By Colin Muscat
(AJNews) – October 7, 2023 was a watershed moment in Jewish history. This was the day that Israelis experienced a moment of vulnerability that has not been felt in decades. This was also the day that Jews across the world learned that no matter how secure we feel in our society, we will always be the ‘other’; that our acceptance is conditional; that antisemitism never really went away, it was merely shape-shifting to fit the times.
I have just returned from Israel. I spent 10 days on a Jewish National Fund leadership mission, touring and visiting JNF Canada projects, listening to speakers and connecting with Israelis. Most people in our community are aware that JNF Canada has had its charitable status revoked by the CRA. This article is not about the future of JNF Canada. This article is about the experience of being in Israel during wartime and about the work that JNF and its Israeli partner, Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, are doing to build and rebuild the country.

Colin Muscat planting a tree in the JNF forest at the Nova Music Festival Site in Southern Israel.
Being in Israel during this war is a paradoxical experience. On one hand, you can sit in a café, go to a soccer game, swim at the beach and everything is business as usual. On the other, there are fighter jets overhead, sounds of explosions in Gaza, sirens and rockets and shelters, and innumerable bumper stickers with the pictures and names of fallen soldiers that cover surfaces everywhere. A reservist I met spoke about the shock of coming from a war zone in Gaza, to sitting in a restaurant in Tel Aviv within 90 minutes. You get the feeling that the war is everywhere and is nowhere at once. Reminders of the hostages are everywhere. Yellow flags and ribbons, banners and stickers that demand “BRING THEM HOME NOW”, pianos in public squares being played by strangers (a tribute to hostage Alon Ohel), and of course, the posters. Faces of hostages are on display everywhere in the country. The ages of the hostages have now been crossed out and amended to reflect the year they have spent in captivity. Many posters are also covered in messages written by supporters, and others have just a single Hebrew word “slicha” (sorry). All posters are intact.
What happened on October 7th is incomprehensible. A drive down route 232, the main road through the Gaza Envelope, brought us past Kibbutzim Nahal Oz, Sa’ad, Be’eri, Alumim, Re’im and Kissufim. These Kibbutzim were the sites of mass murder, kidnapping, and destruction. The Nova music festival site was in a eucalyptus forest between Be’eri and Re’im, and is now packed with Israeli flags and pictures of the victims, like a forest of faces. It is a powerful memorial to those who were subjected to horrible atrocities and murdered. One of the most powerful experiences of my trip was planting a tree at this site. Some of the trees planted there were fundraised by our Talmud Torah students during last year’s JNF Tu Bishvat campaign. Further along the highway there is a massive lot that has been filled with the shot-up, burned out, and destroyed vehicles of people who were at the festival, or were just unfortunate enough to be driving on route 232 that day. The road is also dotted with bomb shelters that sit next to bus stations along the route. When the sirens sounded that morning, many people driving away from the Nova party ended up in these shelters. Ultimately, these shelters became death traps as people were left stranded and defenseless. These concrete structures are pocked with holes from bullets and grenade shrapnel. They are now also plastered with memorial stickers and messages. There are apparently memorials within the shelters themselves, but I could not make myself go in to see. There is a lot of healing and rebuilding that needs to be done.

A makeshift memorial for fallen soldiers on a wall in Jerusalem. Photo by Colin Muscat.
JNF is helping to build the country and support Israelis in war time. We toured bomb shelters donated and built for schools, playgrounds, community centres, youth centres, and even a farm for animal therapy. These integrated bomb shelters are a fact of life in much of Israel, and are necessary for Israelis to safely utilize these spaces. In the southern city of Sderot, we were guests in a new Resilience Centre for wholistic trauma therapy. This entire building is fortified to allow clients to remain in their therapy session if there is a siren. Prior to the war, Sderot was constantly under Hamas rocket and mortar fire. Because of its proximity to Gaza the city cannot be adequately defended by the Iron Dome, and residents have fifteen seconds to get to a shelter when there is a siren. Sderot was invaded on October 7 and was the scene of a fierce battle. Despite all of this, the city boasts a 105% return of residents to the community during the war; they have actually increased their population. The Resilience Centre is already in need of expansion and there is a serious demand for more services. I am proud to say that JNF Canada funds many projects in Sderot. We also toured Kibbutz Kissufim, a community in the Gaza envelop that was invaded on Oct 7. Sixteen residents were murdered and three were kidnapped to Gaza. We were guided through the kibbutz by one of its members who had recently retired from Israeli Special Forces. He took us building by building, showing us where he and units of the IDF battled Hamas in order to rescue and evacuate residents. Israeli flags marked the places where residents were murdered, brigade flags where soldiers fell defending the Kibbutz. There are burned out and destroyed homes amongst ones that are seemingly untouched. They are all covered in cryptic Hebrew letters, denoting that they were searched and cleared by IDF units passing through the Kibbutz in the days following. What happened at Kissufim, like many of the kibbutzim in the area, is beyond comprehension. JNF Canada has undertaken a number of projects to rebuild this Kibbutz and allow for its residents to return to their community.

The memorial for the victims of the October 7, 2023 massacre at the Nova Music Festival Site. Photo by Colin Muscat.
As I write this article, Iran has just attacked Israel for a second time, sending most of the population of Israel into bomb shelters. Hezbollah has emptied the north of Israel and 90000 Israelis are displaced and refugees in their own country. Communities of the Gaza envelope and of the North have been emptied and destroyed. Portions of the country are not safe to live in, effectively shrinking Israel’s habitable borders. We met with residents of the North and local political leaders to better understand the situation. In order to return to their communities, there must be both diplomatic and military interventions to restore the security and confidence of residents. Destroyed infrastructure and housing must be rebuilt, and there are not enough bomb shelters. This is the minimum that will need to be in place for residents of the North to return to their homes. JNF will be actively involved in this process of rebuilding.
What stuck out most about Israelis we met was their resilience and their care for one another. We visited a women’s shelter, a mental health facility, a centre for people with severe disabilities, a drug rehabilitation centre, a community centre for new immigrants, and a youth centre for disadvantaged kids. Even during these times, Israelis are looking after those in need. JNF provides the social infrastructure, the ‘bricks and mortar’, for the spaces needed to run these programs. In some cases, JNF has built an entire building, in others it has created or renovated spaces within existing structures. In all cases, we were touched by the appreciation of the Israelis who work in these facilities, as well as the people they serve. They are so proud of what we have created together.
Beyahad Nenatzeach is a slogan that is posted all over Israel right now. It translates to “together we will win.” It is fitting that Israelis chose a message of unity at this time. Israeli society was bitterly polarized and split on October 6. On October 7, these divisions were set aside and Israelis from the political right or left, orthodox or secular, Jews and Non-Jews alike risked their lives to save each other. Civil society quickly organized to establish supports for displaced and bereaved Israelis. Reservists dropped everything to serve in defence of their country. In fact, Israel may be the only country in the world where citizens abroad rush home when there is outbreak of a war. Although these divisions are starting to show again, the Israelis I met are determined to change their circumstances. There is no going back.
This message of unity applies to those of us living in the diaspora as well. Many of the challenges we face as a Jewish Community are directly linked to what is happening in Israel. Our fate is intertwined, we will always be part of the same story. We may live here, but our heart is in Israel. It is time to reconnect with Israel and with our community. It is time to build and to rebuild. Together we are strong. Beyahad Nenatzeach.
Colin Muscat is a JNF Edmonton Board Member.
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