Another Gas Station, Another Story

There are many things that we take for granted in Israel.  The following story illustrates three of them: 

One evening last week, we went to a gas station off a small intercity road.  As we were filling up, a young man stops his car, gets out - leaving the engine still running - and runs into the shop.  He was back out again very quickly, obviously he was in a hurry.  However, he did take the time to stop and kiss the mezuza on his way in and out of the shop.

The young man wasn't dressed by any "religious standards" - no kipa, no tzitzit.  But the mezuza is part of his consciousness, part of his daily life.  In fact, the gas station shop wasn't specifically advertising itself as Kosher, either.  But it has a Mezuza.  This is Israel, after all.  The Jewish country even (or especially) when there is no  law mandating this Halacha.

As for leaving the car running, well, why not?  This is Israel, after all.

Rav Spektor's Yom HaAtzmaut Speech 5772

Tonight we have made the transition מאבל ליום טוב, from mourning to celebration.  From Yom haZikaron for our fallen soldiers to Yom HaAtzmaut number 64, ס"ד, the Siyata DiShmaya that is the State of Israel.   

Once, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l was offered a trip to Kivrei Tzaddikim in the north of Israel.  He ssaid that the trip is unnecessary, as every day on his way from his home in Shaarei Hessed to his Yeshiva in Bayit Vegan, he passed Har Herzl (military cemetery), where The Tzaddikim are buried, those who gave their lives for Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.

This is how I felt today, at the military section of the Beit Shemesh cemetery, by the graves of soldiers who were from our city, who gave their lives.  תהיו נשמתם צרורה בצרור החיים.

מאבל ליום טוב.  

Tonight is  Yom HaAtzmaut.  This date is already mentioned in the tradition of the GR"A (מדרש שלמה פרק ט"ו, לר' שלמה זלמן ריבלין): There are two dates in Sefirat HaOmer that evil cannot rule, the 20th day (5 Iyar, Yom HaAtzmaut) and the 42nd day (27 Iyar, the day beforeYerushalaim was redeemed in the Six Day War, a day of great miracles).  (Note: This year we mark Yom HaAtzmaut early in order to avoid any hillul Shabbat.)  For this reason, exactly two hundred years ago, in the year 5572, the students of the GR"A established  Beit Midrash Midrash Eliyahu in Yerushalaim.  

Not only is the DATE of the Stablishment of the State of Israel a date with "segula", but also the YEAR, 5708, as the GR"A wrote in his Peirush L'Sifra D'Tzniuta (perek 5), that the time of the Geula is hinted inteh description ofht ecreationofman in Bereishit.  In Masechet Sanhedrin (daf 38, amud 1), there is an hour-by-hour schedule of the stages of the creation of man on the sixth day.  "In the first hour, the dust was gathered; in the second hour, it was made into a rough shape; in the third hour, his limbs were extended; in the fourth hour, his soul was thrown in; in the fifth hour, he stood upon his feet; in the sixth hour, he gave names."  Each day of creation is compared to a thousand years of our counting, the night portion being the first 500 years of the thousand.  According to the GR"A, therefore, the sixth day's daylight hours start from the year 5500, and the fifth hour of the sixth day works out to the year 5702, the year in which, following the Holocaust, Am Yisrael stood upon its feet.  

Just a week ago, we marked Yom haShoa, and I was reminded of how my father stood to read from the  Torah as  a Bar Mitzva in the year 5702 ('42) in Amsterdam, with aYellow Star on his Bar Mitzva suit.  The Yellow Star was a Badge of Shame -  a black magen David, empty but for the word Jew written  in German or Dutch.  Six weeks later, my father removed his Yellow Star as he and his parents and sister, dressed as Christian tourists, escaped the nazis.  But today, we raise the Star of David - the Magen David that is entirely (Kulo) Techelet - as a Badge of Honour, onthe Israeli flag, raised high, with pride and glory.  Fortunate is the Eye that sees this.  And Yasher Koah to the Mayor of Beit Shemesh, who fulfilled his responsibility to fly the Flag of Israel along the  roads of our city again this year.

It is known that a person who has been blessed with a miracle does not notice the gift he received.  This year, we have been blessed with much rain - Gishmei Bracha - after years of relative drought, and we extend thanks to He Who blows the wind and brings down the rain.

