Thursday, May 29, 2014

MK Moshe Feiglin’s Unconventional Speech for Jerusalem Day

MK Moshe Feiglin delivered this speech in the name of the Knesset at the memorial ceremony for the fallen soldiers of the Six Day War and the War of Attrition
28 Iyar, 5774 / May 28, ‘14
Dear Families,
Honorable High Court Justice Uri Shoham,
Commander of the IDF Ground Forces General Guy Tzur,
Honored Guests,
With awe and trepidation, with a hidden tear and shaking knees
We stand here today
Facing the glory of your bravery and the splendor of your triumph.
And we salute you
Our brothers, heroes of fame.
We will never know why, after 2000 years
It was specifically you who were chosen by our Father in Heaven
to be the silver platter upon which Jerusalem was served to us
in the wondrous War of Miracles of Six Days
and the War of Attrition that followed on its heels.
But this we will always know
When you were called to serve
You parted from your loved ones and ran with alacrity ahead of the camp
You left everything behind and together, you charged into the fire.
In Armon Hanatziv, Ammunition Hill
In the Alley of Death and the Police School
In the Canal, in the strongholds, in the Land of Pursuit.
You forged a covenant of brothers, you sacrificed your lives for each other
One hand held the other, and for a rare moment – too rare – you taught us
the true meaning of oneness
Oneness at the front and oneness at home.
In the merit of one hand holding the other (numerical value 14+14)
We merited the 28th
That wondrous 28th of Iyar
As if our Father in Heaven was pleased and said
If my children are sacrificing their lives in extraordinary brotherly unity
They are worthy that I should be their Father and I will transform the natural to supernatural.
And five pursued one hundred – and one hundred pursued ten thousand
And the enemy was smitten, and in six days, you liberated our holy Land
And when the walls of dispute of the heart fell
The wall of stone was broken and Jerusalem was united
“The Temple Mount is in our hands,” called Mota
“I repeat – the Temple Mount is in our hands”
And our flag was raised over the holy Mount
And the sound of the shofar rang out…
And you are the teruah of the shofar
And you are the shevarim of the shofar
And you are always
The great outcry
*
Since then, we have become confused
We did not know how to clarify and continue
the authentic, natural, united momentum of liberation
We did not know what to do with your gift.
In the gap that has since widened between us
A wall has once again been built in Jerusalem
And again, we will look down and admit the truth
The city is very divided
We have dropped our flag
We have not really safeguarded
The unity of our city
Acquired with your blood.
And it is fitting and good that with awe and trepidation
With a hidden tear and shaking knees
We return every 28th and stand before you
Every Iyar, every year.
And we report back to you
And we will stand silent in the face of your judgment
What have we done this year to safeguard your gift
The unification of Jerusalem, the city of our Holy Temple
Jerusalem of Gold


For which you were the silver platter
Upon which it was served to us.

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