During his address to US Congress this summer, Prime Minister Netanyahu recognized a number of heroes present in the hall, among them, Lieutenant Avichail Reuven, an officer in tzanchanim, Tzahal’s paratrooper division. Avichail, one of nine children to parents who immigrated from Ethiopia, lives in Kiryat Malachi. As his story was briefly told, the hall was electrified. All eyes turned to behold this shining, humble young man, and all hearts opened in awe and admiration of his almost incomprehensible self-sacrifice and heroism.
Having just returned home from active service and still in his officer training course, he had gone home for a short break. In the early hours of the morning of Simchas Torah/October 7th, Avichail was woken by the low, plaintive blasts of sirens alerting the city to an incoming missile attack. This was nothing new, but soon thereafter, news began to spread of the shocking infiltrations into the southern yishuvim and kibbutzim.
Though exhausted and officially “off duty,” Avichail quickly put on his uniform, which was still damp from being laundered, and headed out with his gun and his red paratrooper beret. “I told my brother and friend that I was heading to the border… They yelled at me ‘You’re crazy to go!’ I also looked for friends with a car to drive there, but I couldn’t find anyone, so I decided that I would go to the interchange and try to catch a ride.” Not one car stopped and no buses were operating. So Avichail began to run…
With constant azakot, sirens, and rockets falling throughout the area, pushing himself to keep running in a wet uniform in the heat, Avichail called the whole episode “a nightmare.”
After running more than eight miles through the fields toward Ashkelon and Zikim, a car finally pulled over to give him a ride. The driver was speeding toward Re’im; his son was at the Nova festival and the driver was in a panic. The car was ultimately stopped at a roadblock, so Avichail leapt out, flagged down a police car, and eventually made it to Zikim. “There was complete chaos there. Half the base was burned. Terrorists were running wild, shooting.” Avichail tended to the wounded of Zikim as best he could and fought there for hours. Then, with a few other soldiers he headed to Kfar Azza and Kibbutz Be’eri to try and help put an end to the devastation.
After the massacres had subsided, Avichail’s commanders and fellow soldiers praised his bravery, calm demeanor, and focus in the face of absolute devastation and soul-wrenching horror. Upon completing the officer’s course with honors, Avichail deflected praise for his extraordinary efforts: it was “for Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.”
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Our sidrah recounts a period of famine in Eretz Yisrael, when Yitzchak Avinu considers leaving the Land to seek out greener pastures. In Gerar, Hashem reveals Himself with a directive:
And Hashem appeared to him, and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land that I will tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and I will bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Avraham, your father” (Bereishis 26:2-3).
Rishonim explain that the phrase “all these lands” hints specifically at Gerar and the surrounding areas in the vicinity of Gaza (Bereishis 10:19). Professor Yoel Elitzur, a leading expert in the fields of biblical and historical geography and Semitic languages, is the brilliant author of Places in the Parsha. Analyzing archaeological and historical sources, Elitzur attempts to offer geographic identification and location of places mentioned, shedding light on the narratives in Tanach, connecting the dots between the stories and the locations. According to Elitzur, most scholars maintain that Gerar is a general term for the western Negev region, between Beersheba and Gaza. Both Avraham (Bereishis 20:1) and Yitzchak Avinu (26:6) sojourned and dwelled there.
This swath of land between Beersheva and the Gaza Strip contains numerous large archaeological sites, including Tel Re’im, situated just before the Kissufim crossing on the way to Gush Katif, and the region that contains the tributaries of Nachal HaBesor, including Gush Katif and the Yamit region. Remarkably, these are “all the lands” that the Ribbono shel Olam promises Yitzchak in our parashah.
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Following the Churban Bayis Sheini and the dispersion of our People into the diaspora, many who were not taken into slavery were displaced and ended up in Africa. Jews gathered and settled in the mountainous region of Gondar, Ethiopia where, over the course of centuries, they maintained elements of Jewish practice and identity, particularly their connection to Eretz Yisrael. Rosh Chodesh Kislev marks the Ethiopian yom tov commemorating that deep connection. Sigd is observed 50 days after Yom Kippur, and evokes the ancient yearning of the Ethiopian Jewish community to return to the Holy Land and Yerushalayim, and to the Beis HaMikdash.
Observed as a day of prayer and fasting, Sigd culminates with ascending a mountain, recalling Maamad Har Sinai. This week, with Sifrei Torah and in traditional garb, thousands will gather at Armon HaNetziv Promenade looking out over Har HaBayis and stand with outstretched hands, singing and celebrating their arrival in Eretz Yisrael, longing for the completion of the Mikdash.
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That day, in the great hall of the U.S. Capitol, Lt. Reuven Avichail received a thunderous ovation for his deeds of selfless bravery on behalf of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael, a glimpse of the prophecy of Dovid HaMelech: “Clap hands, all nations, raise a joyous shout for G-d!
…Because the guardians of the Land are G-d’s; He is greatly exalted” (Tehillim, 47:2, 10).
May we soon see the day when the eyes and hearts of all nations—and of our own People—are opened to appreciate and celebrate our complete victory in this war. May we awaken one day soon and thank Hashem that we are dwelling peacefully in Eretz Gerar and in “all these lands” promised to our forefathers and to each of us. And may we ascend to the Holy Mountain together with all of Am Yisrael, to the triumphant blasts of trumpets and shofars, fulfilling our ancient yearning… A freilichen Sigd! n
Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpia of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi, and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Ora, and their family.
