Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in the Holy Land can share their own “Only in Israel” story. Some chance encounter that defies human nature in its kindness or its extraordinary coincidences. It’s these stories that highlight just why Israel is unlike any other place on Earth.
Since the war began, each new event has brought with it a new batch of these stories. Tales of soldiers who were miraculously saved, rockets that amazingly just missed (tragically, not all of them), and acts of superhuman kindness done among fellow Jews that prove that we really are unique on Earth.
The current Iranian attack is no exception. We Israelis have demonstrated that we respond to these challenges in a distinctly Jewish manner. Nowhere is this more evident than the fact that in the middle of a major war, few people are trying to escape from Israel. Instead over 100,000 are deperate to return to it.
When Iran attacked, tens of thousands of Israelis visiting forcing countries found themselves trapped. With no airplanes going in, a massive number found themselves with no way to return. In most cases of war, those who found themselves caught outside the conflict would consider it a blessing. But not here. Israeli Jews were not only not relieved that they were left out of the dangers, they were grieved and even frantic that they were not taking part in them.
At this moment, 150,000 Israelis are doing whatever they can to return to an active warzone. The efforts to return are all stories in themselves. Haredi pilot and mother of seven Nechama Spiegel from Beit Shemesh recently was privileged to pilot the first rescue flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Israel, as part of the Safe Return mission.
-Returning passengers danced and sang in the aisles as another returning plane touched down in Ben Gurion airport.
-Citizens trapped in Cyprus have reportedly paid upwards of 10 thousand US dollars to local fishermen in exchange for being ferried over in their small fishing boats.
-Meanwhile, stranded Israelis in countries around the world have found a welcoming temporary home with local Jewish communities.
It's not just native Israelis making the trek. Since the Iron Swords war began, Israel has seen a record number of Jews making aliyah. Every week has brought new planeloads of Jews returning. This conflict will only increase the numbers. I’ve talked to countless Jews in America whose main goal is not the American dream, it’s settling in a country where rockets are more common than rainy days.
Anyone wanting to see the uniqueness of the Jewish people needs only to look at what is happening before our eyes. In every war, citizens run. But in every other war in human history, they have run away from the country under attack. In Israel, we run back to it. Israel might be the only nation in history who in time of war arranged “rescue” flights to bring its citizens home instead of to help them leave.
It's mind-boggling. Are Jews lemmings running off a cliff to our deaths? We Jews are supposed to be known for our intelligence. Why is it that in the face of danger, we choose to come back any way we can?
The answer is simple. This is home. These are our people. This is our history. This is our shared destiny. This is what we prayed for three times a day for almost two millennia, and what we still pray to see complete.
When things get hard, where else should one turn but to their home? Home is where you feel safe. Home is where you know that you belong. When small children are scared, they cry to go home. They know that home is where they are safe and protected. We adults are no different.
Most importantly, home is where our family is. When facing horrors of this magnitude we know that the only way to survive is to face it together. One nation with one heart. In a world that is increasingly turning against Jews, it becomes clearer every day that our only place is with each other. The Gentiles have made it clear that we will never belong with them. It’s only natural that we want to go back to where we do belong, with our one true family.
And our family can only be whole in the Land of Israel. Throughout the Tanach, the land of Israel is personified as our mother. What child doesn’t turn to their mother when they are scared? And who else but a mother can comfort her children in it's time of need?
(To be clear, this does not mean that Jews in the diaspora are not family. It only means that family works best when it’s all together. I hear stories from my friends in America and the hardships they have to endure in a hostile environment and oftentimes alone and it breaks my heart.)
In the Khuzari, one of the most important works of medieval Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Judah Halevi brings an argument between a Jewish sage and the king of the Khazars. The king puts forth the argument that all lands were created by G-d and thus there was nothing special about the land of Israel. By way of rebuttal, the sage points out to the king that it can be proven that even physically, not all lands are equal Some have gold or silver. Some are better for farming. Some might be rich in natural resources. Likewise, the sage continues, all lands have different spiritual benefits and the land of Israel contains more holiness than any other place on Earth.
The Gemara in Kiddushin 49b explains just what the difference is. “Ten measures of wisdom descended to the world; Eretz Yisrael took nine of them and all the rest of the world took one. Ten measures of beauty descended to the world; Jerusalem took nine and all the rest of the world in its entirety took one.”
On an unconscious level, the nations of the world all know this. Why else would they be so invested in trying to conquer us for so long? Why has every empire in the world wanted to make Israel a part of its domain? Unfortunately, they miss a key point. Just as certain vegetables can only grow in certain types of earth, so too, the Jewish people are made to only grow spiritually in the soil of the Land of Israel.
Even if we can’t express this idea, we know it on a primal, instinctive level. And knowing it we can no more refuse the call to home than can the salmon who travel thousands of miles to return to the place of their birth.
Compare this to our “cousins” the Palestinian Arabs. Reports from Gaza show that if given the chance, the overwhelming majority of Gazans would emigrate to another country. And who can blame them? Some surveys put the numbers as high as 70-90%. Given the opportunity, most would happily give up their present home and start somewhere new.
It’s not at all surprising. Much as they might pretend to Western media outlets, Palestinian Arabs were never from Israel. There never was a Palestine and most of the so-called “Palestinians” were Arabs from Egypt and Jordan, brought in by the work opportunities provided by the early Zionists. Their connection to the land is purely fictional, and as such, it's easily severed. This was never their home so there is nothing keeping them here. And so, when it becomes too unpleasant, they can easily replant themselves somewhere new if they are allowed to do so.
We Jews don’t have this ability. Throughout our long exile, we were able to live in many countries, but never able to truly settle there. Our roots were always yearning for the soil of home.
So, while Gazans would love to run away from the land of Israel in its time of war, the Jews, its’ rightful owners prove ownership beyond a doubt by instead running towards it. Willa Cather once wrote that “The land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it.”
I don’t know what the next few weeks will bring. But I do know that whatever may come, there is nowhere that I would rather face it than in my real home and alongside my family. And if the astonishing stories of return are any indication, it seems that most of my family would agree.
Ilan Goodman is a museum collections professional and exhibition curator. He also serves as a rabbi and educator. He made Aliyah to Israel in 2011 and lives with his wife and children in Beit Shemesh.
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