Restoring the honor of Avivim's synagogue and the dignity of those who lived in fear - opinion

On October 7, my unit and tens of thousands of reservists rushed to Israel’s northern border to stop Hezbollah from flooding into Israel. Thank God, we were successful in our mission and stopped Hezbollah from fulfilling its dreams of capturing Galilee and massacring tens of thousands of Israelis. 

Looking back, close to a year later, it is clear that troops stationed would have been overrun and the massacre in Gaza on October 7 would have been a mere preview of the devastation that would have unfolded in northern Israel had the better trained, organized, and equipped Hezbollah managed to invade.

During the five months we were stationed in the North, we spent significant time in Avivim, a small town overlooked by the Shi’ite Hezbollah-dominated towns of Maroun-El-Ras and Yaroun. Most of Avivim, along with other northern border towns, became increasingly difficult to navigate due to the constant missile and drone attacks from the Lebanese Hezbollah-controlled settlements, possessing superior vantage points into Israel.

A few hours before we arrived in Avivim, two anti-tank missiles were fired at a car, to kill people who Hezbollah members believed to be inside it. Thank God, they were mistaken; minutes before the attack, the car’s occupants had entered a nearby house to collect their belongings. The blast damaged many windows and structures in the surrounding area.

The blowback impacted the Avivim synagogue and many of its windows were shattered, scattering glass shards in and around the building. On our first Shabbat there, we prayed in a part of the damaged sanctuary considered slightly less exposed to anti-tank missiles from the Lebanese towns situated above the community. Our prayer was brief, as we wanted to minimize our time in the building due to safety concerns and the likelihood that Hezbollah terrorists had seen us enter. Following the service, it was decided by the higher command that it was too dangerous for us to go into the synagogue and that part of the town because of Hezbollah’s superior elevated position. Leaving behind the partially destroyed shul reminded me of the generations of Jews around the world who had their synagogues ransacked and burned. This feeling stayed with me, haunting my thoughts during many sleepless nights over the past year.

In early March, my reserve unit was released after spending time in Malkiah, Kiryat Shmona, Avivim, and Dovev. We went home with mixed emotions. On the one hand, our swift response on October 7 had likely stopped Hezbollah from infiltrating northern Israel, but on the other, communities were abandoned, damaged, and resembled war zones. Tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters had lost their homes and communities, becoming refugees in their own country. Others had lost their lives.

Then, at the end of the summer, everything changed with the spectacular beeper attacks followed by precision strikes against almost all of Hezbollah’s leadership with the grand finale when Israel eliminated Hassan Nasrallah, who for decades was the terror group’s leader and had become a symbol of terror against Israel in much of the Muslim world.

The wheels were put in motion and my unit and thousands of other reservists were called up before Rosh Hashanah to change the terrible status quo which had taken hold over the past year. We attacked with great force and with the help of God eliminated many terrorists and destroyed much of the terror infrastructure and weaponry that Hezbollah had been preparing for decades to use in the capture and slaughter of the Galilee.

Restoring the honor of Israel

We restored the honor of Israel and were no longer the ones scared trying to defend ourselves, they were. We had steamrolled the Hezbollah border strongholds which tens of thousands of Israelis in northern Israel had looked upon with fear for many years.

Last week, after our release from service, we gathered to discuss our experiences at a hotel in Tiberias. Coincidentally, we met residents of Avivim, Dovev, and Kiryat Shmona who had fled their homes and had been living as refugees for over a year. Teenagers from Avivim asked us about the large Iranian Promenade in Maroun-El-Ras, built by the Islamic Republic of Iran as a sign of victory commemorating the 2006 war with Israel with a replica of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. They had looked at the structure in fear every day, knowing who and what it symbolized. We told them that the monument had been flattened as well as the entire Maroun-El-Ras Hezbollah stronghold to which they let out cheers of joy and excitement.

This sentiment holds true for many children in other border towns who grew up in fear of Hezbollah. Thousands of us were blessed to witness how the story that began on October 7 in defeat has come full circle. We had the merit to help restore the honor of Avivim’s broken synagogue, the dignity of those who lived in fear for so long, and the integrity of the State of Israel.

My hope for our future and for the sake of those who fell or were injured defending northern Israel is that the government and IDF will stand strong to ensure that the citizens of the North can return home to real safety and security that will last for generations to come.

The writer served more than 260 days with the Alexandroni Brigade as a reservist combat soldier in Gaza and Lebanon, is an oleh from New York, and completed his service as a lone soldier in the IDF. He is a former adviser to the aliyah minister and other Knesset members and has managed international activities for Israeli NGOs and Israeli election campaigns in English. He can be found on Linkedin and reached at sipznerbenjamin@gmail.com.