As I stood in silence with my coworkers listening to the sirens in commemoration of Yom Hashoah, I thought about the Holocaust Survivors I had the privilege of meeting in my lifetime. I thought of the pain and destruction they went through, of the hope for a brighter future that they wanted to see.
Then another planned destruction, although light years from a Holocaust, came up in my mind, and I prayed that it would not come to pass – not a destruction in a distant land, but one being threatened by my very own government here in Israel…
I realize I am jumping ahead, so let me first introduce myself:
My name is Yoav Shlomo ben Avraham, yet this is not the name I was given at birth. I was born in the United States, to a non-Jewish family living a very non-Jewish life – I grew up on a small horse farm, moving bails of hay and planting vegetable gardens every year. My life took a dramatic turn when I went to college in the Boston area and visited an Orthodox synagogue for the very first time – hearing the Torah read (no, sung!) in its original Hebrew woke something up inside of me that would not stay silent.
Years later, my wife and I made the decision together to work with the local Orthodox Beit Din become gerim – converts – and become part of Am Yisrael. Through our learning, we understood that living as a Jew was also bound up with the Land of Israel, so we very quickly began our plans to make Aliyah. We finally arrived in the beautiful Galilee right before the High Holidays in 2019, and have been grateful for every day in Eretz Yisrael ever since!
Despite the craziness of Covid lockdowns, challenges with finding enough work, and language barriers, our love of the Good Land has only grown these last few years. Then after the events of October 7th, we knew that we had to do something more to support Am Yisrael. We learned about the Knesset approval for a new settlement named Ramat Arbel – the first new one in about 30 years! – and after visiting this beautiful place (where the hills just sing to you) we knew that this was our home. (To learn more about how important a new Jewish settlement like this is in light of the demographics of the Galilee, you can come back to read this article here)
Due to the fact that Arab Muslims had already attempted illegal land grabs in this area, we worked with the Israeli Nachala Movement and an incredible team of volunteers to build temporary homes to live in, so that we would have Jewish guardians at Ramat Arbel 24/7. Once the government finishes their planning of this new Yishuv, which is slated to comprise 500 families, then the permanent construction phase would begin and the temporary homes can be moved if needed.
However, our small group of settlers was notified by the local Lower Galilee government that, despite this approval of Ramat Arbel by our democratically-elected Knesset, they plan to come in and destroy our homes before June 7th. As an oleh still with limited Hebrew skills, what I have been able to understand is that the local land authority has refused to change the status of Ramat Arbel from agricultural- zoning to residential-zoning…and this is enough for them to “legally” destroy our homes.
But is this something the local Galilee authorities are being forced to do by higher-ranking bureaucrats? We don’t know for sure, but I wonder – is this a move to appease the EU, the neighboring Muslim countries, and/or the Biden Administration?...foreign governments that all have the same spirit of Amalek that we find in the Torah, who can’t stand to see Jews settling the Land of Israel.
For our family of five children, which includes baby twins who were born here in Eretz Yisrael, this is not a small thing – Ramat Arbel is our life. It is the only home we have. We do not have Jewish parents, or siblings, or cousins that we can go to if the local government chooses to carry out this morally wrong act of destruction. Our fellow settlers of Ramat Arbel, and the incredible friends we have made here in the Galilee – they are our family.
We have contacted politicians and local authorities, yet so far nothing has changed. The police came this last week to give a “final warning" that the destruction is coming (during the week, no less, when the Haftorah reading contained the words of Hashem through Amos the prophet: “I shall implant them upon their Land, they will not be uprooted again from upon their Land that I have given to them, says HaShem, your God”!)
Will the team of destroyers come for us in the early morning? Will they come brazenly in the middle of the day? Or will they declare the destruction should happen in the night, terrorizing our children in their beds?
Will our family turn and run, letting those who hate us come in the wake of our ruined homes to do their illegal land-grabs again, just because someone working in a government office says our home is ‘illegal’ due to the fact that they have not followed up with the democratically elected Knesset’s decision approving the settlement of Ramat Arbel, not changing and signing the paperwork?
Next week with Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut, as we think about all of the Children of Israel, we will proudly stand rooted in our Land and say, “NO, we will not run, for we are a nation of heroes, and we have no other country!”
-It was also ‘illegal’ for Queen Esther to go before the king, but she bravely did what was morally right to defend Am Yisrael.
-It was also ‘illegal’ for Jews to circumcise their sons, and to study Torah under the Seleucid-Greeks, yet they did the morally right thing and fought for their freedom.
-It was also ‘illegal’ for citizens under Nazi rule to hide and protect Jews, yet many Righteous Among the Nations did it at great cost.
-It was also ‘illegal’ for people to send weapons to Jews in Eretz Yisrael before our War of Independence, yet many brave souls did it anyways.
-It is also ‘illegal’ for Arabs under the thumb of the Palestinian Authority to sell their property to Jews, yet there are those courageous ones who do.
-It is also ‘illegal’ for -those who formed the Order 9 protests to stop the “aid” trucks going to feed the murderous Hamas in Gaza, yet they stand their ground because the lives of the comrades they lost are NOT cheap.
We are a Nation of Heroes – who also have supporters from the Nations that stand with us -and we will fight for what is Right and Just and Good in this world, even if others use legal manipulation to say we are wrong.
When I converted, I chose the name “Yoav” to carry on the name of Yoav Fogel of Blessed Memory. In 2005, the government decided that it was ‘illegal’ for his family to continue to live in Gush Katif. They were ripped from their home, and eventually moved to a community where they wanted to do good. Yet the enemies of Israel came for Yoav and his family. Every time…EVERY time…Jewish homes are destroyed by the government of Israel, our enemies are emboldened and more Jewish blood is shed.
But, Am Yisrael, we are a Nation of Heroes, and you can help protect Ramat Arbel.
You, right now, can take a few minutes to call and/or email the Lower Galilee Regional Council and tell them you support the Knesset decision to approve the Jewish Settlement in Ramat Arbel, which should be built up and not torn down:
Telephone (in Israel): 04-6628200
Email: [email protected]
If you live in Israel and you have the means, you can also come visit us in Ramat Arbel to help guard the land. (We are off of the same highway exit as the town of Ravid, directly across the highway from the town of Massad) Imagine if the demolition crews arrived to find hundreds, if not thousands, of people on the hillside declaring their support for our families and demanding the government fix the paperwork and stop threatening this destruction.
If this decree of destruction is not changed, and the teams of destroyers come, my family will stand before them and their bulldozers like David before Goliath and we will shout “Shema Yisrael!...”
We are a Nation of Heroes…will you finish this cry of faith with us?
Yoav is a farmer and handyman with a degree in Biblial Studies. He hosts regular ZOOM learning sessions for people from around the world called “Everyday Israel Q & A” together with his wife Sarah, a certified Life Coach. You can contact Yoav at [email protected]