January 2nd and 3rd in Israel Sharing Friday Night Skies of Missiles and Rockets

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

                                 Mother in Sderot running to bomb shelter with small son

Hamas Terrorists' Missile and Rockets from Gaza

A shoulder-launched surface to air missile was fired at an IDF helicopter over Gaza today, missing it. Also today, Two rockets were launched at Sderot. One of them exploded near Kibbutz Nir Am and the other fell in an open area. Sderot residents reported shrapnel on a local streets, but no damage or injuries. Over the past day, the air force struck 40 Hamas gathering points and command centers throughout Gaza, preventing terrorists from launching attacks against soldiers and civilians. Meanwhile, Israel is sending a delegation to Doha, Qatar today to continue negotiations on a hostage deal with Hamas.

Hezbollah Terrorists' Rocket Launchers in Lebanon

   Nabatieh rocket launchers destroyed in this area in Lebanon

Israeli Air Force fighter jets destroyed Hezbollah medium-range rocket launchers in Lebanese territory last night. An IDF spokesman said in a statement: "The Israeli Air Force, with the direction of the Intelligence Directorate, struck Hezbollah medium-range rocket launchers at a military site belonging to the terrorist organization. Hezbollah rocket launchers adjacent to an additional military site in the area of Nabatieh were also struck. As part of the enforcement of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, prior to the strike a request was sent to the Lebanese Armed Forces to neutralize the launchers that posed a threat to Israeli civilians and IDF troops. The launchers were struck only after the request was not addressed by the Lebanese Armed Forces. The IDF continues to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel in accordance with the ceasefire understandings."

Houthi Terrorists' ballistic missile and drone

       Modiin, Israel, home of Hasmoneans and where Mattathias rebelled against Antiochus Epiphanes.  A burning torch is now carried to Jerusalem from Modiin each Hanukkah by relay runners.

Last night, the IDF intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis at central Israel and shot down a Houthi attack drone. Shrapnel was reported in the Modiin area.

Eliyahu David Kay and Possible Relative, Danny Kaye

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Eliyahu "Eli" David Kay was a 25 or 26 year old South African who had made Aliyah to Israel and was a paratrooper in the IDF.  He lived in Modiin and was a guide in Jerusalem.  Kay grew up in Johannesburg’s tight-knit Chabad community. After graduating from Torah Academy, he continued his studies at the Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne for a year, before moving on to Israel. He planned to marry in a few months. Eliyahu David Kay is survived by his parents, Avi and Devorah Kay; siblings Kasriel, Chanan and Na’ama; and by his grandparents, Jessie and Cliffie Kay, and Rabbi Shlomo and Lynndy Levin.

 Eli was just murdered by a senior leader of the  Hamas political wing who was a teacher,  42-year-old Fadi Abu Shkhaydam from Shuafat refugee camp, shot while on his way to pray at the Kotel in Jerusalem.  The attack, which took place at the Chain Gate, was the 2nd in a week to take place in the Old City. On Wednesday, two border police officers were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack near the Ateret Cohanim yeshivah. Why this Palestinian, Fadi,  had turned violent is not understood yet.  Eli was just a person in the killer's view in his urge to kill Jews.  Fadi's wife had left for Jordan 3 days ago, giving the impression that she knew what he was planning.     

Palestinian media circulate ‘last letter’ of Hamas member Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, who killed an Israeli and wounded 4 others in Old City: ‘I dreamed of meeting God as a martyr’  Israel police have arrested the wife.  

                           

      Shuafat's Main Street

Shu'fat, or more commonly Shuafat (Arabic: شعفاط‎ Šuʿafāṭ), is a Palestinian refugee camp in Jerusalem jurisdiction located next to Shuafat, a Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The camp is located outside the Israeli West Bank barrier (unlike most other Jerusalem's neighborhoods), but technically the Shuafat refugee camp is the only Palestinian refugee camp located inside Jerusalem or any other Israeli-administered area.                                                     

Family members gather at the funeral of Eliyahu David Kay, 25, who was murdered by a terrorist in Jerusalem’s Old City.(Photo: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90).  One of Kay’s brothers, Kasriel Kay, told the gathering that he would not eulogize his brother, as fitting their Chabad-Lubavitch tradition. Instead, he urged the crowd of mourners to change their lives for the better in his brother’s memory.

                                                   

“There’s no reason to be sad for him. … He will be at peace,” said Kasriel Kay. “Eli would have [chosen] no other way [to die], either this or in the middle of the war.”

Rabbi Warren Kaye may be one of the mourners.  He's Rav Bet HaSefer and Deputy Head at Shivtei Yisrael, Modiin.

