From Mourning to Morning

We just completed the observing of Yom HaZicharon, Israel's Memorial Day and the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut, our Independence Day.

The first day is the day we remember our loved ones who gave their lives for the survival of this nation, and the day we stand with the families who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this Land. Yom HaZicharon is a day of deep sadness, a day when we are permitted to remember and to mourn.

For us, a Land so small and a People so connected, there is not one person or family untouched by the loss of someone in war or in terror attacks. Our history as a People is ancient, but our history in restoring this Land is within our collective lifetime, and the losses are fresh - some just a short 61 years ago, some yesterday. For us, it is ongoing and the sorrow is personal and intense.

Remarkably however, in the fading hours of HaZicharon, a torch is lit, and the Day of Remembering is immediately handed off to a Day of Rejoicing.... rejoicing in our rebirth as a nation, rejoicing and celebrating this miracle of our return to the Land of our destiny.

The juxtaposition of the two days is purposeful, because it is recognized that without the sacrifice of those who died, we would not have had the miracle of rebirth. One of the realities of Judaism is expression of the balance between two opposites - things like mourning and joy, mercy and justice - for it is recognized that without the one, the other cannot exist.

So it is with these holidays. The two holidays are linked together, not just on our calendars, but knit together in our collective soul. As a country, we move from somber services and tears to fireworks and BBQ's in an immediate turnaround.

It is not easy. In some ways it seems it is asking a lot of us as a people. I struggle with it. Many struggle with it. Many are unable to make the quick transition.

I am very close to a family who has had many many losses, not all of them war losses, but all connected to this two day period. The sadness of their family at this time of year penetrates my soul, and I find it difficult at first to move forward. Part of me shouts, stop! wait! we need to linger here a little longer.

But the day marches on, the torch has been lit, and slowly, all together as a people, we move out of our mourning into the morning of a different day. I think it would be impossible alone.

You see this is one of the things that defines us as a People and what makes Am Yisrael unique...we do what we do, together. For it would be too much to ask those who have suffered such tragedy to just turn around and change course. But as a People our losses and our joys are shared, and what one cannot do alone can be accomplished all together.

There is yet another secret to Am Yisrael. One might think that it was on the shoulders of those whose loss was less personal, that the families and individuals for whom the loss was deeper were carried. But I think not. It is really the strength of those who have lost the most who carry the rest of us. And yet, it comes full circle, as they strengthen us we can strengthen them....the lines are indistinguishable.

It's who we are as a People.

And so, reluctant as I was to move forward just 24 hours ago, by the end of the day today, spending time with many friends, watching fireworks, tekesim (ceremonies), and enjoying the wonderful food off the BBQ and seeing them smoking all around the country, I felt, at last, some semblance of peace.

Finally I realize the wisdom of the juxtaposition of the Two Days. Without the collective move into celebration, however slowly and hesitantly we go there, we might be tempted to stay in the mourning. We have other very well prescribed ways to give us the needed times of individual mourning. But as a People, it is necessary for us to lift one another up, so that we can face tomorrow.

Because for us, as a People, we see tomorrow bearing down upon us, and we must be together, strong & ready to face it. Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, we are one.

Happy Birthday.

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Child Survivor Moshe Gefen

One story, that of Moshe Gefen, child survivor now living in Israel.

Read it at Israel National News

Some Refections on Yom HaShoah

Some things to reflect upon this day of Remembrance.

1) Many survivors live here in Israel (approximately 243,000) and sadly so many of them live in poverty. It is estimated that one third of the survivors are desperately in need of financial assistance. How can this be that in the very place they should be the safest and the most cared for, Israeli Holocaust survivors struggle with this kind of insecurity?

Part of it has to do with the cumbersome and elusive nature of Israeli governmental procedures. It is daunting under the best of circumstances to maneuver this system. Additionally, until recently, far too little money was funneled into this very necessary area of government services, although some of that is being corrected.

But there is another hurdle to helping survivors of the Shoah. Many of them are independent and reluctant, even ashamed, to go to the government for help. The survivors aren't always easy to locate, and so in addition to the toll that is taken with memories (whether those memories are locked away or out in the open) there is this added isolation.

Please remember these very important and special people in your thoughts and prayers. If you live in Israel and know some survivors who are not getting the benefits they need and deserve, please contact the office of the prime minister (www.pmo.gov.il), the Jewish Agency or Sherut Leumi (National Service).

JPost published an article about the thousands who still don't receive benefits. Please read it for further information.

