Why Were Israel's First War Planes named 'Tempest' and 'Storm'?
Ps. 83:14-16
How do we navigate the narrow line of moral complexity between the legitimate will to survive - and the wish to destroy our enemy?
The series of the poems written by the House of Asaph ends today with a haunting chapter that laments the many enemies surrounding Jerusalem and begs God to avenge the nation with fury.
Once again, it’s impossible to read these 2,500 year old words without reference to current events, the complex political situation of Israel, as well as the dark tones on all sides that call for revenge, annihilation and total victory at the expense of so many innocent lives and modest dreams of daily calm and co-existence.
We are not the first to read today’s psalm in the context of political reality.
In this fascinating post, Calev Ben-Dor writes about the early years of the State of Israel, and how its first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, famously a reader and lover of the Bible, referred to this chapter for both its threats - and inspiration:
“The entire psalm matches our situation today” Ben Gurion noted. As his biographer Tom Segev adds, “it is indeed a psalm replete with fear, implying the Jewish people can do nothing to save themselves, everything is in God’s hands.”
This sentiment became part of the protocol even in the so-called secular Israeli society. Psalm 83 is part of the liturgical lament at some of Israel’s official memorial ceremonies for the fallen, naming the national dread, ongoing death toll, becoming a prayer for the defeat of the enemies in very explicit terms. I remember reciting it as a child not quite comprehending the messaging I was internalizing:
אֱלֹהִ֥ים אַל־דֳּמִי־לָ֑ךְ אַל־תֶּחֱרַ֖שׁ וְאַל־תִּשְׁקֹ֣ט אֵֽל׃ כִּֽי־הִנֵּ֣ה א֭וֹיְבֶיךָ יֶהֱמָי֑וּן וּ֝מְשַׂנְאֶ֗יךָ נָ֣שְׂאוּ רֹֽאשׁ׃ אָמְר֗וּ לְ֭כוּ וְנַכְחִידֵ֣ם מִגּ֑וֹי וְלֹֽא־יִזָּכֵ֖ר שֵֽׁם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל עֽוֹד׃ אֱֽלֹהַ֗י שִׁיתֵ֥מוֹ כַגַּלְגַּ֑ל כְּ֝קַ֗שׁ לִפְנֵי־רֽוּחַ׃ כְּאֵ֥שׁ תִּבְעַר־יָ֑עַר וּ֝כְלֶהָבָ֗ה תְּלַהֵ֥ט הָרִֽים׃ כֵּ֭ן תִּרְדְּפֵ֣ם בְּסַעֲרֶ֑ךָ וּבְסוּפָתְךָ֥ תְבַהֲלֵֽם׃
O God, do not be silent; do not hold aloof; do not be quiet, O God! For Your enemies rage, Your foes assert themselves.
They say, “Let us wipe them out as a nation;
Israel’s name will be mentioned no more.”
O my God, make them like thistledown, like stubble driven by the wind.
As a fire burns a forest, as flames scorch the hills,
pursue them with Your tempest, terrify them with Your storm.
Ps. 83:2-4, 14-16
It is shocking to read this today — know that yes, there are real enemies out there intent to destroy Israel, with rage and revenge. We realize that much of this tragedy goes back generations. What are some of the ways this history was repeated in the more recent years?
Calev Ben-Dor explains how these words became part of Israel's military lexicon and idealogy in the early 1950's:
“David Ben Gurion was nervous. Four years on from the end of the War of Independence, Israel was once again facing grave security threats.
Having spent his vacation studying the IDF, Ben Gurion concluded they had insufficiently trained soldiers. One report he read described the picture as ‘appalling’ and contended that unless revolutionary changes were not made, the Arabs would surely win the next war.
In Ben Gurion’s biography, ‘A State at Any Cost’, Tom Segev writes that “before conveying his findings to the cabinet, Ben Gurion warned the ministers that they should prepare to be stunned – the report he would make included terrifying information that would shock them.”
“While I am no coward” Ben Gurion stated, “my eyes went dark” on seeing the report.
Faced with these overwhelming challenges, the Prime Minister found inspiration in Psalms Chapter 83 in which Israel’s enemies seem endless - the Edomites, the Ishmaelites, Moav, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, Assyria, and others
“The entire psalm matches our situation today” Ben Gurion noted. As Segev adds, “it is indeed a psalm replete with fear, implying the Jewish people can do nothing to save themselves, everything is in God’s hands.”
A few weeks later, on June 17th, 1953, the Israeli Air Force’s "Jet Era" began when two English "Meteor 7" aircraft landed in Ramat-David Air Force Base.
But what to name these two aircraft?
The psalmist prays “O my God, make them like the whirling dust; as stubble before the wind. As the fire that burns the forest, and as the flame that sets the mountains ablaze; So pursue them with Your tempest, and affright them with Your storm.”
Stirred by the psalm, Ben-Gurion named the first jet "Sufa" (Tempest) The second he named "Sa'ar" (Storm).
The aircraft played a major role in the 1956 conflict with Egypt as well as subsequent wars.
Ben Gurion undoubtedly felt inspired by our psalm, the name also reflected a more secular, Zionist tweak. Because following the Shoah and the reestablishment of the State, the storm and the tempest that struck Israel’s enemies were no longer directly from God.
Segev may be right that Psalm 83 is “replete with fear, implying the Jewish people can do nothing to save themselves, everything is in God’s hands.”
But the reborn Jewish people could and did act independently to save themselves. They no longer thought everything was in God’s hands.”
Many of Israel’s modern weapons, planes and security nets echo biblical names like the ones Ben Gurion chose for the first planes. There’s much to ponder about the pro’s and con’s for these decisions.
The biblical past, our inherited traumas, terminologies, troubles and tools for transformation -- keep showing up in ways both profound and problematic in our rituals and realities.
The storm and the tempest, far from over, continue today, as the painful raw reality of war persists and the tragic fighting keeps ravaging too many lives. But like other wars and horrors, today’s tempest will also one day pass, as soon as possible we hope, for everybody’s sakes.
And what will happens after and before the next storm? We may not be able to responsibility for how the surrounding nations think or behave but can we change the ways we look at life and what words and sentiments we keep holding to as we sincerely seek to end the seemingly endless wars and rediscover other paths, not of divine revenge but towards peace?
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