I am privileged to head CTeen, Chabad on Campus Israel, and IDF Core, operated by INEXTG (Israel’s Next Generation). After the holidays and a month filled with activities to strengthen the spirit and resilience of young people in Israel, in light of the current period of war being waged against Israel in the north and south, I feel that the people of Israel should know about the young generation that is growing up here in Israel.
The situation in Israel is challenging in terms of the war. It has been a difficult war, and the many fronts have taken a painful toll. Almost every day, we receive the tidings of Job about another soul killed in the service of the people and the land. But what has happened in the past month differs greatly from the difficult year we experienced. From a year of huge uncertainty, we seem to be approaching certainty. There will be victory, and it will be absolute.
The soldiers – both the reservists and regular soldiers – feel it. The students and youth who are not yet in the army want to join the IDF more than ever. This comes directly from the desire to strengthen Jewish identity, to strengthen belonging to the people and the land, and to the precious heritage that each of us carries. It is a legacy of generations and thousands of years that strengthens the present and builds a clear, shared future.
Over the past Simchat Torah holiday, I experienced the two extremes we have carried with us over the past year. We spent the holiday in Herzliya Pituach, where during the first Torah scroll procession (Hakafot), a red alert sounded in the area, and the entire synagogue ran to the shelters with the Torah scrolls in their hands.
The next evening, at exactly the same time, thousands of young people gathered to celebrate Simchat Torah for the Hakafot Shniyot, a second round of dancing with the Torah scrolls held the night after the holiday of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, without any fear or anxiety. I asked myself how to explain the unusual situation we find ourselves in in Israel. How do tens of thousands of people maintain joy and hope despite everything?
The insight I gained is based on the activities we were privileged to hold throughout the month of Tishrei, in which we met with over 300,000 young people in our various activities, including high school youth, IDF soldiers, college and university students, and others. We met with them for many hours, sat with them, studied with them, spent time with them, and listened to them.
What I am describing I say with a great degree of certainty. The people of Israel are more alive than ever, and we are winning! We are defeating our enemies and overcoming the divisions and discord within us. A new generation wants to connect more with each other, get to know the next-door neighbor, and take part in building individual and collective Jewish identity here in Israel.
The peak events in our organizations took place on Yom Kippur and Simchat Torah. On Yom Kippur, we hosted 400 students in Kfar Chabad for the entire day, with prayers, circles of dialogue, and heart-to-heart discussions about everyone’s strong desire to experience more of their Jewish roots and strengthen the connection to the people of Israel and tradition. Many of the students who stayed with us fasted for the first time in their lives on Yom Kippur, receiving tools for Jewish life that they can utilize throughout the year.
Simchat Torah – a year after the outbreak of the Iron Swords War – was the peak. About 500 students, including survivors of the Nova Festival, those who hail from communities near the Gaza Strip, and reservists from Lebanon and Gaza, who took advantage of the short break given to them to refresh themselves, celebrated Simchat Torah together in Kfar Chabad. It was 26 hours of joy and exhilaration.
The dilemma we confronted was how happy we should be on a holiday full of joy while in the background, we recognized the terrible events that occurred on that day exactly a year ago. What is the proper balance between joy and sadness, between optimism and memory? But the surprising call came from those students who survived the Nova, and from those reservists who have experienced the sights of war every day. “Rejoicing is the order of the day.”
The desire to rejoice comes precisely from the darkness. It is not the joy of intoxication but the joy of performing a mitzvah, a joy that creates a reality of light, a joy that expels evil and does not give the Hamas terrorists a victory of breaking our morale. We do not allow the forces of evil to hurt us and discourage us from a promising future here in the Land of Israel. Like a phoenix returning to life from its ashes, we grow from the ashes, fire, and fracture.
Accordingly, we opened the day of Hoshana Rabbah with a memorial event in the Re’im Forest, the location of the Nova Festival. Together with hundreds of students, we united with the souls of the fallen heroes whose deaths commanded our lives.
From there, we returned to Kfar Chabad to celebrate the holiday of Simchat Torah with the first and second Hakafot, a festive holiday meal and dancing that reached the heavens – dances of hope and anticipation of better times, through prayer to God who dwells on High to hear the sounds of joy and bring true happiness to us and the entire world.
We have seen how everyone wants to receive; everyone listens and understands that great things are happening—greater than human consciousness can comprehend. Everyone wants to connect to the source of our people's infinite power. These were the exalted holidays, sitting with the young people and feeling the pulse of their hearts. They are the great hope of the Jewish people and the world.
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Rabbi Moshe Shilat, together with his wife, Bracha Shilat, heads INEXTG, “Israel’s Next Generation.”