CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #170 Avichai Koch & Yinon Dagan - October 7: First Hand Stories of Survival

a pickup truck with uh around nine or 10 terrorists on top of it drove alongside my farm literally alongside my farm my farm is is the first farm when you enter the mosab they slowed down by the entrance of of the mosab and they ended up deciding not to go in we can't explain why we had a very very big n we know that they were looking for the Iron Dome and they couldn't find it they enter the city of netivot and uh right by the entrance of the city of netivot where the places the first respond response team of the city of shot them to death so we had a very very big [Music] miracle and welcome to Torah talk kazak's program with special guest we have with us all the way from from isra welcome an honor to have you both on our program here if you could start off by giving us a little bit background start with you a so my name is I was born in mhed in the center and I I used to work in computers and on 2003 me and my wife decided to do something more meaningful with our life and we decided to move to the neev and we bought a place in Muma we bought a farm F and uh we started to be farmers and uh since 2006 uh we're running our own Farm amazing amazing wow and yon my name is yon danan I'm a farmer in Israel in the north North of Israel Third Generation generation of farmers my grandfather was a farmer in the kibuts in the north next to the north border with Lebanon um I'm farmer since I'm remember myself from young age I remember that I early uh early wake up in the morning to pick up uh pitches I have five kids in kic schools and I raise vegetables I have a farm of 224 Acres wow and since 7 of October I join the Army too oh but we get it I guess farmer and a soldier unbelievable so uh you know we all know that it's about a year ago that we all experienced a terrible terrible tragedy nin October 7th on on uh and uh we're going to get to that in a moment about personal experiences on October 7th and it's in everyone's mind but one thing when it comes to Farmers the one thing that comes to my mind we've been learning about it all the time is the concept of sh so could you give us a little bit of an experience personal experience with farming andita so uh 3 years ago I've been Z to keep my second shita amazing the first one was 10 years ago and it actually started with my oldest son who's uh 22 years old now he uh finished the Army he finished his active service a month ago he was uh eight months in Gaza in a row it wasn't easy for us as a parents but 10 years ago he was 12 years old before his b and he came to me in my wife you know with those pamplets that they give for kids in SCH with a story about a farmer who is not religious at all and he decided to keep sh and and uh he's telling at the story that uh the farmer said that he he had a big and he was uh he was so happy he kept shita and he said ABA next year it's my B Mitzvah year I want you to keep so you can imagine that your 12 years old son will come to you one day and will tell you shut off your business close everything and keep shita has that Hashem gave us you know I always says that Hashem is my GPS and Hashem directed us to do to get the right decision and make it and keep shita because it was one of the best decisions we've ever made in life Wow amazing and there's no a week There's No even a day without me thinking about the shita and I can tell you that with the big of K that helped us to go through the year we we were able to do it on the first that I kept 10 years ago K as were able to uh to help and and I know that 27% of the Israeli farms in the mosim was keeping were keeping shmita and last shita three years ago 51% for 50% of was unbelievable big credit to K who I know on a personal level the great work that they do and a shout out to R maritz who does an amazing job over there yes and uh uh you know we'll jump to you about how is it being a farmer like what's the like of everything to do out there I know you're third generation but still what what makes the passion first you must to love the love the work CU it's hard work it is hard work I could just imagine I saw the videos you were showing me before wow so this is the first thing and the other thing is a connection between the man and the land because is is connection between us to the to the land which is strong and I feel that for me it's also is it's also to make the that depend on the land that's right likeu is pray over 600 praise 63 praise for 515 63 okay 515 times to enter he wasn't able to enter and here we are not only are you and to make all this so I glad to have opportunity to make this mitvah and also it it bring life it's bring life to the world it's do something good it's the first the first skills the men have to feed the world to do the the first thing that people need to do is to eat and all all the things around us is depend on the Farmers on on the people who grow the foods amazing amazing so going back to what we said before for uh it's in everyone's mind every single day in theed we do and we pray for the the for for for everyone to be safe and the and and uh personal experiences on that horrific day on October 7th we'll start with you so um as I said before I live in Muma and Muma is four miles from the Gaza border and on October 7th everything was different on 6:30 a.m. in the morning with start hearing the sirens one after the other in my area