יחד, יחד, יחד, יחד - Yahad, Yahad, Yahad, Yahad

The Hebrew word "Yahad", means "Together". There is a popular Hebrew song that takes this word Yahad, which appears in the Musaf prayer service of Shabbat morning, and converts it into a refrain that is repeated over and over again in the song. It is is one of those tunes that once it get into your head you cannot seem to stop singing it to yourself, at least I cannot.

Thinking back to the atmosphere in Israel this past summer and to the High Holy days that followed it, the word yahad would be the very last word that would come to mind. The relatively new Israeli government coalition had introduced judicial reforms in the Knesset and it seemed as though the entire Jewish world was split on one side of the debate or the other. The rhetoric and vitriol was extreme. The debate lowered itself to utilize and emphasize the worst types of stereotypes in Israeli society. The demonstrations were loud and sometimes violent. The feelings of hatred and fear and resentment were palatable. In many corners of the country, the repeated calls for reasonableness and compromise went unheeded. Stores closed their doors, unions declared slow downs or strikes, army officers threatened to refuse to report for duty, and Israeli society never felt more divided and splintered.

Six weeks have passed and our entire world has been turned on its head. Divisiveness and internal hatred has been replaced by a people united and determined to support each other through a terrible crisis. The horrors of October 7th  remain as a recurring shock wave on the consciousness of our people. We seem to have woken up to the fact that we are all in this enterprise together and we have responded in ways that were unimaginable a mere 6 weeks ago. From the soldiers flying home to join their reserve units at the front, to the myriads of professionals worrying about the mental stability of our children, to the families and hotels and organizations that have opened theirs hearts and their doors to thousands of Jewish refugees, to the grandmothers cooking food for their neighbours, the outpouring of caring and unity and yes the Yahad has been overwhelming. An entire people is biting their nails and hoping and praying for some scraps of good news indicating the return of the hostages to their homes.  An entire nation mourns lives that were so cruelly taken from us on October 7th, and the precious lives of the fallen soldiers that have been stolen from us in the battles that have taken place since then. We are once again truly Am Ehad - one nation - Im Lev Ehad - with one heart. I hope we never lose that feeling of commitment again.

Apparently, this is far from the first time that our people has transformed itself overnight from a splintered group of narrow minded individuals into a magnificent united nation moving together towards the accomplishment of one goal with one purpose and one motivation. In a lecture given over the internet by Rav Yaakov Medan, one of the heads of the Yeshiva of Har Etzion a few nights ago he spoke of the feat of unity managed by King Shaul, King Saul, 3,000 years ago. (This is the same Rav Medan whose son was badly injured a few days ago in Gaza. We pray for his recovery daily.) 

In the early days of King Shaul's monarchy Israel had no organized standing army. In fact, during the period of Philistine oppression the Israelites did not posses any sword or shields or spears or metal of any kind. They fought with farm tools and their bare hands. Even after this oppression was lifted, Israel had few options when it came to national defense. In Shmuel Alef, Chapter 11, the text recounts the story of Nahash (meaning snake in Hebrew) the king of Amon (roughly the area around Aman Jordan today) laying siege to the Jewish city of Yavesh Gilad, a small Jewish enclave about 16 km due east of the modern kibbutz of Tirat Tzvi, on the east side of the Jordan River in the mountains of modern day Jordan. Apparently, King Shaul had family ties to the people of Yavesh Gilad. Nahash threatened this isolated enclave with annihilation if they did not surrender to him and submit to various forms of disfigurement and mutilation to signify their subservience. The people of Yavesh send word to their kinsman Kiמg Shaul asking for help, and he responded in dramatic fashion and managed to raise an enormous army of over 300,000 men.  (Shmuel 11:8-9)