In general, our generation has been blessed to witness many miracles.  The miracle of the ingathering of exiles and the miracle off settling the Land which sat desolate for sommany centuries.  Here inBeit Shemesh oen can hear in the streets Amharic, Russian, English, French, Yiddish and even Lashon haKodesh - Ivrit - a true ingathering of the exiles!!  Regarding the miracle of settling the land the Talmud Yerushalmi (Masechet Ta'anit, perek 4, halacha 5), that in Beit Shemesh there were at least 200,000 residents at the time that the Aron HaBrit with the Torah that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote was brought to Beit Shemesh.  That is twice our current population of 100,000 residents, and we are growing.   Where does the Talmud get the number 200,000?  It is learnt from the passuk (Shmuel I 6:19) "And HaShem struck 50,070 men", and Rabbi Yohanan explains that 50,000 were from one direction (wind) - from the south, the direction from which the Aron came, such that  from all 4 directions (winds) there were 200,000 residents.  And the 70 were the memebrs of teh Snahedrin who sat in Beit Shemesh (Talmud Yerushalmi, Masechet Sanhedrin 2:4)  But after the destruction of the Second Beit haMikdash, all that remained was Tel Beit Shemesh (across from the monument for our fallen, near Yish'i).  The Talmnud Yerushalmi says that what remained of Beit Shemesh was so small that it could not hold 50,000 reeds, never mind 200,000 people.  

Today, as HaShem is returning us to Zion, 2,000 years after the destruction and 64 years after teh State of Israel came to be, Beit Shemesh ahss two winds : 100,000 residents and many homes inteh process of being built for all streams and Tribes of Israel: religious, hareidi, masorati, secular and neighbourhoods for all of Am Yisrael.   And also for this miracle of the settling of the land, which could only be done under Jewish rule, we express our thanks and say Full Hallel tomorrow with joy and with a Beracha.

Yehi Ratzon, may it be HaShem's will that just as we have been fortunate to see the beginning of the Geula, we should merit seeing the complete Geula, speedily in our days.

"What do I ask of you?"

Tonight and Tomorrow - Yom haZikaron for fallen soldiers, policemen, firefighters, and ordinary Jews (and Geirei Toshav who threw their lot in with us)  who were killed because we are in the Jewish State, because we are Jews.

Rabbi Akiva lost 24,000 students, not just because of bad military plaמning (Bar Kochva) but mainly, Hashem made this happen because they did not show respect one to another.

The Midrash - Tana D'vei Eliyahu - says that all Hashem wants from us is to love one another and to respect one another.

"מה אני מבקש….אלא שתהיו אוהבים זה את זה ומכבדים זה את זה".

As Jews, we are sometimes split into "tribes" with different priorities, different opinions and even different understandings and beliefs.   In our hearts, we know that we cannot change anyone else's minds.  But each of us wants the others to respect and accept us as we are.   

On Yom haZikaron, milllions of Israelis stand still with the call of the siren, in mourning for fathers, brothers, sisters, children, neighbours, friends. Every newspaper article and Letter to the Editor I have seen this week was written to remind us that on this day, we are all the same, we are all a part of The Bereaved Family named Am Yisrael.  And we ask that everyone show their respect for those who were killed as well as those left behind, by standing quietly with us.

I hope that on this Yom haZikaron, we will be able to stop, stand, pray, walk, drive, talk, shop, learn, teach, and behave with hearts full of love and respect for one another.  Because that is all any of us ask, and that is all that Hashem asks of us.

Idea to improve integration of Olim from Ethiopia

This past Yom Rishon, DH and I visited the protest tent outside the Prime Minster's Residence.  This tent was set up 2 1/2 months ago to protest discrimination against Jews of Ethiopian background.  It was  such a wonderful experience to sit with the people there - olim and native Israelis, some from Ethiopia, some "ordinary, white folk" to talk about what can be done better.

I asked what the feeling is among olim from Ethiopia about integration in school.  In most religious public schools in Beit Shemesh, the city places 1-3 olim in each class.   There is someone who works as a "megasher" (liaison) for the parents, however, this does not necessarily help the olim feel understood or wanted by their teachers or classmates.  

What they do NOT want is to have separate classes or separate schools.  On the whole, there is a desire for integration, but they are not looking for their children to becoming second-class European-culture-wannabes.  They want their culture to be integrated into the general Israeli culture.  That certainly makes sense to me.  It's what every Oleh wants, really.