it's it's not a regular siren and we only have 15 seconds one 5 Seconds to run to a shelter so we literally didn't leave the shelter room um we didn't have guns in our uh in our MAV we only have two rifles and the head of the first respon team called me in the morning and he said do you have a gun do you have something and I didn't have but my wife who few months before October 7th wanted me to make a license for a for a pistol and I didn't because I said I don't want to slep with a gun you know and everything with the license wherever I go then she said if you if you're not going to do it I'm going to do it so she made a license for a pistol and she got the pistol like a few weeks before October 7th so the first so I told the guy from the first Response Team my wife has a pistol then he asked my wife to stand at the front gate for like uh 12 hours with another guy from The First Response Team so that's what you did and around 10:30 a.m. in the morning between 10:30 to 11: a pickup truck with a around nine or 10 terrorists on top of it drove alongside my farm literally alongside my farm my farm is is the first farm when you enter the mosab so they drove alongside my farm they slowed down by the entrance of of the moshav and they ended up deciding not to go in we can't explain why Wow we had a very very bigness we know that they were looking for the iron and they couldn't find it they enter the city of netivot and uh right by the entrance of the city of ntiv where the bab place is the first respond team response team of the city of ntiv shot them to death so we had a very very very big miracle my son was with home with was at home with us and he had to go to the to his military base he got called to come as soon as possible it's a long story short but barem he was able to get to his military base without entering uh the ambushes that we on the road cu the Hamas literally conquered the Gaza envelope and and I told my son wait a little bit let your team come here and pick you up and he said no I have to go and if I if I would let him go like 10 minutes before he left I don't know if he was with us today because the whole Road was full of ambushes and he and he got into a place in moini five minutes after the attack where where there were you know there was a crazy battle over there and he literally saw the bodies on the road and one of the soldiers signed him with his waved him with his hands so go away don't don't drive from here don't come here and if if if he would come like 5 minutes before he would go over the mosab and there was another Ambush that nobody survived there so we had so many miracles on October 7th and my son was fighting in Gaza for eight months in a row in Elite unit and a month ago we finished his active service and we're trying to get back to life 100% how was a personal experience with October 7th in October 7 my commander called me me of course I know what going on and uh I go to my base my old business shut down cuz I'm supposed to uh put tomatoes on my lens I increase my plots of lens and in October 7 I get really severe damage uh on on my lens so uh I I I I be able to put some wheight in some areas only to hold the L so other not taken for me it happened by the help of sa F project that come and until after three days they write me a check and it was like a miracle that helped me to pass through this difficult time and I I finish my active service before also like his son so you drop everything and you go to the Army yeah no work no taking care of yeah I I serve in Air Force I was in lot of dangerous places with the drones that blow above my head um actually in the north the uh War goes different than the South because uh we don't have combats inside the land it was it the diff the the war it's only of missiles and drones that come from the sky but we got a lot of plates that get fire fired and burned down to the ground a lot of evacuation mhim and Villages that the fruits never get harvested and the the damages are really really huge I want everyone to understand that listening and watching this that people know October 7th has you know a terrible day a lot of tragedies and and and people passing away but for Farmers there was tremend mendous amount of damage to their farms and you show me the pictures and and we have it up over here on the screen and the amount of damage that they did and they burnt down the the the the the the the different machines that you guys use for Fe the cows to feed the cows and they put the barred wires around the area they off they bum chickens houses like thousands of chicken houses that burned from the missiles to their Vision was just ruin just just just do damage could you maybe share with us we'll start with you aai the damage for the farmers I I want to tell you before something which is very important to understand the Israeli Farmers that they running the the farming business in Israel is you have to understand that the farming business is not a business is not just a business in Israel it's more it's so important it's very important for the security of Israel because the farmers in Israel are walking their land all the way to the fence with Gaza with Lebanon with Jordan with wherever these are the real people who keeping Israel they are walking the land all the way to the fences and they are not giving up on any inch of Israel and this is why the farming business is not just a business but something which is very important for the security of Israel cuz you