Eliyahu David Kay arrived in Israel in 2016 to study at the Chabad-Lubavitch yeshivah in Kiryat Gat. After completing his studies, he served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces and went on to become a sergeant before working on an agricultural kibbutz near the Gaza border, and then as a tour guide for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. His family had recently joined him in Israel, emigrating from South Africa.  “When he felt the obligation to serve and protect our homeland, he signed up to be a combat soldier, ready to give his life for the Jewish people. He lived his life with great meaning, forming powerful, personal connections at every stage.”

When I heard his name, I thought of Danny Kaye, whose surname was originally David Daniel Kaminski, and his name in Hebrew is דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי.  Danny was an American Jewish comedian, actor, singer, dancer, comedian, musician, philanthropist, and cook in Hollywood, born on January 18, 1911 in Brooklyn, New York to  to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants Jacob and Clara (née Nemerovsky) Kaminsky. He was the youngest of three sons. His parents and older brothers Larry and Mac left Dnipropetrovsk , now called Dnipro, two years before Danny's birth; he was their only son born in the United States. and died in 1987.  Both Danny and Eli are fair-haired.  I see a possible resemblance.  Danny died at 76 on March 3, 1987. So Danny's parents had 2 other sons, Larry and Mac.    Could it be possible that Eli Kay could have been related?  Eli leaves a brother, newly married.  Eli was engaged.   Danny left a daughter, Dana.  

Dnipro is Ukraine's 4th largest city with a population of 980,948 (2021). 

Danny Kaye said that as a young boy, he had wanted to be a surgeon, but the family could not afford a medical education. Danny traveled the world on behalf of UNICEF.  He married Sylvia Fine.   He was the first ambassador-at-large of UNICEF in 1954 and received the French Legion of Honour in 1986 for his years of work with the organization.  I remember him as Hans Christian Anderson in a movie, Hans Christian Andersen (1952).    He made 16 other movies, all terrific.  

If Eli's brother took a DNA test and Danny Kaye's daughter and male cousins took a test, they could find out if they are related.  It would also help if someone had a well kept family tree, too.  I have just found a DNA relationship of 4th cousins to  Kay and  Kaye. My brother and I both match several Kaminsky people.   I use FTDNA. If they're not directly related, they could be distantly related, like I am to both surnames.  I have found a South African contingent of Goldfoots as well, even though my Lithuanian grandparents came to the USA. I'm counting on Eli Kaye's surname also being Kaminski.    "[Among Ashkenazi Jews] everyone is a 30th cousin," Pe'er said. Pe'er is of:  researcher Itsik Pe'er, an associate professor of computer science and systems biology at Columbia University. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]"They have a stretch of the genome that is identical." The study has clinical implications: Among Ashkenazi Jews, some genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis occur more frequently.

So when a soldier in Israel is slain, we all mourn.

Resource; 

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/11/yesterdays-terror-in-jerusalem.html

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnipro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu%27fat_Camp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kaye

https://www.timesofisrael.com/best-of-the-best-thousands-of-mourners-attend-funeral-for-terror-victim-eli-kay/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-terror-attack-fatality-named-as-south-african-immigrant-eliyahu-david-kay/

https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/5320429/jewish/Thousands-Gather-in-Jerusalem-for-Funeral-of-Terror-Victim-Eliyahu-Kay-25.htm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-arrests-wife-of-gunman-in-jerusalem-terror-attack/

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/who-knew-all-european-jews-are-30th-cousins-or-closer-n199641

Yesterday's Terror in Jerusalem

 Nadene Goldfoot    

My friend from Modiin, Israel                                           

    Jerusalem's Western Wall,  or Wailing Wall;  also called Kotel in Hebrew, where Jews go to pray;  as they cannot pray on the Temple Mount.  Moshe Dayan had given the Muslims the right to rule religiously  there, and in return they will not let Jews pray on the Temple Mount where they believe that the 2nd Temple lie under or near one of the Mosques, for it was their custom to build over their enemy's temples.  The 2nd Temple was the central shrine of the tribe of Judah from which Jews come from.    The custom is to write a special prayer on a small piece of paper and put it in the wall-between stones.  I've left one there.                                     

Terror in Jerusalem: Yesterday morning, 42-year-old Fadi Abu Shkhaydam from Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, a respected teacher at a high school  -- who was also a senior member of the Hamas political wing and who prayed at the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount every day -- opened fire on Jews on their way to and from the Western Wall. Eli David Kay, a 26 year old from Modiin, was killed and two other Jews, both rabbis, were wounded. One of the wounded remains in serious condition. Two of the policemen who managed to kill the terrorist were also wounded. The terrorist's wife and children left for Jordan 3 days before the attack, making it clear that they were aware of his murderous intentions. The attack took place on a street that is one of the primary way that locals and tourists walk through the Old City to visit the Western Wall.

