Yom Yerushalayim--When I Was a Teen
by Leah Wolf
I'm not a teen any more (boy, that happened quickly!) but I was a teen during the Six Day War and thought I'd share my memories of that incredible week with you. I hope you get a little feeling for what we went through as American Jewish teens at the time.
The Shabbat before the outbreak of the war, we were at a Shabbaton of our youth group, NCSY, in upstate New York. The Rabbis there told us that Israel was in terrible danger, that we were surrounded on all borders by enemy armies and that tomorrow, Sunday, we have to pray and fast half a day for Israel's salvation from the enemies. We went back to our hometowns and fasted and prayed all that Sunday morning. Well, the war broke out later that day in Israel and we were so worried, glued to our radios and televisions, waiting for every piece of news. And praying!
The world became fascinated and there was non-stop news from Israel and the miracles that soon began occuring in Israel. But,to keep this short and to the point, I want to relate a very short story that happened to me on that Wednesday morning.
I was sitting in math class in Monroe High in Rochester, NY. Suddenly, the boy sitting behind me, Saul, whispered to me. He had a transistor radio hidden in his hand and glued to his ear, listening for news from Israel. "Psss...Leah" he whispered. "We got the Kotel!!" I burst out crying from this incredible news and had to keep quiet in class. Although I had never been to Israel at that point, coming back to the Kotel was a miracle and excitement so unbelievable! This became the original Yom Yerushalaim, 28 Iyar, 1967. It was around this time -- actually, I had made the decision a few years earlier -- that I knew that I had to make Aliya and live in Israel.
Years later, Dahvid and I became engaged on Yom Yerushalaim, so it's an extra joyous day for us on both a personal and a national level. Today, when sadly, so many of our fellow Israelis show a lack of attachment to the holiness of Yerushalaim or the yearning for the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash, we may need these reminders of what Yerushalaim and Har HaBayit really are to the Jewish people - its past, present and future.
May we celebrate many more Yom Yerushalaim's in our beloved Israel and may we indeed see true Shalom in Yerushalaim.
It might be more interesting to get more stories from Israeli teens at the time of Yom Yerushalaim and hear what they went through during the Six Day War.
Write to Leah at write@ttt.org.il
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