16/05/2015
Yom Shaalvim
(Excerpted from an article translated by Ariella Gold in honor of Yeshivat Shaalvim’s Jubilee in 2011.)
"לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִיתִי ה'."
“For Your salvation I yearn, Hashem.” (Breish*t 49:18)
With these words, Yaakov Avinu completed his blessing to Shevet Dan at the start of our nation’s history. A study of the historical maps of Eretz Yisrael’s borders and the history of Shevet Dan’s nachalah (inheritance) demonstrates why this blessing/prayer was particularly appropriate for Shevet Dan. After all, Shevet Dan’s nachalah, located between Shevet Yehudah’s nachalah and the shores of Yam HaGadol (the Mediterranean Sea), endured countless enemy attacks and invasions – starting in the days of Yehoshua bin Nun and continuing on to modern times.
Even during the War of Independence, the enemy invaded Shevet Dan’s nachalah, and all of the IDF’s many attempts to capture Latrun and the Ayalon Valley - and to open the road to Yerushalayim – were to no avail. According to the terms of the ceasefire agreement, the Ayalon Valley became “no man’s land”, and the Arab Legion maintained control of the Latrun police station. Thus, for security purposes and to prevent enemy incursions, there was a desperate need to settle the area around the hostile de facto border.
Two HaShomer HaTza’ir kibbutzim (Harel and Nachshon) were established to the south of Latrun, but the communities to the north – along the old Yerushalayim road – were still exposed. Hence, a decision was made to establish an additional settlement on the northern side of the Ayalon Valley. Shalhevet – an Ezra Nachal garin (“core group”), which was, at that time, completing agricultural training at Kibbutz Chafetz Chaim in hopes of founding a Po’alei Agudat Yisrael kibbutz – was given the mission.
On 11 Menachem Av 5711 (August 13, 1951), the Shalhevet members took control of land near the abandoned Arab village of Salbit. Leading rabbis and public figures – including Israel’s Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog zt”l – attended the dedication ceremony.
On Shabbat Parshat Noach 5725 (1964), the famous “War of the Tractors” took place in the Ayalon Valley. The kibbutz members set out on their tractors – on Shabbat and during shmitah – to confront the Jordanians, who were trying to seize control of the valley. As a result of the incident, the border remained very close to Shaalvim.
In the spring of 5727 (1967), during the tense, uneasy Tekufat HaHamtanah (literally, “the waiting period”) which preceded the Six Day War, no one knew that two months earlier, the Hashemite Brigade in Ramallah had prepared secret, detailed plans: “To execute an attack on the Shaalvim settlement in order to destroy everything therein and to liquidate the unit located there.”
Nevertheless, the IDF did recognize that Shaalvim must prepare for an attack by the Jordanian army. Hence, the entire community participated in training and exercises. In addition, a public fast and day of communal prayer was decreed on Thursday, 22 Iyar (June 14).
When the fighting finally broke out - on Monday, 26 Iyar (June 18) – every resident who had not been called up manned positions throughout Shaalvim. Even after the Ayalon Valley and Latrun were liberated by the IDF on Wednesday, 28 Iyar (June 20), Shaalvim remained on high alert, because an Egyptian unit had reached Nachshon and killed a truck driver. In fact, the high alert remained in effect throughout the war – until the end of Shabbat.
When the war ended, Shaalvim’s residents were spiritually, ideologically, and emotionally uplifted by HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s incredible chessed (loving-kindness). Not only did the IDF spokesman announce that the army had found the enemy’s detailed plans to destroy Shaalvim and annihilate its residents, but in many ways, the Six Day War proved to be a turning point in Shaalvim’s history. The border moved away; the security situation improved; the road to Yerushalayim reopened; the existential threat disappeared, and Shaalvim suddenly found itself in the center of the country
Once again, Yaakov Avinu’s blessing/prayer had been fulfilled in Shaalvim:
"לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִיתִי ה'."
“For Your salvation I yearn, Hashem.” (Breish*t 49:18)
