October 7, 2023 will be marked in the history of Israel. At the national level, it is a tremendous disgrace due to the atrocities and massacres committed by the radical Palestinian Islamic group called Hamas against the Israeli populations located near the Gaza border. We are entering a new war, which also has other threats coming from the north with Hezbollah, another radical Islamic group in Lebanon. Both supported by Iran.
What happened on October 7 was exactly a typical anti-Semitic pogrom as happened to the Jewish people throughout history on many occasions and in different parts of the world, as a wandering people that we were since our expulsion from Jerusalem that began with the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE by the forces of the Roman Empire. History unfortunately repeats itself.
It is very impactful because today we have access to digital technology that records everything that happened and it was a tremendous shock that it happened in our home, Israel.
On a personal level, as a licensed tour guide, I guided a tourist from the USA on October 5th in the ancient city of Jerusalem as usual. The next day, October 6th, I went to Ben Gurion airport, by the way everything was very quiet until that moment, to make a solo trip to Canada for 16 days, a trip that I had scheduled a long time ago, but everything would change dramatically the next day.
Due to the time zone that places us seven hours ahead of the east coast of Canada, I arrived in Toronto on the same day, Friday the 6th. And on Saturday the 7th, I could not absorb the dramatic news coming from Israel so quickly.
Messages began to arrive from friends, family, many tourists that I have guided throughout the last ten years and former friends or acquaintances who hadn’t been in contact for a long time.
I decided to cut my trip and suspend my next flight to Vancouver and began processing hotel and flight cancellations, therefore I started to reorganize my return but international companies were no longer flying to Tel Aviv based on what was happening. My ticket was with KLM, operated by Air France.
I went into tremendous panic, despair and, above all, a lot of fear of not knowing if I could return to the country quickly and be reunited with my wife. I wanted to be there as soon as possible at a time like this.
After several days of paperwork, suffering and stress, I managed to alter my flight and buy a new combination with El Al from Paris, since El Al as an Israeli company was operating, but the flights were full of Israelis like me eager to go back home and I feared not getting a return seat.
Therefore in three days I traveled through three continents, I left the American continent on the 14th, Toronto, on the 15th I spent a whole day in Europe, Paris, due to the combination I obtained, and on the 16th I arrived in Asia, Tel Aviv.
Finally, super excited and after having shed several tears during the entire period I was outside of Israel, I was able to arrive and land at Ben Gurion Airport on October 16. Happy to be home but obviously very worried about the ongoing war.
My feeling is that there is a before and after from what happened on October 7, 2023. How we learn this terrible lesson and how we act will affect our present and future. The people of Israel cannot and should not be divided, our union and that of our friends who love us around the world is essential to enable us to confront the number of enemies of all types and ideologies that are constantly reproducing and who wish to destroy the Jewish people and Israel throughout the world.
We are in our ancestral land and we have the possibility of defending ourselves something that many of our ancestors could not do in the last 2000 years.
As we say here in Israel: “Am Israel Chai” The people of Israel live!
Author:
Adiel Wajsman
Licensed Tour Guide
October 26, 2023