2) A very raw issue here in Israel is the separation between Sephardim, Middle Eastern Jews or Mizrahim, and Ashkenazim. During the founding years of the state the treatment of Middle Eastern (Mizrahi) Jews was so shameful and such a painful part of our history that for the most part, it has been swept under the rug. Things have definitely improved over the years, yet there still remains ill feelings between the groups, and a definite Ashkenazi preference in a state that was developed under western tutelage.

Opening this subject is a Pandora's box, and I have very strong feelings about it...perhaps a later series of postings on this subject can be done.

But in light of our remembrances today of the Holocaust, or Shoah, a piece has come to light which demands our attention. It is not the issue of the mistreatment of Mizrahi Jews, but rather discrimination towards the Sephardim in light of the Holocaust. It is in the very remembrances themselves that partiality has taken place.

JPost writer Stacey Menchel tells the story of Stella Levi in a recent article, entitled "It's time they knew our names". Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz , and a Sephardic Jew of Rhodes, suffered discrimination even in the camps because she was Sephardic. She laments, and many agree, that the Holocaust experience has been told almost exclusively as a European Ashkenazi one, and the Sephardic voice from the Shoah is not heard.

The staggering numbers of European Jewry murdered in the holocaust demands our full attention, yet the losses in the Mediterranean Sephardic communities were even more devasting in terms of percentages of communities destroyed, many communities being totally obliterated.

Yet, just as there were many more of European Jewry killed during the holocaust, so have there been many more survivors from that community as well. Part, but not all, of the problem stems from the fact that there just are not very many Sephardic survivors to tell the story and to develop the infrastructure to gather the information.

That, in itself, is a weak argument for the lack of information about the destruction of the Sephardic communities during the war because why, among ANY institute or organization designed to study and perserve the history of those who suffered, would the Sephardic community be left out of the study and preservation in the first place? Shouldn't the story of what happened to world Jewry during the holocaust be the story of all Jews who perished or survived?

Sadly, and to our great shame, the answer is one of discrimination against a minority within our own family...the Sephardim. So rich in our history, so beautiful in traditions and accomplishments, how is it that this segment of our soul has been marginalized and the memories and information of their suffering in the Shoah go unnoticed?

Stella Levi has been working with the Jewish Museum in Rhodes to develop material on the history of the Rodian Jewish community. But where is the rest of the Jewish world in seeking and assisting and wanting to know, not only about the Jews of Rhodes, but about all the Ladino speaking Mediterranean Sephardim?

We need to do some straightening in our own house this Yom HaShoah as we remember.

Yom HaShoah

Tonight is Erev Yom HaShoah...a Day of Remembrance for those who perished and those who survived in those terrible years.

There is so much, yet so little that one can say. The horror of the holocaust is beyond description, both from a general overall perspective and from each individual story. Seventy years from it's beginnings, 60 + years from the liberation of the camps we still haven't reached the number of Jews that existed in the world before it happened; then more than 16.5 million, today still well below that figure at 13 million Jews worldwide. What's even more sobering is that 70 years from it's beginning and 60+years from it's ending, we seemingly find ourselves standing on the precipice of another.

How can that be? The truth is that it never really ended, it just paused.

On the very day we stop to remember, the Iranian president, someone who has denied the holocaust ever happened, who repeatedly calls for the destruction of Israel, and is currently building his nuclear arsenal to achieve that end, is the opening keynote speaker at a global conference in Switzerland, which was set up basically, to bash, condemn, and plan against Israel.

I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised that the US President has withdrawn his country's participation in this fiasco, as have many other countries. Still, several major western countries did attend: Britain, France and others...and yes, people walked out (representing 23 countries), but none of that alters the very fact the conference even took place, and that it did so without uproar, is still shocking

......A quiet silence is settling over the City. There will be ceremonies both tonight and tomorrow. I hear the helicopters approaching Yad Vashem as I write, bringing dignitaries to the locations where speeches will be given and flames of remembrance will be lit. This year the emphasis is on the children of the holocaust. During the "Every Person Has a Name" ceremony, the names of the children who perished will be read aloud.

All places of entertainment, including restaurants and coffee shops are closed this evening. They will reopen in the morning. The message is two-fold. One of the greatest tributes to those who died in the Shoah, and the statement of our hope for tomorrow, is our life today, especially our life here in Israel. But tonight, as we begin our remembrance, it is unthinkable that we should be entertained and make merry.