(ח) וַֽיִּפְקְדֵ֖ם בְּבָ֑זֶק וַיִּהְי֤וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ שְׁלֹ֣שׁ מֵא֣וֹת אֶ֔לֶף וְאִ֥ישׁ יְהוּדָ֖ה שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים אָֽלֶף׃ (ט) וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ לַמַּלְאָכִ֣ים הַבָּאִ֗ים כֹּ֤ה תֹֽאמְרוּן֙ לְאִישׁ֙ יָבֵ֣ישׁ גִּלְעָ֔ד מָחָ֛ר תִּֽהְיֶֽה־לָכֶ֥ם תְּשׁוּעָ֖ה כְּחֹ֣ם הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ הַמַּלְאָכִ֗ים וַיַּגִּ֛ידוּ לְאַנְשֵׁ֥י יָבֵ֖ישׁ וַיִּשְׂמָֽחוּ׃

And he gathered them at Bazek, and the Israelites numbered 300,000 and the men of Yehuda numbered 30,000. And they asked the messengers to tell the people of Yavesh Gilad, your salvation will arrive tomorrow at midday. When the messengers arrived they delivered the news and the town rejoiced.

Rav Medan asked a simple question. Why did Shaul need to raise such an enormous army? The kingdom of Amon was by all accounts a relatively small one and the attack could have been dealt with using a much smaller force.  In order to clarify this point Rav Medan referred to an innocuous passage from the book of Divrei Hayamim (Chronicles Alef 5: 10,  20-22) describing the families of the tribes of Reuven and Gad on the east side of the Jordan River.

(י) וּבִימֵ֣י שָׁא֗וּל עָשׂ֤וּ מִלְחָמָה֙ עִם־הַֽהַגְרִאִ֔ים וַֽיִּפְּל֖וּ בְּיָדָ֑ם וַיֵּֽשְׁבוּ֙ בְּאׇ֣הֳלֵיהֶ֔ם עַֽל־כׇּל־פְּנֵ֖י מִזְרָ֥ח לַגִּלְעָֽד׃   ...........................

(כ) וַיֵּעָזְר֣וּ עֲלֵיהֶ֔ם וַיִּנָּתְנ֤וּ בְיָדָם֙ הַהַגְרִיאִ֔ים וְכֹ֖ל שֶׁ֣עִמָּהֶ֑ם כִּ֠י לֵאלֹהִ֤ים זָעֲקוּ֙ בַּמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְנַעְתּ֥וֹר לָהֶ֖ם כִּי־בָ֥טְחוּ בֽוֹ׃ ..........   (כב) ............  וַיֵּשְׁב֥וּ תַחְתֵּיהֶ֖ם עַד־הַגֹּלָֽה׃

Roughly translated:  And in the days of Shaul they warred with the Hagri and conquered them and dwelled in their tents in all the land east of the Gilad. .......

They battled the Hagri and all their allies and defeated them because they had prayed to G-od and He answered them because of their faith in Him.     ........

And they supplanted them all the way to the exile (possibly Eastern Mesopotamia)

Rav Medan contends that Shaul was faced with more than a small localized incident. This was an invasion that was spearheaded by the Kingdom of Amon but also included a coalition of other kingdoms allied with Amon and ready to invade Israel. Divrei Hayamim refers to the coalition as the Hagri. This was an unexpected threat that overshadowed the enmity with the Philistines, and required immediate dramatic action. Indeed, King Shaul earned his place in the annuls a Jewish history, because he managed to unite all the 12 tribes for the first time under one banner and unite them in order to deflect the threat from coalition of Kings from the east. His success in this war ended up extending the influence of the Kingdom of Israel far into east and established Israel as a political presence in the middle east for many generations thereafter. That was why King Saul needed an army of 300,000 men.

Thus, it required the external threat of a cruel step by step invasion combined with the charisma and determination of the first King of Israel to finally unite and organize the 12 tribes into establishing an effective fighting force. Those two factors saved the Jewish people 1000 year before the common era, over 3,000 years ago. Apparently, it also took a indescribably vicious and cruel invasion of Israel in modern times to unite us once again in order to face this equally dangerous threat from the east. Hamas is also the spearhead of an formidable coalition of enemies that are arraigned against us and even more dangerous. In order to deal with this threat, we will need to remain united for many years to come.

Those who do not learn from our historical past run the risk of repeating our mistakes again and again.