If you have ever meandered around in the town center of Katzrin at night perhaps to eat a bite at a Shawarma or Falafel shop, you may have seen dozens of swallows perched near the ceiling in one of the dark hallways.

Katzrin, a small town located in the Golan Heights of Israel is a favored tourist spot, still shown on Google Maps as outside of the green line that Google is willing to accept as Israel.
But Israelis know it belongs to them and not to Syria, since Israel reclaimed this land in the bloody Six-Day War of 1967.

But I am not writing about that war. We are in another war called “Al Aqsa Flood” by Hamas and “Swords of Iron” by Israel—a war that started with a most horrible massacre. But let us step back even farther and look at what is happening behind the blood stained curtain. This is not all about the current war, though it certainly plays into it. It is about brothers and sisters coming together just as Jacob’s 12 sons came together after his death, put away differences and became one people. But let’s get back to the story!

On October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorists and many radical Palestinian Muslims, though technically classified as civilians broke through Gaza’s border fence and entered the Nova music festival and surrounding villages, killing and raping at random, burning and beheading babies and adults alike. At the same time many of them entered by air in para-gliders, which appeared as giant blood sucking mosquitoes as they filled the dawn sky.

That fated Shabbat, found many religious Israelis attending synagogues, completely disconnected from the news. In several towns, there were soldiers who passed by and alerted some synagogues as to what was happening, and the congregants increased their fervor in prayer with deepened emotion and passionate pleas to the Almighty who alone can save Israel from her enemies.

As I said, this is not about the horrors of war, though that may be the pressure that brought about what has happened since. The swallows in the picture represent the togetherness, the solidarity of togetherness that many Israelis and Jews are feeling around the world.

Soldiers in the field come in from a day of battle, arm in arm, the secular with the religious and feel a camaraderie that few have felt in the recent past. We are one people. And that is what is important here. Not that God is not important. Not that one’s observance is not important—but there is an overriding value that has been missing and is now coming into view. That of brotherly unity and the service of one’s fellow man and especially the right to claim the land of our ancestors. The importance of winning this war against evil is partly to reestablish the Jewish right to exist. And the war is being fought for the good of humanity. This is not just about the Jewish people. It is about good versus evil, hatred versus love, a good God versus an evil god. We fight on for the honor of the name of our God and the place of righteousness in the world. We fight for meaning in our own existence. And YHVH, the Eternal, the Most High, the Creator of the World is supporting this war and when all seems lost, He will come alongside and do things that other wars have not seen. But first we must learn unity. Though it seems to have little to do with God, it virtually has everything to do with Him. We must heal the breach before He can come to us. Love your fellow as yourself. And when we do so, a body will be formed, just as we see written by the prophet Ezekiel:

Eze 37:7 “So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied – I heard a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I watched, I saw tendons on them, then muscles appeared, and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, – prophesy, son of man – and say to the breath: ‘This is what the sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.'” 10 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.”

At this time in the war we see other elements trying to disrupt the unity. We see left-wing factions presenting their pressure to undo our current government. Can we allow this? Would this not be our undoing at this time? Doesn’t the enemy know about weakening us? and perhaps these ones are and were involved in inciting the ones who called for division in our land! This is a time to stand together and not back down. And for the sake of the soldiers, for the elderly, for the young people, for the children and for those who volunteer to support our soldiers, we must not give in to these demons who divide the nation and who were involved in weakening us in the very beginning, pre-October 7. Military people in charge were asleep at the switch. Why? Many ask this question, but when we look at the political scenario during the last year we see division in our people.

So what do the swallows represent? There they are, night after night, clinging to shredded electric wires draped along the ceiling in a dark hallway of the town shops, protected from the chaos of wind and storm. They are almost touching each other. They are there every night and they stand for something. No, the halls are not nicely painted or decorated. The ceiling is peeling, the wires are bare in places, loose ends hang in different places. It is not about luxury, fame or status, and they don’t care! It is about being together—sharing safety in each other’s company; standing together against the elements as one of a common creation. Can we learn something here? Can we see the foreshadowing in the Parsha that we read week after week?

If you ever come to Katzrin, please hang out with us in the evening in the town center! Check out the lighted fountains and venture down the dark hallways behind the shops to see the swallows. They seem to be a symbol of what we must stand for. And we are indeed getting there—are we not?

Ariella

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