Operation Dugo: Eat A Falafel Today and Say “Am Israel Chai!”

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Yom Reva’ee

Wednesday

25 Tevet 5783

January 18 2023

The Photo of the Day

PM Netanyahu arriving at Outpost 105 in the Menashe Brigade sector to receive a briefing about the steps that Shin Bet is taking to thwart terrorism in Samaria (photo Haim Tzach).

Your humble servant doesn’t know about you, dear reader, but there is something comforting knowing that Benjamin Netanyahu is at the helm instead of the likes of Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, and Benny Gantz.

The News on the Israeli Street

The war in Judea and Samaria . . .

The terror focus during the last 24 hours has been at Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem where worshipers and soldiers have been continuously attacked with gunfire, Molotovs, and IEDs. A number of terrorists have been wounded.

The Deri saga . . .

There are increasing indications that a Supreme Court ruling in the matter of whether Shas leader Aryeh Deri can be a Minister in the government is imminent.

Some of those indications are that the Court will rule against Deri such as extra security being placed around the home of Supreme Court President Esther Hayut.

The question is “what will happen if the Court rules against him?”

Deri said himself yesterday that he will not resign if the Court decision goes against him.

Likudniks have said that they will fast-track a law rejecting “unreasonableness” as a determinant in Court proceedings.

Rumors are that Netanyahu will abide by the decision but appoint him as “Associate Prime Minister” instead.

Shas has said that it may leave the Coalition.

No one knows what will happen, but we may find out by tomorrow.

Hospital overload . . .

Corona is still here, and the usual winter influenza has struck. Every hospital in Israel is now at more than 100% capacity–the most overloaded being Sha’are Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem which is now at 150% capacity.

The simple fact is that there are not enough hospital beds in Israel.

The problem is acutely evident here in Ashdod where our marvelous Assuta Hospital (recently built) only has 350 beds to serve the city’s approximately 250,000 residents. Any potential patient who arrives at Assuta is being sent to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot or Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon–but both of them are also operating at full capacity.

TODAY’S BLOG

Operation Dugo: Eat A Falafel Today and Say “Am Israel Chai!

93-year-old “Dugo” Leitner having a falafel with President Herzog in Jerusalem yesterday.

Today is Israel’s annual “Operation Dugo” day. It is today because on January 18, 1945, fourteen year old Avraham Duvid (Dugo) Leitner began the death march from Auschwitz along with 60,000 other prisoners. Bitterly cold and only surviving on weeds and snails,  thousands of the already weak prisoners died when they fell behind and were murdered by members of the SS.

David says that the only thing that kept him alive were dreams of his mother’s bilkelach. When he arrived in Israel in 1949, David decided that he would always eat falafels–which resembled the bilkelach–on January 18. In his mind, eating a falafel symbolized the victory of life over death.

Now, the Holocaust Museum at Beit HaAdot (in Moshav Nir Galim beside Ashdod) has joined hands with David as has President Herzog to lead Operation Dugo. Herzog said this yesterday after meeting with “Dugo”: 

“I am proud to take part along with multitudes of people in Israel and the world in Operation Dugo, which is all about hope, love of life and a deep belief in the eternity of Israel. The moving story of Dugo, whose building and resurrection stand before his eyes day and night, deeply touched my heart and proves to all of us that the People of Israel live!”

Dugo himself said: 

“‘Operation Dugo’ is a special day, during which we remember all those who went on the death marches, but did not get to survive and reach the Land of Israel. And this, alongside marking the victory of the hundreds of thousands of survivors who survived the journeys and camps. I call on the entire House of Israel to go out tomorrow, January 18, 2023, to eat a falafel meal, and to remember one thing: ‘the people of Israel live’.”

Dugo himself eats as many falafels as he can every January 18.

So, your humble servant would like to invite you to join me for lunch at the falafel stand down the street today to remember–and to celebrate “Am Israel Chai!”