can imagine how one farmer can keep Acres of acres of land compared to someone who live in the city and on October 7th when the ter came in to the Gaza envelope they burned where whatever they could like everything they burn the avocado trees the the they put as you said Barb wires in the Citrus Tre so the farmers couldn't go until the the army checked every inch of you know of the land so the farmers will be safe to go back to their lands and the the tie workers the workers who work for us are workers who comes from Thailand and the day after October 7th the king of Thailand told all the all the all the T the foreign TI workers in Israel that they should back go back to the houses on the expense of the government of Thailand because the isra the the Hamas also killed the foreign workers he killed many many Thai workers and Filipinos and you name it just B not [Music] and 70% of them has left us and we left without Walkers not only that that we couldn't go to walk our Farms we couldn't we didn't have Labor we didn't have we didn't have our our employees to come and help us and and and harvest the tomatoes the Cucumbers the the the whatever we needed to do so there was a big very very big crisis and uh this is where we saw the unity of Israel and first of all I want you to know that this Sunday on October 8th the first people who called me up and they asked me are you okay where is your family where we we've been thrown out of our houses on M shabat we've we've displaced where they put us in hotel and I had to leave my house with my with my with my wife and my two daughters my son was fighting in kibota to liberate the kibuts and I had to leave my house and the first people who called me except for my family of course to ask what's going on with the people of K as they called me up and they said do you need anything how can we help you and they help me they really really helped me so this is very very very important to know that Karan as is like a one big family who's keeping the farmers and make sure that the farmers will be okay there was nothing more uh important for me as a farmer to feel the warmth and the unity of am and K that came and stand behind me and they told me whatever you need we're here unbelievable amazing very inspiring but I want you to know the M that they're giving up of their lives for doing this job they go in in in these machines that are bullet prooof meaning they could they could tell us about it so the government in in some Kim who's uh who has that they are very close to the fence with Gaza the Israeli government subsidized special bulletproof tractors so that the farmers could work and feel safe when they're walking close to the fence because this is it's not about the money it's about the security of and that's right 100% And and another thing that you told me which was very inspiring is that you're in the hotels and you know you don't want to just sit there and do nothing you want to do something forel so what did you do you got involved with Karen and you did a a distribution Cent so two days two days 3 days after the war me and my wife couldn't sit at the hotel and think that our son is fighting you know uh very close to where we live and we decided to go back we also couldn't leave the farm and we decided to go back to our house and to our farm and since we had tens of thousands of soldiers around we decided to open like a distribution center in my warehouse I couldn't BR my land I couldn't go to the fields and I couldn't use my Warehouse so we opened like a a place where we collected stuff we started from collecting stuff from uh people good people from Earth isra uh you know the soldiers when they left the houses on oober 7th they ran out with nothing they had no enough clothes and enough not enough underwear you know and and basic equipment so we collected for them from we started from people in s Israel and a week after we called our brothers and sisters here in New York and they kazak was very much involved we got duffel bags upon duffel bags and we sent to start back then so we we used to get uh between 80 to 100 duffel bags every week and we uh distributed it for the soldiers around and not only that we also open opened like a pizza place we had somebody who came with the stoves and everything and we started to make pizzas for the soldiers for the soldiers we started with 100 Pizza pies and we ended up doing 200 Pizza pies a day everything ran by volunteers from all around the world we was on a WhatsApp group in America of volunteers who who wanted to apply and come and then make pizzas in our we had more than what we needed we we we got into a situation where we needed to tell people please don't come we have more than enough volunteers and it was amazing to see the unity of of of am Israel and besides that we also built two huge tents at in in our at the back of our farm where we uh served a dinner every day for 500 soldiers everything made by by donations mostly from the US we had uh we had um is so we saw the unity of am Israel at some point I told my wife you know what it's not just for the soldiers it's also for am Israel who's coming to volunteer and coming to Sho like you say here in America with the soldier give them a hug give them a kiss and and feel the the giving feel the giving and it it was amazing it was one big amazing project we continue now by the way it's a uh my wife uh wanted to continue the the the the the unity and the giving and the the kindness and all