Paratroopers at the Western Wall (Kotel) is an iconic photograph taken on June 7, 1967, by David Rubinger. Shot from a low angle, the photograph depicts three Israeli paratroopers framed against the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, shortly after its capture by Israeli forces in the Six-Day War. From left to right, the Israeli soldiers photographed are Zion Karasenti, Yitzhak Yifat, and Haim Oshri. The soldiers were reservists of the 66th Battalion, 55th Paratroopers Brigade.   Yesterday's victim was also a paratrooper wanting to pray.  

                                                

                            Called the Wailing Wall -We've had much to cry about

The western wall is part of the wall enclosing Herod's Temple (our 2nd Temple to replace the 1st built by King Solomon) that was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and rebuilt-starting in 538 to 515 BCE,  and it's still standing in the Old City of Jerusalem. Owing to the proximity to  the Holy of Holies area which was at the West end of the Temple, this part of the wall was regarded as sacred as far pack as the Talmudic Period; since at least the 10th century, regular services were held before it.                                                                

Eli David Kay, Z"L, immigrated to Israel from South Africa several years ago and served as a paratrooper in the IDF. He was currently working as a tour guide at the Western Wall and was on his way to morning prayers there when he was gunned down for no reason other than because he was an Israeli and a Jew.                                                  

Modiin where Eli lived.  It's an ancient Israelite town and is SE of Lydda.  It was the home of the eHeasmoneans and the scene of mattathias' 1st rebellion against the officials of antiochus Epiphanese.  His son, Simon, built there an impressive family mausoleum, remains of which still survive.  A burning torch is now carried to Jerusalem from Modiin each Hanukkah by relay runners.  Here we are in 2021 and our Modiin son is shot and killed before he gets to the Western Wall right in Jerusalem.  

His parents and younger sister immigrated to Israel a few months ago and live in Modiin [in the community that I am part of-the writer]. They just celebrated his older brother's marriage. Eli was engaged to be married in just a few months. He was laid to rest today in Jerusalem's Har Hamenuchot cemetery. Thousands attended his funeral. May his memory serve as a blessing for us all.

                                           

PM Bennett pledged to increase security in Jerusalem's Old City. The US State Department condemned the terror attack saying, "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack today by a Hamas gunman in Jerusalem’s Old City, which killed one person and injured others. We offer our condolences to the victims and their families."

                                             

Palestinian rioters clash with Israeli police at the entrance to Jerusalem's Shuafat Refugee Camp, November 21, 2021. (Screenshot: Twitter)

Hundreds of Palestinians in Shuafat rallied in support of the terrorist. The crowd set tires on fire and threw rocks at Border Police forces that arrived at the scene while chanting "the martyrs are going to Jerusalem in the millions". They also called for a general strike in the neighborhood today.                     

 The terrorist attended the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount daily, where he incited worshippers against Israel. Hamas praised the terrorist in an official statement, saying that "the Holy City continues to fight against the foreign occupier, and will not surrender to the occupation."

Note from my Modiin friend:            

Dear Friends, how can we go on living this way, allowing those who rejoice in murdering us to live within our holiest city, the capital of our state? How can we continue to let a mosque that preaches our destruction exist on our holiest place, the Temple Mount? At least in the Middle East, Islam is a religion of war and destruction against those who do not accept its primacy. It is a religion that propagates Jihad, holy war, and is bent on the destruction of the Jewish State in what they consider to be their domain.

On the other hand, the Jewish nation continues to bend over backwards to placate those who seek its destruction. Can you imagine the Moslems allowing a synagogue in the center of Mecca? Or perhaps a synagogue in St. Peter's Square in Rome? No, I don't think so. 

                                              

Is it because we fear the wrath of the Moslem world? They've already started several wars with us, and have been soundly defeated each time. And the moment they feel that they can prevail over us, will be the day the next war begins. But they don't have the power. Syria is barely functioning as a state. Same with Lebanon and Iraq. Egypt and Jordan have no interest in fighting us again -- and they don't have the military might to do so. And Iran? Aren't they already out to destroy us?

                                               

World opinion? Will the world consider us a pariah nation if we act in our own interest of survival? Much of the world already does, and always has, and yet they deal with us because of what they feel they can gain from us. Perhaps we should have done something permanent to defend ourselves during the last US administration. But times have changed.

                                              

The bottom line is that a situation where Jews must risk their lives to pray at the Western Wall in the sovereign State of Israel is simply absurd. We can't let it continue. No country or people would.

Resource:

israelAM

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-november-21-2021/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-terror-attack-fatality-named-as-south-african-immigrant-eliyahu-david-kay/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratroopers_at_the_Western_Wall