Honor March
Sharing from a friend
Yosef craned his head, trying to get a sense of the size of the crowd. After a few moments, he gave up, bent down, and started rooting around in his backpack. At his side, Eliyahu Moshe laughed.
“Already breaking out the drone? We haven’t even started yet!”
“I heard there are more than a hundred fifty new people this year, I just want to get a feel for the size of the crowd.”
“I’m not protesting, I know better than to try to get between you and your drones. I’m still amazed they gave you the permit to bring it here in the first place. I guess that’s what happens when you’re responsible for basically inventing one of the most important parts of our job.”
Yosef straightened up, winked at Eli Moshe, and sent the drone up above the crowd. Watching the screen, he sent the lithe machine zooming forward and back. Words sped down the side of the screen, matching faces to directories and providing names and information about each person gathered with them waiting to march.
After a few moments, he directed the drone all the way up for a bird’s-eye view of the entire group — a gathering thousands strong. Everyone had already arrived, but they were waiting for the five-minute warning they knew they would get before it was time to actually head out. He marveled at the sheer mass of the group and what they represented, what they all must have achieved to be present at this event. According to the readout from his drone, they were 25,648 people this year. Also too many to imagine.
Satisfied with his survey, Yosef brought the drone back down for a careful landing. While he was packing the drone into its case, he asked Eli Moshe, “How was it building the dais this year?”
Eli Moshe waved his hand. “Nothing too difficult, especially with the material they give me to work with here. Anything I need, they get it for me right away. We had it up in half a day or so, I was able to get back before the end of afternoon seder.”
“Wow — I don’t get how you build these things so quickly. Really impressive.” Eli Moshe blushed and waved him off. “Stages, shtenders, they’re not so different. Just trying to help.”
Yosef looked around, noticing the other participants in his vicinity. He saw Elisha standing off to the side speaking to Reb Moshe (who really should have been on the dais already). Elisha was gesturing at a line in his weathered Rambam while Reb Moshe listened carefully, pursing his lips while he considered Elisha’s point. Rabbi Avi Goldberg was surrounded by a large group — nothing unusual about that, Yosef acknowledged, he was so warm and friendly — singing along while he played something on his clarinet. There were too many familiar faces too acknowledge at this point — he would have to wait to catch up until after the march.
Ariel and Aviad were over there — both from Mitzpe Yericho, he knew. Ariel, with his sweet smile, was so different from the larger, muscular Aviad. While Ariel explained the beauty of Judaism to seekers on the internet, Aviad built Eretz Yisrael with his bare hands, building his home and the shul on a hilltop overlooking Mitzpe Yericho. Still, they shared the same values of building up Eretz Yisrael and dedicating themselves to their people, that was clear.
There were more than fifty friends and acquaintances from his mechinah, Eli. Yosef was about to go over to them when he heard the buzz — five minutes, they’d be marching out. He bid Eli Moshe a quick goodbye and hurried to find his spot, along with everyone else.
They were arranged by date, each person by when they had earned their spot in this elite group. Yosef’s cohort was one of the largest out there, a testament to the crucial role they had played that day.
As Yosef found his way to his spot, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Eitan, also from Eli; this was his first march. “Hey, I heard that all the biggest names come to this — is that really true?” Yosef nodded; it was true, everyone came out to show their appreciation and respect. “It’s true. But remember, it’s like they say in yeshiva — it’s not about us, it’s about what we did for the klal.” Eitan nodded, familiar with the line that was repeated over and over to him and his friends.
Yosef clapped him on the back and continued on while Eitan rushed to the back. Reaching his spot, Yosef smiled at those to his left and right, just as they had been for the past few years. With a minute to go, Yosef pulled out his drone once more and sent it up to capture the march out.
A high-pitched whistle; the columns began to move. Yosef deftly kept his drone level while walking next to his friends; he knew what they were about to see, but he still couldn’t contain his excitement. Every year, it was the same for him.
Yosef’s cohort left the staging area and began to pass between the thousands of seats that had been set up for the event. Every space was filled with people, each one standing silently, showing their respect and admiration. “Not for me, for the klal,” Yosef repeated to himself. That’s how he had lived, after all; wouldn’t make sense to lose sight of that now.
On the dais that Eli Moshe Zimbalist had built was the VIP section. Like Eitan had said, all the big names were there:
Moshe Rabbeinu, the leader
Yehoshua, who had served as the first Ramatkal before taking over for Moshe after his death
Pinchas, who had created the position Rabbi Avi Goldberg and so many others now filled
Aharon and his son Elazar, the first Kohanim Gedolim
David Hamelech, legendary soldier, general, and eventually leader
Behind them were more and more of the leading lights of the Jewish People, and they were all there for one reason: to show their respect for Yosef and his companions.
As one, they stepped off the dais and approached the marching soldiers. Each one was greeted with a kiss, a hug, a clap on the back. They didn’t have to come out like this — you think Moshe Rabbeinu doesn’t have other things to do with his time? — but they always did.
Last year, Yosef had asked one of them about it — Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin, the Netziv. He smiled, a little sadly, and answered, “How can we not pay our respects to those who died defending the nation?”