the good so uh now now the number of soldiers have decreased slightly in my area so we closed the the the facility and now we only give stuff that left overs you know from from the war by demand they call my wife and the and uh my wife is is opening the warehouse and she gives them whatever we have we stopped with the food but we started like a we planted a like we call it a food Forest a place where people can come and see it and hear our story and see it watch our farm and we have a special place for the soldiers where everything is free and they come and they can could have coffee and breakfast and and stuff like that and you if you get to our area you you're more than welcome to come visit amazing amazing very inspiring you known K the organization how do they help Farm how do they help you if you could share with everyone yes um I have a friends in theim in the North in there is very dangerous places for for labor for working for the farmers there is a farmer in meta that wants to he go to his lands his fields and he got shot by his I died and the farmers they have the courage to to to go the fields but after this scenari they decided to not do that so the most of the fields that are very close to the fences of with Lebanon are empty and the damages are really really heavy cuz if if you don't tree it's not tree it's not like vegetables if you not treat the tree you not deal with him if you don't take care of it you don't take care of him it's really difficult after that to bring him back bring him back to life so these areas is in in really really deep damages um actually it's tough it's tough I have a friends that he got 250 ships that he must to sell because he not be able to treat them in M Dov that car F also help him is's a big big farmer big guy also in the Army like serve not only in the war like every is it it his job also he has work on tomat it's actually place you put the shells and artillery yes that he work on it every day by by usually B can hold he can help he can lift a lot of shelles in one hand he got the big hands really really friend close to me he got ki's next to the north bord yeah FR KES and peaches and Karen I know that they help him very much to still have his L also in mhab Alma got another friends that he raise grapes uh in and all all of his workers are disappear overnight so uh I know that I called by his name for Karen for member from the Karen and he he came and sa fun project that help this guy also to still have the ability to hire local employees and finish the job to harvest the CPS uh um for me it was a really deep saving CU I was in a really deep really really B bad situation also the mental damage is it's uh it's connected because you all you all business collaps um in in one shot also because I joined to the Army to the war efforts uh and and and I still have my business after sa F project helped me I have the ability to to plow to plow my lands and and now we are get ready for the next season we help that we be able to plant tomatoes I raise tomatoes for the ketchup industry now um well for a better days and we know the succeeds depend uh by us working together so I I want to come here to share with with the people the situation because they know this is the the the solution for this situation this is the solution this I believe can H can help us to still have the ability to uh to work um that's it amazing amazing just unbelievable we think that oh we have some fruits and vegetables and we have ketchup and all the just comes to our table but the story behind the story behind the story is that there's people there working the Farms also the effects the first the first result is the fields but the effects is it's more bigger than that cuz there is workers that work on the tractor there is workers work on the on the trucks that take the fruits for the shops there is the shops that selling the fruits so if they don't get the supplies so it's a chain reaction that's right it's a big chain reaction and it causes very big effects 100% and and and there is Chain Reaction by a lot of other fields we can call it too like in Kiron for example a lot of Jewish wants to sell the lenss and then Arabic people come with the lwy lawers and the lawyers come to this Jewish guy and send them told them we want to buy it doesn't know that the Arabs actually stand behind this lawyer um so it it comes from a lot of places for example the treatment the the Arab community in the North like said before in the North in the Galil the Jewish Comm the Jewish people it's 15 % from the population so the Arab population is increas we are really close to lose the Galil by by that like for example I tell you I I'm searching for I I really want to buy a house one day even it's not reachable right now like a buy older than me bu it before more than 20 years ago it was different than today and right now if I want to buy a land for me uh to buy 500 M Square to buy to build a house on it's going to cost million and a half in shakers it's the same here it's in in dollars to US in Israel it's in shakers check um for Arabic guy in a village next to my Village uh it's going to cost 50,000 so much cheaper so you get you get how much cheaper like talking about 30 double 30 [Music] times if if I get to the the main problem I think it's the the influence that the Arabic had on on the government's offices I think it's come from all over the world they put money on they have lobbies on inside Israel that can create this