“For as is the share of the one who goes down into the battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.” (1 Sam. 30:24)
In this verse, David (already anointed as king) taught an important rule to the believers in the GOD of Israel. In every struggle, battle or life challenge, each person has his or her own task and mission. What does that mean for us today? One person is fighting the battle; another is praying from some point on the earth, which can be near or far. A third person is providing practical support, and a fourth is providing the funds for that support. Whatever our task, we are to carry it out with a willing and whole heart, joyfully taking part in a network that brings its own blessings from Heaven.
This is how a community-wide body functions under the leadership of the Creator. You, as lovers of the GOD of Israel who are connected with the people of Israel, are praying and encouraging, helping and funding, while we fight the physical and spiritual battles here. That makes you full partners in this important network which is so relevant for the End of Days.
During this time, all of us in Israel and abroad hear of the difficult sacrifices being made on the battle front. We see photos of the soldiers who are fighting with dedication, and we understand that they are carrying out a holy mission to defend the people of Israel and the Promised Land with their bodies and souls. We pray for their safety from our places around the world, providing help and support to those serving at the front. We hear about the wounded soldiers, and we pray for their recovery. For those who have fallen in battle, we try to comfort and support their families in prayers and deeds.
Many of the believers are both praying and lending a hand. One focus is providing help and support to ease the suffering of the residents in the areas bordering Lebanon, Gaza, and the Golan. A total of around 130,000 people have been dislocated, 60,000 of them from the north. They were sent to temporary accommodations scattered around the rest of the country.
The people in these areas have been evacuated from their homes for their own safety, and their towns are currently in a declared military zone. But despite the danger, some have stayed behind for different reasons, refusing to leave their homes. One such town is Kiryat Shmona, near the Lebanese border.
While the Sabra Fund was distributing humanitarian aid in Tiberias, the IDF officers who were working with us asked us to participate in similar efforts to help those remaining in Kiryat Shmona. The day that we set out to visit the town, it happened to be a world-famous holiday, dear to many of our Christian friends: December 25.
Here in Israel, it was a mild and beautiful sunny day. But while still on the way, we were forced to change our plan, due to continual shelling from across the Lebanese border. Kiryat Shmona was shut down, with no one able to enter or leave.
Instead, we began our aid efforts in a small town in the upper Galilee region around 30 km south of Kiryat Shmona, called Hatzor Haglilit. Here, forces from the Home Front Command were conducting defensive drills. They were practicing their response to different situations that might occur during a battle or a bombing. We spent a whole day with these officers and their troops, which allowed us to see a bit of what can theoretically take place during a war crisis.
For me as an IDF veteran who knows army life, it was impressive to see the complex preparations undertaken by this military branch. Everything was coordinated between the units, the rescue teams (in case of collapsed buildings), and the different medical personnel. They practiced the police action of sealing and encircling the area, the placement of emergency medical caregivers in safe zones – and in parallel, securing the town’s industrial area, which includes factories that use toxic materials like ammonia and chlorine.
All this was just a rehearsal. I imagined what a real situation might look like, and the added pressures if terrorists were part of the mix. (There’s a separate IDF unit for that.)
I and my friends silently thanked the Creator that we have such a dedicated and faithful army, with the foresight to prepare for such scenarios. Although the Home Front soldiers aren’t commandos storming an enemy stronghold, they were risking their lives every moment they were here, within missile range. We sat watching these men and women of all ranks working together with compassionate hearts to care for the distressed residents of the Galilee, putting their own lives and families on hold in order to serve their fellow-Israelis.
By the way, these same people have brought emergency help to other nations after disasters like earthquakes – even in countries that are less than friendly to Israel, like Turkey. In times of peace, they serve as on-call reservists in every region of Israel.
After the drill ended, we were given special permits to enter Kiryat Shmona, along with protective gear. Then we made our way to that northern town. But before leaving, the Sabra Fund provided a light meal for some of the soldiers in Hatzor Haglilit.
We arrived to a ghost town, with almost no signs of life. The stores of Kiryat Shmona were all closed, and all the homes were dark, making it hard to know whether they were inhabited or not. We went straight to the office of the town’s military commander.
We found an energetic and compassionate officer, who saw to the smallest details. With him was a female officer who looked older than the average soldier. She spent entire days running back and forth among the homes of the few who remained in town, checking on them and taking care of their needs. Incidentally, this was not really the job of the IDF. But if asked, they would say, “They’re our family… we feel responsible for one another.”
From the commander we received an outline of the situation. Some of these figures which I present to you now are not even public information:
- The town numbers 25,000 residents. Around 3000 of them have remained – mostly elderly and disabled. Some of them are families with children; a total of 36 children of varying ages are here.