A friend with more chutzpah than him had asked the Rambam the same question. “Not everyone here is so ‘frum,’” he had said, indicating some bare heads in the crowd, even a few tattoos. “Why do they merit such great honor here?” The Rambam, he recounted, had looked at him sternly and answered, “When the nations attack the Jewish People, they do it as a proxy for attacking Hashem Himself. A Jew who fights on behalf of Hashem’s People is really fighting for God’s honor; there is no greater kiddush Hashem than that.”
Remembering the interaction, Yosef Guedalia squared his shoulders and marched on. It was almost his turn.
Yehi zichram baruch
העמק דבר, במדבר לא:יג
וַיֵּצְאוּ מֹשֶׁה וְאֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן וְכׇל־נְשִׂיאֵי הָעֵדָה לִקְרָאתָם אֶל־מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה׃
ויצאו וגו׳. לחלוק להם כבוד כדאי׳ במדרשים וכנהוג עוד היום לחלוק כבוד להשבים ממלחמה. אכן אין המלך בעצמו נוהג כבוד לעבדיו. וזהו שאמרו חז״ל להודיעך ענותנותו של משה כו׳:
רמבם, הלכות מלכים ז:ט”ו
מִי הָאִישׁ הַיָּרֵא וְרַךְ הַלֵּבָב כְּמַשְׁמָעוֹ. שֶׁאֵין בְּלִבּוֹ כֹּחַ לַעֲמֹד בְּקִשְׁרֵי הַמִּלְחָמָה. וּמֵאַחַר שֶׁיִּכָּנֵס בְּקִשְׁרֵי הַמִּלְחָמָה יִשָּׁעֵן עַל מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמוֹשִׁיעוֹ בְּעֵת צָרָה וְיֵדַע שֶׁעַל יִחוּד הַשֵּׁם הוּא עוֹשֶׂה מִלְחָמָה וְיָשִׂים נַפְשׁוֹ בְּכַפּוֹ וְלֹא יִירָא וְלֹא יִפְחָד וְלֹא יַחְשֹׁב לֹא בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְלֹא בְּבָנָיו אֶלָּא יִמְחֶה זִכְרוֹנָם מִלִּבּוֹ וְיִפָּנֶה מִכָּל דָּבָר לַמִּלְחָמָה… וְכָל הַנִּלְחָם בְּכָל לִבּוֹ בְּלֹא פַּחַד וְתִהְיֶה כַּוָּנָתוֹ לְקַדֵּשׁ אֶת הַשֵּׁם בִּלְבַד. מֻבְטָח לוֹ שֶׁלֹּא יִמְצָא נֵזֶק וְלֹא תַּגִּיעֵהוּ רָעָה. וְיִבְנֶה לוֹ בַּיִת נָכוֹן בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִזְכֶּה לוֹ וּלְבָנָיו עַד עוֹלָם וְיִזְכֶּה לְחַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמואל א כה, כח) “כִּי עָשֹׂה יַעֲשֶׂה ה’ לַאדֹנִי בַּיִת נֶאֱמָן כִּי מִלְחֲמוֹת ה’ אֲדֹנִי נִלְחָם וְרָעָה לֹא תִמָּצֵא בְךָ” וְגוֹ’ (שמואל א כה, כט) “וְהָיְתָה נֶפֶשׁ אֲדֹנִי צְרוּרָה בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים אֵת ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ”:
Rabbi Mayer Twersky, “A Three Thousand Year War”:
In his Epistle to Yemen, Rambam provides a framework for understanding much of Jewish history, which also sheds light on his profound religious depiction of war. HKBH elevated Am Yisroel above all other nations by giving us His Torah.
Remember that ours is the true and authentic divine religion, revealed to us through Moses, the master of the former as well as later prophets, by means of which God has distinguished us from the rest of mankind...God made us unique by His laws and precepts, and our pre-eminence is manifested in His rules and statutes, as Scripture says, in narrating God’s mercies to us, “And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (Devarim 4:8).
Our pre-eminence, בחירת ישראל, has always been a source of envy and hatred. Rebelling against HKBH’s choice, the nations of the world have continuously sought to destroy us.
Therefore all the nations instigated by envy and impiety rose up against us, and all the kings of the earth motivated by injustice and enmity applied themselves to persecute us. They wanted to thwart God, but He can not be thwarted. Ever since the time of Revelation, every despot or slave that has attained to power, be he violent or ignoble, has made it his first aim and his final purpose, to destroy our law, and to vitiate our religion, by means of the sword, by violence, or by brute force, such as Amalek, Sisra, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Hadrian, may their bones be ground to dust, and others like them. This is one...attempt to foil the divine will. (A Maimonides Reader, pp. 439–440)
This penetrating, historical analysis underlies Rambam’s words, quoted above, in Hilchos Melachim. Every war is a battle for yichud Hashem because our enemies seek to defy HKBH and His sovereign selection of the Jewish people as the Chosen People. “’Those who hate you’ - these are those who hate Israel for whoever hates Israel hates the One who spoke and brought the world into being as it says, ‘And those who hate You have raised their head’. Who are they? ‘Against your nation they conspire secretly.’” (רש"י לבמדבר י:לה ע"פ ספרי. ע' גם רש"י שם ל"א:ג; Translation from Artscroll Sapirstein edition)