problem and uh also they have a lot of lands that they declaim that these lands belongs to them before the the Israel country are came before 48 so they they claim it and they they get inside to court with the with a lot of power in organization that support them wow wow wow with a lot of big amounts of money and and they actually succeeded a lot a lot of lands we lose to to the Arabic population in the north and they come also to to the farmers for me my 200 124 Acres I'm rent renting this lands so they actually come to the owners of the lands the Arabic Farmers also they want to rent the land cuz the it's not depend The Who Who belongs the lens belongs to it depends who is actually do the work on who actually live on the lens holding it so these guys want to do it too and they suggest amounts that I I I not really to pay double double triple the amount the I really to pay so actually it's amount that for me I think that they lose money by that but as I see they willing to lose maybe they got support from communities Arab communities that willing to help them to to found these amounts but actually they they suggest to the owners of the lands big amounts if we took it for numbers uh if I pay $100 uh for the they they will to pay three 300 so for me in this is a different War this is a is a new way of looking at it and uh we have an opportunity right now for everyone that's listening and around the world save aarm fund.org this is a way that we could keep everything for this is a crazy breaking uh developments of here I'm one that's I I I think at this I'm active I know what's going on this is a k this is the Insight this is very uh bothersome that Amy said we work Blood Sweat interior literally for this land and here we are because some farmers are having some difficulties and uh and and it's being sold wow so we have a we have a custom which is a final message we'll start with then we'll jump to Y for our broad audience so I know that in America giving is something very popular and much more than in Israel and uh my grandmother Tau me that the more you give is the more you get so because you know why the word for giving in Hebrew is Natan when you give you get Natan is a palum backwards and forwards n that's nice and I have something to add on it that I offer you to to think about it like a farmer when you give you sow your seeds you plant your trees you plant your you plants whatever when when they'll grow and they'll be ready you'll get it back than you said about and that's that's my message very powerful message you know um for me it's the Boron sentence that he said that I show you before he said that uh it's not depends what the amim the go do the Nations do it depends what the 100% and uh we're going to continue strong we're going to be there for you guys uh Karen sa aarm fund.org uh I know on a personal level the work that they do during I want you to know that uh I have the to be invited to speak in various different communities and shs on behalf of Karen and I did it more than happy I was very happy to do so and uh and the joke was we have quite a number of children at home so I said I know shita on a personal level they're like what connection to you to Farmers I said every day I say shita they're like what what do you mean you do it every day I'm like I put kids to sleep I say sh M go to me go to bed anyways all seriousness ladies and gentlemen very very inspiring if you could give us a give all of because of the work that you do please so uh amen amen for me I I I was to in Israel before I fly I planed to to bring some soil in battles to give some people so I cannot give you battles with soil but I bless I bless you to have the to deal with the soil of Israel because this is aat Kesh that everybody every everyone of our fathers and mothers from the beginning of the Jewish Nation wants to to be here so you have the to deal with this soil and to be blessed by that because this soil is the first soil that going to be in Redemption the Mas will come beov and we you will see amen amen amen beautiful amazing phenomenal great gave me so much so much strength this is a different type of a Torah talk than we usually have usually and and this is these are farmers is our first time doing this over 160 different episodes and uh I really like the different approach it's eye opening it's ER it's am and uh these guys are in the front lines in a sense besides for being Farmers they went to become soldiers whether your son whether yourself and uh very inspiring we ask everyone the call to action please get involved learn more check out Karen uh it's not just during sh throughout the through all out throughout the support these individuals to keep Amy strong so we want to thank you all and we want to remind everyone Tuesday nights 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time kazak Tor talks with special guests we have some amazing guests coming up amazing uh programs amazing Edition episodes and we we love the feedback the amount of feedback we're getting is tremendous please continue sending us the feedback uh suggestions for future guests are always welcome info k.org info chq.org special thank you to our friends at Daily giving dollar day goes a very very far away special thank you to all the various different platforms that host kazak Tor talks the shout out to our friends at Tor anytime thank you very much to not them hard behind the camera the entire kazak team and we only complete Redemption days [Music]