An action item was proposed, with a request that we as parents demand this of our children's schools:

There are plenty of older Olim from Ethiopia who have finished teachers' college, who could work in these schools, but they aren't being hired.  As Anglo olim, I know that my children's schools understand where we are coming from as well as our children's needs because there are many Olim like ourselves on staff  in each of our children's schools.   What the people in the tent were saying is that if there were 2,3 (or more!) teachers in each school, teaching a variety of  subjects, the conversation in the teacher's room would immediately assist the teachers in understanding the cultural differences among the students.  In that new environment, far fewer children of Ethiopian background would be getting punishments for "inappropriate behaviour" when they are actually simply being misunderstood because of cultural differences (many olim get such punishments in the army , too).  The teachers' room would model cooperation and understanding between the very different cultures.  The olim children and their parents would get the support they need.   

So, now it is up to us - to make this demand of our city, our schools.   Off I go.  Please join me.

Israeli Gas Stations

Today I went to the gas station just outside Beit Shemesh to fill up the gas-guzzler.   As always, i enjoyed reading the station's hours: all day and all night, but closing an hour before Shabbat and only opening an hour after Shabbat.  And, while it was frustrating at the time, we really are happy that their definition of "an hour" is closer to two hours, so DO NOT try to fill up your car when you are late going away for Shabbat....

Besides that sign, there is a large sign on the building near the gas station - "Tefillat Minha every day at 1:30pm".  There is a similar sign at the store next to the supermarket in Beit Shemesh, another one in the industrial zone in Beit Shemesh, and many such signs all around the country.  We also got a "chain letter" by email, telling people that people stopping to daven minha should all meet, 10 minutes before shekiya, every weekday, at specific spots at each  gas station along  Route 6.   

  

Yom haShoa

Yom Hashoa.

I have too many thoughts about Yom Hashoa to write in one entry, having the image of my grandfather sitting at his old kitchen table, sleeve rolled above his elbow and that awful blue number there for all to see.  I have seen the number on my grandmother's arm also, but not as often or as prominently.  With both of them, it was part of their identity - though only Bubby talks about what she went through, and we only heard Zeidi's story on the  Shoa Visual History interview tape.  (Thank you, Steven Spielberg!)

The name of the day - Yom Hashoa V'Hagevura was passed as a law in 5719, but the day itself started being marked by the Knesset  in 5711, 3 years into the existence of the State of Israel.  However, the Rabbanut had already, 2 years earlier, set Asara b'Tevet as the Yom haKaddish haKlali for Jews killed in the  holocaust whose "yahrzeits" are unknown.  In the best Jewish tradition, there is a mahloket regarding marking Yom Hashoa in the month of Nissan.  I find it amusing / annoying when people are willing to grow  a sefira beard in Nissan but not mark Yom Hashoa.  24,000 tzaddikim is a huge tragedy, but over six million  tzadikim(6,000,000), including one and half million children (1,500,000) massacred, is beyond any scope or measure of horror!!

To my mind, the choice of the Israeli establishment at the time to focus on the fighting  and acts of rebellion against the nazis by Jews during the holocaust - Yom haShoa v'haGevura, is, in any case, not unsuitable for Nissan.  We mourn the holocaust on Asara b'Tevet  and with special kinnot on Tish'a b'Av.  On 27th Nissan, we recall the heroism of every Jew who tried to survive, forfeited his life for another, escaped,  tried to escape, encouraged another to live another day, tried to inform the uninterested world, and those whose heroism is expressed in the life they re-created after the holocaust.
Last year, the 6 memorial torches at Yad vaShem were lit by Survivors together with their grandchildren.  How I wish Bubby could have come here to light with Pesach, her oldest great-grandson, at the time a soldier in OUR ARMY.

Hametz foods' shelf life

Pessah is over, the weather is warming up, so we bought ice cream and ice cream cones.   

On the box of the cones is a sticker to let us know that it was made after Pessah 5772, as well as the manufacturing date: April 15, and the Best Before date: March 25th next year.   "March 25?" we wondered.  Unusual to see shelf life not measured in even weeks or months.   But not in Israel.  The best before date of post-Pessah hametz is, of course, Erev Pessah next year.