Wounded Cast Lead hero visits Five Towns

A chance to show appreciation for the sacrifice and commitment of an Israeli war hero brought men, women and children from across the Five Towns and Far Rockaway to fill the main sanctuary of Congregation Shaaray Tefila last Wednesday.

“I want to thank everyone,” said Lt. Aharon Karov, 23, whose face bears scars from his wounds. “All of you, and pass it on to those who are not here.”

Karov, a platoon commander in the paratroopers’ Battalion 890, was critically injured when he entered a booby-trapped house in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008.  He had been called up for reserve service the day after his wedding. As a student at a yeshiva in Netzarim, Karov was also among those expelled from Gush Katif four years ago. He came to the United States to have reconstructive surgery and stopped in Lawrence on the way to the airport to return to Israel.

Jews around the world prayed for him as his life hung in the balance from the severity of his injuries. “This is a true story of a miracle,” said Aharon’s father, Rabbi Ze’ev Karov, head of the Karnei Shomron yeshiva high school.  “This is a night of appreciation, a true hakarat hatov [gratefulness] to Hakadosh Baruch Hu [G-d].”  He noted, alternating between Hebrew and English, that it was an acknowledgement of the “natural dedication, the mesirut nefesh” of Aharon, as well.

Rabbi Karov pointed out that last Saturday night, Jan. 2, was exactly a year since his son was wounded, and stressed the need to find the good in all situations. He quoted a lesson from Ethics of the Fathers to be among the students of Avraham, to have a “good eye.” Rabbi Karov recalled seeing Aharon lying motionless in the hospital bed, then seeing him move his hands, then open an eye, stand up, and then talk, whereupon the father made the blessing of “shehechiyanu im shem umalchut,” the complete blessing of having lived to see this day. He said that good is stronger than bad and can change the bad to good; that even bad has some good in it, noting that Avraham prayed for Sodom and that Haman’s grandchildren learned Torah in Bnei Brak. He also noted that the Gemarah states that we have to make a blessing on the bad just as we make a blessing on the good, and be happy.

Rabbi Karov said that Aharon was injured, but he is getting better. People who have never prayed before said psalms, tehillim for Aharon, he noted.

“This shows the best of us,” said Ari Bergman, a member of Shaaray Tefilla, as he spoke from the podium. “That we are one, we are all in this together, to continue and survive as a nation and see his positive attitude.”

Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Shalom in Lawrence, opened with, “To thank, praise, glorify and bless,” in Hebrew, thanking G-d for Aharon’s recovery. “As close as we feel to Israel, it is important to say todah raba panim l’panim, thank you face to face,” he said. He also stressed the need to give chizuk, strength, to the family and offer appreciation to Aharon’s wife, Tzvia.

The men lined up to shake hands with and thank Aharon, personally, after the meeting. Tzvia Karov spoke privately, conveying thanks to the community for the show of support.

“It’s really very moving,” she said in Hebrew. “It’s good to see the unity and caring of the public to our story. Thank you to everyone, truly.”

“I came because I thought it is an unbelievable story,” said Lara Ostreicher of Lawrence. “I don’t think people see Eretz Yisrael like that. I can’t even digest it. We are not on that level of selflessness.”

Estie Bryk of Woodmere counted eight families in the room with sons serving or who served in the IDF.

“Aharon was born on the ninth of Av,” his mother, Chaya, said privately in Hebrew. “We were very happy. The midwife asked why are you so happy on the ninth of Av, and we said because the Moshiach (messiah) will be born on the ninth of Av. I didn’t think much about that all these years but when he was injured I said Moshiach is not a person but an era, a way of behaving. It is an era where we get closer to Hashem, and darkness and light are together until the light shines out, as the redemption gets closer. From the moment he married and went to battle and was wounded and continued to fight to live I understood that this was the time of Moshiach and maybe that is why he was born on the ninth of Av. We have to see that within the dark is the redemption and in this way will come the Moshiach to see the good within the bad.”

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