- Since the beginning of the war, the town has been hit by 167 rockets and 5 bomb-carrying UAVs (unmanned drones), in addition to the daily sniping and shelling that regularly take place every day.
- To date, 30 buildings have been destroyed or burned, both residences and businesses.
- During the 80 days of war, an undisclosed number of local people were wounded and killed, not counting the soldiers living in Kiryat Shmona who were killed in battles on the borders.
- Many of the streets in the area have been damaged by IDF tanks and heavy equipment moving into position around the region. The entire battle zone is on the Israeli side of the border, so Israeli infrastructure is paying a heavy price.
Even this description doesn’t cover the wide range of tasks these Israeli soldiers are called to undertake.
From the moment the government decided to evacuate citizens from various areas, it fell to the IDF to get the residents onto buses. This alone was no easy task, since it included a detailed register of all citizens and what city was going to receive them – with everything having to be done as quickly as possible to minimize the risk to their safety.
After arranging the evacuations, the IDF began to care for those who stayed behind. Soldiers serving in Kiryat Shmona visit each resident once a week to reassure and encourage them (in Russian, Amharic, or other languages as needed). They bring required medicines from the pharmacies, or hot food for those who can’t care for themselves, or help solve a host of other individual problems. There are also pets to look after, which can involve everything from bringing dog or cat food to calling a vet for treatment.
These same soldiers of the Home Front Command in Kiryat Shmona also look after needs of the evacuated families who are relocated to the center of the country. They make sure that the refugees have winter clothing (remember that they left in early October, when the weather was still warm). If abandoned homes or businesses are hit by missiles, the owners are notified and provided with help. In some cases, homeowners left so quickly that they afterwards realized they had forgotten to lock their doors; the soldiers have the locks changed, and then they send the new keys to the owners’ temporary address.
The commander told us how the Home Front Command in different locations organized an impromptu kindergarten for the families with small children. These families are now asking for toys and other things for the “new” educational environment, which needs to continue for an unknown period of time.
These problems may seem marginal to us, but to the uprooted families, it’s a great relief to have someone resolve them. They know the Home Front Command will find the time to take care of these worries.
Still, as time goes on, the strain is increasing. The families who are living in hotels around the country might be thought to be enjoying a long vacation. But in reality, an entire family trying to live daily life in a single room is quite difficult. They often need encouragement and guidance on how to release the built-up tension. But what they really need, and long for, is to be able to return to their homes and live normal lives.
All the residents are tired of being homeless. But they are refusing to return home, where they had to endure the tension of constant emergency sirens, and the danger of being injured or killed by the explosions that followed. They have lived for too long with an unlivable situation.
The enemies of Israel have been tormenting the Israeli civilians for years. Like Hamas did along the Gaza border, Hezbollah terrorists are sitting so close along the Lebanese border that they can almost be touched. They’ve been shooting at Israelis whenever they could get away with it. Like Hamas, they’ve dug sophisticated tunnels under the border in efforts to carry out their plan to invade Israel.
After Hamas managed to carry out the same plan across the Gaza border, the residents of the north understand that they could be faced with the same disaster, only more difficult. Neither they nor anyone else in Israel believe the international politicians would stop a Hezbollah invasion. As it is, the world leaders are already calling for “an immediate ceasefire” before Hamas is fully dismantled, insisting that “quiet will bring quiet” with their guaranteed support (conveniently forgetting that no one prevented Hamas from violating previous ceasefires). The same world leaders also guaranteed that they would keep Hezbollah away from Israel’s northern border; yet the UN Peacekeeping Observers not only failed in this mission, they sat and “observed” while Hezbollah tunneled their way into Israeli territory.
Israelis are united in the conviction that no written ceasefire agreement will be enforced by those who are pushing for it. Protests have begun in the north, demanding that the IDF not stop until all the terrorist threats are eliminated, in the same way that the Nazis were eliminated from Europe; and demanding that our enemies submit to re-education, in the same way that the Japanese were re-educated to reject the racial hatred they had been taught from childhood.
Israelis everywhere are ready and willing to defend ourselves from those who hate us – by ourselves if necessary. At the same time, there is a noticeable trend of Israel’s citizens turning to the GOD of their fathers and drawing hope from the roots of their faith.
By the end of our tour of Kiryat Shmona, we at Sabra Fund realized that the Creator had shown us where we can participate in this endeavor.
Your prayers are very important to us at this time, so that we can be an effective part of this important network. Always remember that this is no ordinary war: it’s a spiritual struggle between those who love death and those who love the LORD of life. We need to rise up in faith, like David, and proclaim His faithfulness to the watching world, “so that all the earth may know that there is a GOD in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will hand you over to us!” (1 Sam. 17:46-47)
May the blessings of the Most High be upon you, your family and your congregation.
From the land of Zion and the city of Jerusalem,
Your brother in faith
