Picture this scene: David, a happy young professional black man is driving down the highway on his way home from an exciting and fulfilling extended weekend up North. He’s talking on his cell phone to his mom. It’s Monday evening of last week, May 10th, the day after Mother’s day. Because he was so busy yesterday he had forgotten to call. As he reaches the intersection of Route 70, a police roadblock is directing traffic in a different direction. His GPS is now recalculating his route and directing him to take a small country road. A large truck is in front of him and a similar one behind. As the convoy reaches the outskirts of a small town David sees an immense fire shooting up some 25 feet in the air. At the other end of the town, 150 to 200 angry men with battle flags and masked and hooded faces are yelling and jumping around behind the fire. His mom hears the yelling and asks him what’s going on. Not to alarm her he tells her it’s nothing, just some kids having fun. David is scared to death. The truck in front is waved past the bonfire by the mob. Then it’s David turn to drive through. But the truck in front suddenly breaks and stops a couple of feet ahead. The mob sees David’s black face and start banging on the car and hitting it with baseball bats. Someone throws a large rock through the rear window. Glass shatters. The mob moves in to grab David from the car, lynch him and burn him in the bonfire. David, his adrenaline pumping into his blood stream and nervous system, is calm. Thinking very strategically, he drives his car into the truck in front causing it to move up a few feet; puts his car in reverse; and slams down on the gas pedal. The car spurts backwards a few feet into the crowd, which now scatters to avoid being hit as David shifts into drive; weaves behind the truck in front and drives off into a field on his right. The mob, angrier than before, starts running after him. He’s driving down a dirt path in the middle of the field and it’s now 10:30 pm. He tells his mother something came up and he’ll call later. After driving a mile or so the road ends and he comes to a brick wall. He has less than a quarter of a tank of gas. Sounds like a movie you’ve seen? It’s no movie. And David or Dovid isn’t black and he’s on the road driving to Jerusalem. And the mob is a mob of Arabs waving Palestinian flags and thirsting for the blood of Jews. Our former Center student, Dovid Uhlmann, a native Chicagoan and Israeli citizen was here to daven at the graves of our holy ancestors and great rabbis and to visit friends and his alma mater, Ohr Somayach. The last grave he visited was that of Yonason ben Uziel in Amuka, where he recited the whole book of Tehilim. He almost joined his ancestors in his own grave, but Hashem had other plans. There are some facts you need to know about Dovid before we go on. He made aliyah in 2015 to join the IDF […]

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