"In
the last Great Invasion of the Last Great War, the Greatest Danger for Eight
Men was Saving...One...."
This was
part of the tagline for what is arguably one of the greatest war films ever
made - 'Saving Private Ryan'.
When it
came out 21 years ago, veterans of the D-Day Landings, such as G.I. Frank
DeVita, said that the first twenty minutes of the film were accurate. Others
said that they represented the closest that non-combatants could get to the
horror that faced the soldiers who risked (and in many cases, lost) their lives
on 6th June, 75 years ago on Omaha Beach, Dog Green Sector.
Frank was
only 19.
If you've
seen the film, you know how harrowing some of the scenes are, as the eight
soldiers fight their way through France to find the elusive Private Ryan and
save him - his parents last remaining child. The only one of the his brothers
who hasn't been killed in battle.
The Israeli
Army has a dictum that no soldier is ever left out on the field and they will
go to extraordinary lengths to rescue our wounded brothers on the field of
battle.
So, from where
does this noble idea emanate?
[The
invaders] seized all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and
went their way. (12) They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, and his
possessions, and departed; for he had settled in Sodom.
(14) When
Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers,
born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in
pursuit as far as Dan.
'שמנה עשר וגו THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN — Our Rabbis
said, “It was Eliezer alone whom he armed and it (318) is the numerical value
of his name” (Nedarim 32a).
(15) At
night, he and his servants deployed against them and defeated them; and he
pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. (16) He brought back
all the possessions; he also brought back his kinsman Lot and his possessions,
and the women and the rest of the people.
Avram, one
man with possibly a single servant (if you follow Rashi's dictum which is how
it is accepted) went to war against the four kings - just in order to rescue
his nephew. Can you imagine that?
Why did he
do it - because he knew that it was the right thing to do.
He knew
that he had to save his 'Private Ryan'.
He had no
option but to risk his life, putting into jeopardy the future of his progeny,
leaving his wife possibly widowed. Losing everything he could aspire to be.
Because.
In that
war, the greatest danger for two men was saving one man.
Avram and
Eliezer, risked their lives simply to save one man, who had previously
preferred to leave his uncle and live in the sin drenched hellhole that was
Sodom. A city that would soon be found to be unredeemable by Gd, as we will see
next week.
Avram cast
his own mortality to the winds because there was something more important to
do. He had to rescue Lot, irrespective of how much he did or did not deserve to
be saved.
3000 years
ago, he established the dictum - you never leave a man out there on the field,
whatever the price.
In
Whitehall tomorrow and next week and on Monday at 11.00 am, we will remember
those of our nation who made the ultimate sacrifice and paid for it with their
lives.
They fought
an enemy who knew no mercy, in wars that made little sense and in which
millions of people were killed in battle or murdered through a deliberate and
state endorsed policy of genocide.
They too
engaged in suicidal missions which many knew might not succeed and which would
and, in many times, did cost them and their families dearly. Yet, like Avram
and his servant, outnumbered, out-gunned, out-witted and out-manoeuvred, they
still threw caution to the wind and did what they could to save their own
Private Ryans.
And it is
for this reason that today, we, the fortunate ones, owe them, the victims of
war, our greatest respect and gratitude and we remember them precisely because
of what they did - and the victory that their colleagues eventually
achieved.
Every day
in many different locations, our Avrams and Eliezers, our Wingates and Montys,
our Dayans and Rabins fight the battles that were they to lose, we could not
win.
May the
memories of every single serviceman and woman who fell for this country be in
our minds, hearts and thoughts and may they rest in eternal peace, Amen.
Shabbat
Shalom.
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