִּמי ַעל יַד ֶּבן יִַׁשי ֵּבית ַהַּל ְח ִמי. ָק ְר ָבה ֶאל נַ ְפִׁשי גְָא ָלּה
Hitna’ari me’afar kumi. Lifshi begdei tifarteich ami. Al yad ben Yishai beit halachmi. Karva el nafshi ga’alah.
Shake off your dust. Arise! Put on your finest garments, my people, and pray: Be near to my soul and redeem it through the Son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite.
Jews are no strangers to persecution and violence. What is different about this chapter of history is that we have the IDF. This time around, we are not being led like lambs to the slaughter. We are standing up, speaking out, and fighting back.
Am Yisrael Chai!
