Rabbi Zev once told us that a rabbi, a Jew, has to be ready to go to a funeral and then a wedding on the same day, maybe within a few hours, minutes. As a rabbi maybe he didn't have to change clothes. But he did have to change his emotional tone, his presentation, demeanor, shed the sadness to receive the joy.
We have three holidays in Israel this time of year, within a week and a day. Two are very sad, one, Independence Day, very happy. We are called upon to transition, as if from hundreds of funerals, to the celebration of a birth of a nation.* We transition in exactly they way Rabbi Zev says we can and we must.
One might think, why not fold it into the next one, Memorial Day?But that all too imaginable Nazi slaughter takes top prize in every genocide contest. It needs a secosl category of horror.
Here, in Israel, survivors of the Holocaust gather in the evening, light candles, sing songs, among others Chai, Chai, Chai, Am Yisrael Chai. We still LIVE. Never forget us. How could we?
FD and I sing in a choir, a makhailah-מקהלה. We meet on Sunday nights with other new immigrants in a modern music hall. An exceedingly talented musical director takes us into our past with song, cultural immersion that reaches the depths of the soul.
For the past several weeks we worked on a few to sing to/with survivors. Share that they are not forgotten. See them smile.
They sit and drink coffee, nibble at cake in the small social hall. In blue skirts and pants, white tops, we sit in chairs opposite them. There is no stage. Candles are lit, stories told. We sing. It is an emotional day. It takes something from us, there's a catch in our throats, a halt to our breath knowing that this living history, in twenty years, is history. We give something to them, but they give us back much more.
Next day I'm walking home from the pool. School just let out. The kids coming from school seem less animated usual. They are in black and white. Everyone remembers.
That was a week ago.
The second holiday-- I promised three-- is Memorial Day, Yom Hazicaron, a week later, another remembrance day but this time we remember the young men and women who have sacrificed their lives so that we can live.
War after war, well before the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews have been elbowing off their enemies, armies, countries, tribes, all collaborating to murder Jews, make us an ex-nation, an ex-people. They considering us to be the interlopers.** Our Torah begs to disagree and the Torah (those 5 books) precedes their holy prophets by 1500 to two thousand years. Just saying. Is it a competition? I feel in this case it is.
Israelis attend town gatherings on Yom Hazicaron , they hear dozens of stories of fallen, murdered soldiers, young men and women, their photographs streaming on Jerusalem stone, parents and siblings breaking our hearts. The music, poignant, sad, true magnifying it all.
This is a reminder that we have so many to thank for the life we have in Israel, a life of freedom. Freedom to say what we want, freedom to wear what we want, freedom to pray as we wish, freedom to seek justice. In America such freedoms are taken for granted, but not here, not when you are surrounded by nations that only allow such freedom to some-- not others.
At 8 pm a siren sounds. It is so loud, ear piercing. No one moves. The sound is absolutely chilling.
A far cry from the barbecues I remember, the parades in the US on Memorial Day. (Can I bring a salad? Sweet corn?)
Then, as evening approaches, a new spirit enters the soul of Israelis gladness, excitement. Tonight there will be fireworks, entertainers in the parks acting, singing, performing for free. Kids running around eating cotton candy, spraying one another with shaving cream. FUN. We shift gears with aplomb. It is not hard.
Last of the three, Yom Haatzmauth, Independence Day. 78 years old and they still want to ___ us.
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| The Israeli flag |
Israeli flags are EVERYWHERE.
Today I will go on a hike. I'll show pics tomorrow.
To happy times,
therapydoc
Another article on, well, living Israeli: Actually read this writer anytime.
Amit Segal, A Day to Remember* It might be argued, the birth of a State. We have been a nation since the great departure from Egypt, slavery, to the Promised Land, promised by the Old Mighty so long as we don't screw it up, so long as we do not become like them, the previous inhabitants. What a story. Read the book.
** To paraphrase the late professor, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:
There are 56 Islamic states. There are more than 100 nations in which the majority of the population is Christian.
He goes on to say:
There is only one Jewish state. Israel one-twenty-fifth the size of France, roughly the same size as the Kruger National Park in South Africa In his podcast, the late beloved rabbi, in Covenant & Conversation, on pars hat Kedoshim answers the question, Why do they need land?
