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| Mt. Carmel school, school bus and view of Haifa Bay |
Chapter 27 from the book From McComb to Jerusalem - The Life
Story of Irene (Shaloma) Levi By Petra van der
Zande
Copyright © 2017
by Petra van der Zande
“Remember how the enemy has mocked you, O Lord…. Rise up, O God, and defend your cause….” Psalm
74:18
With war looming on the horizon, civilians began to stock up
on food, which led to food and cash shortages. Bomb shelters were prepared and
ditches dug to be used as emergency shelters. Along with most of the reservists
in Israel, some teachers from Haifa’s Bible College and Carmel School were
called up, even in the middle of the night.
June 5, 1967 – Refusing
to listen to Israel’s entreaties not to engage in war, the Jordanian king’s
army attacked Jerusalem from the east. Soon, the wailing of air-raid sirens
prompted civilians to run to bomb shelters.
“Would you like your child to come home, or stay at Bethel?” [Boarding school] we had to ask the parents. The only child who went home was one who had been
hurt while out riding his bicycle.
For me, the war became a time of ‘triple duty’. In addition
to my own tasks, I had to take on extra duties of teachers who had gone off to
protect their country. Like Queen Esther had done for her people, I, too, felt
the need to fast. Israel’s future hung
in the balance –again! Whenever I could, I went to the home of Dr. Churcher who
lived up the hill at the Church’s Mission to the Jews (CMJ). It was a respected
ministry, helping Jews who were restored to the Land. Dr. Churcher was our school’s beloved medical
doctor and I often went there to pray with other believers.
The US Consulate advised its citizens to leave Israel unless
they had vital business to attend to. Even though the situation grew tenser
each day, I didn’t feel I should leave the school. Eventually, believers began
to meet on the school veranda for prayer, which meant cleaning up at the end of
the school day.
The first day of the war had been the beginning of many
miracles. Israeli pilots had destroyed the Egyptian Air Force on the ground;
the Jordanian Air Force followed suit; it took only one hour, and two-thirds of
the Iraqi Air Force were in shambles.
Schools were kept open, so every hour, our teachers opened
the classroom doors for everyone to hear the latest news. “Haifa’s oil
refineries are bombed,” the newsreader said. Everyone rushed to the window
overlooking Haifa Bay, but from what we saw, this was not the case.
June 6 – During the afternoon English lesson, the flannel-graph story of that day happened to be of David and Goliath. I had
reached the point where David defeats Goliath, when the radio news came on. All
the doors were open, so everyone heard,
“Israel has turned back the enemy at
the Sinai Desert and has almost reached the Suez Canal.” The children’s mouths
fell open. “The West Bank is now in Israeli hands,” the announcer continued,
“including Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho and Bethlehem.”
It was a time to praise and thank the Lord for so many
miracles in Israel’s past and present.
June 7 – At the Carmel School, classes continued as usual,
with an hourly break to listen to the latest radio announcements. I was
surprised to see Mr. Ben Meir, one of the Bible school teachers, enter the
building. His face beamed when he announced, “All of Jerusalem is now united
under Israeli rule!”
He told us that on that very morning, Motta Gur and his
paratroopers had been able to break through the Old City’s Lion’s Gate and
liberate the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. “The Temple Mount is OURS!”
Israelis would never forget Motta Gur’s words coming over the radio. Shlomo
Goren, the Army’s Chief Rabbi, had blown the Shofar. With tears in their eyes,
the weary, dust covered soldiers, for the first time in their lives, had
reverently touched the ancient stones of The Wall. Many had stood with their
heads bowed, reciting psalms. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand
lose its cunning.”
The rest of the country still found it hard to believe that
after nineteen long years, all of Jerusalem was back in Israeli hands!
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| Israeli flag at the school - Irene 2nd from right |
Two
weeks before the war, during Israel’s nineteenth Independence Day, Naomi
Shemer’s song had touched many hearts. Now, it could be heard everywhere,
“Yerushaliyim shel zahav, veshel nechoshet veshel or…”, “Jerusalem of Gold’ was
heard from cars, shops, and people around us singing it. When the songwriter
heard that Jerusalem had been united, she immediately added another verse. The
song, set in a beautiful melody, became a kind of second national anthem.
This excerpt was part of the original song:
“The wells are dry, and the market place empty. No one
visits the Temple Mount in the Old City. Through the caves in the rocks, the
winds howl and no one goes down to the Dead Sea by way of Jericho.”
This was added now:
“We’ve returned now to the wells, the market and the square;
and the ram’s horn from the Temple Mount in the Old City. And through the caves
in the rocks, a thousand suns do shine. We can go once more to the Dead Sea by
way of Jericho. Jerusalem of gold….”
I was thrilled and awed, when I realized that prophecies had
been fulfilled right before our eyes. Israelis walked with a new spring in
their steps and contagious joy spread over the country.
But the war wasn’t over
yet, and because of their wounded pride, the enemy fool-heartedly continued to
fight. Israeli soldiers were still risking their lives up on the Golan.
I continued to fast, though I had begun drinking water after three days.
While
reading my Bible, I was amazed how many times I came across the words “Adonai
Tzva’ot” - The Lord of Hosts - the Armies. The prolonged fasting (with all the
extra work) had weakened me. When I began to proclaim God’s promises, “The
Heavenly host fights alongside Israel,” I felt revived. “Lord, I can feel it –
You’re strengthening the Israeli soldiers on the Golan!”
June 8 –The Syrian positions on the Golan, which for so many
years made life a living hell for the people in the valley below, because of
their constant rocket barrages, had now been taken over by Israeli soldiers.
June 9 – After the ceasefire with Jordan, from all over the
country people rushed to Jerusalem.
June 12 - That Saturday night, because their hall was being
renovated, believers from the Bethesda fellowship were meeting on the veranda
of Carmel School. During the communion service we sang a fitting hymn, about
Jesus the Savior, who died on the cross. Then came the part, “’It is finished’,
was His cry…”
It is finished! A shock went through me. The war is over! I
knew it in my heart, as if the Lord of the armies had announced it. Feeling
weak from fasting, I leaned against the wall. And I’ll be able to break my fast
after the meeting, I thought.
Later, I learned that the last cease fire had
come into effect exactly at that hour. When Jesus cried out “It is finished.”
while hanging on the cross, He accomplished my salvation, as the Spirit had
shown me years ago, and I had believed. That same Jesus was also the “Captain
of the Hosts”. Yeshua is alive today!
“We’re able to travel to the Golan Heights again!” we
realized. “Oh! And all the other areas Israel set free!”
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| Messianic believers visiting the Garden Tomb in united Jerusalem |
It had taken six days of heavy fighting, and gradually, the
magnitude of the Israeli victory dawned upon Israel and the rest of the world.
The “Six Day War”, as it has come to be known, surely was a miracle from
beginning to end.
After this war, I began to share my spiritual insight and
experiences with every hitchhiking soldier I took along. “The sooner we ‘see’
Him, the Savior Soldier who died in our place,” I felt led to tell the soldiers,
“the fewer soldiers here need to die in today’s armies. He’s alive, the Captain
of Hosts!”
ISBN 978 965 91615 4 6