At 10:00 am tomorrow morning all of Israel will come to a stop. The sirens will sound for 2 minutes. Buses and automobiles will stop wherever they are. Business transactions, teaching, broadcasting, everything comes to a sudden halt, and people will get out of the cars, get up out of restaurant chairs, wherever one is, and stand for the two minute siren, while we remember our past, those who died, those who survived. It is the least we can do.

Two minutes of silence. The silence speaks the loudest...for there is really nothing adequate that one can say. And in the silence, may we also be strengthened with understanding regarding our future.

A Mimouna Story

See "Chasing the Elusive Moufleta" at From the Hills of Jerusalem.

Photo Jewish Agency

Chag Pesach Sameach 5769 / 2009

Wishing you a Chag Pesach Sameach

Drawing by Israeli artisit Raphael Abecassis

Please visit From the Hills of Jerusalem for pictures of Pesach in the streets of Jerusalem.

Out of the Starting Gate...First Rounds...

My apologies for delayed reporting...juggling. Pesach in 2 days!! Myriads to do...

As we watch the Netanyahu Government begin it's tenure, many things will unfold that bear mentioning.

First of all, Bibi is NOT the darling of the media that has been bestowed upon the leaders of the left. So, expect constant trouncing and false reports...it's just the way it is. Bibi is not just disliked by the left, he is hated. I have mentioned this before. It is because he can deliver peace, and peace is not something the left wants to see.

Netanyahu, if he stays on track, can deliver peace by being firm and not capitulating to international pressure, by NOT abandoning our security and our Land...by staying strong to Zionist ideals.

It's been a very long time since the world has been confronted with strength from Israel...with an Israel that knows who she is, an Israel who isn't afraid to say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done, and say "no" to what is not in our best interest.

Having Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beteinu in the government represents important strategic positioning for Netanyahu. These men are not afraid to say it like it is...

Because of that, watch for intensifying pressure to indict Lierberman of "crimes". In case you didn't know, this is always the tactic of choice to remove someone from the government or from his position. It works too, although, ocassionally it backfires and the fraudulant purposes behind the witchhunts are exposed. Lets pray so this time.

International leaders will go slightly crazy, escalate the pressure, and will most likely try to isolate Israel as is already happening. But I can guarantee you, if Bibi and the government will stay firm, it won't be long before our former weakness will change to strength in the eyes of the world...and then, the world leaders will have a very tough decision in front of them...a very serious choice to make.

It will be their last chance to stand with Israel....or not. The consequences were spelled out centuries ago.

Chazak Chazak

It is clear from yesterday's attack in Bat Ayin that the removal of checkpoints, the removal of barricades serves nothing but to enhance the possibilities of terrorist attacks against Jews.

The immediate response by the Netanyahu government, by a high ranking official, was that if "we have to put back checkpoints that were removed, we will do so." (a summary quote).

So far today we have not heard definite word regarding the checkpoints, altho area wide roadblocks are still in place as the murderer has not been found.

Bat Ayin, a small community - everyone knew everyone - had both the mourning and a simcha to take part in on Thursday. A couple had just been married the night before and the traditional sheva brachot were taking place. See From Tears to Joy.... by Hana Levy Julian in INNews.

2ND UPDATE

The murdered boy from Bat Ayin has been identified Shlomo Nativ and his age has been reported as 16 years instead of the earlier reports of 13 yrs. His funeral will take place at 5pm this afternoon in the community of Bat Ayin.

The village of Bat Ayin does not have a security fence for ideological reasons and it's residents do not employ arab laborers in general. Whether or not an isolated family did in fact employ an arab worker is not clear at this point. Whether it was a worker inside Bat Ayin or infiltration, it doesn't matter. The only reason an arab would run into a Jewish town wielding an axe is to murder Jews who live there.

It appears that the terrorist was apprehended and disarmed by residents and shot by a memeber of the community security team , nevertheless, he still managed to flee the scene. Conflicting reports remain as to where the terrorist is now, and a home in a near by arab village (Kherbat Tzafa) has been surrounded by Israeli security.

More as it unfolds.

Terror Attack in Gush Etzion

Details are still unfolding but terrorists wielding axes attacked a 13 year old and a 7 year old in Bat Ayn this morning. The victims were rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem, where the 13 year old boy has been declared dead, and the 7 year old in serious but stable condition.

The terrorists escaped the scene and while roadblocks have been put up it is felt they have been absorbed into the arab villages already.

I will update as facts become available.

UPDATE: The 7 year old boy sustained severe head injury after being hit by the ax of the arab terrorist. He remains in serious but stable condition and will go into surgery.