The destiny of Israel

Rabbi Mark Wm. Gross

For Rodgers and Hammerstein, June may be “bustin’ out all over.”

For me, it has always represented a memory of the long-ago trauma of Israel under existential threat in June of 1967 and watching it from afar.

In May of that year, as the United Arab Republic — a synthetic union of Egypt and Syria — configured its fighting forces, posed like two jaws waiting to crush the Jewish State, Israel appealed in vain for diplomatic intervention from the United Nations. With the United States embroiled in Vietnam and Charles deGaulle, an unreliable source of defensive weaponry, in France, Israel stood very much alone.

When the smoke cleared from the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel stood secure and safe through what felt like a miraculous victory at the time. A year later, the 20th anniversary of Statehood was a jubilant and triumphant occasion for Jews everywhere — not just within the newly expanded borders of Israel.

The triumph and the jubilation were not illusory, but they were purchased at great price. Almost 800 Israeli soldiers were killed in the course of the Six-Day War, and more than 5,000 were wounded. As a graduate, I worked in Jerusalem at a youth center where one staffer had been burned over half of his body while fighting in Syria in 1967.

…our recitation of the memorial prayer …at the conclusion of our major holiday occasions is not a ripping open of wounds and a renewal of grieving; it is, rather, a stubborn act of affirmation.

Most important, the seemingly “easy” victory in June of ’67 aroused a certain cockiness and spirit of invincibility that left the Israelis exposed for horrific losses in October of ’73. The casualty list in the Yom Kippur War was twice that of the Six-Day War; the death toll in the IDF was almost four times greater.

I think about that a lot this month as June once again brings around the anniversary of the Six-Day War. I came into Jewish communal involvement during an Israeli war in June of 1967; I came into Jewish communal leadership during Israel’s war on Yom Kippur in 1973; and I present to the Jewish community these words of Torah during another ongoing conflict — an existential challenge to the Jewish State eight months after the unspeakable Hamas attack on Israel’s frontier last fall.

At our Eighth Festival Day concluding Passover a few weeks back, the rabbi of my neighborhood schule on the Atlantic coast where I davven when I’m off-duty, made a poignant observation. He pointed out to the worship assemblage preparing to honor loved ones no longer with us that “the last time we were reciting ‘Yizkor’ together, it was Oct. 7.”

That brings us home in a powerful way. Because we need to recognize that our recitation of the memorial prayer four times a year, at the conclusion of our major holiday occasions, is not a ripping open of wounds and a renewal of grieving; it is, rather, a stubborn act of affirmation. This powerful prayer-meditation acknowledges our humble thanks to generations gone by, for having made the sacred feast now ending a part of our precious legacy.

Our Jewish community will be reciting “Yizkor” again on June 13, the second day of Shavuot, commemorating the 50-day journey from Egypt to Sinai. The occasion celebrates the giving of the Torah and the making of the covenant that gave the people of Israel our sacred mission of service to our Creator. Even more than Passover, which was merely the first step towards freedom, this is a time to ponder the true meaning of our Jewish lives, our Jewish soul, and our shared peoplehood that ties us together beyond time and space. Because the history of Israel has all too often been tragedy and trauma, the destiny of Israel is unbounded triumph in service to our Maker.

Rabbi Mark Wm. Gross serves at Jewish Congregation of Marco Island.