191004
4th
of October 2019
Good
Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom, Shana Tova, Hatima Tova………. So many blessings but then
one can never have too many!
I have to
admit I wasn't going to write to you today, I was going to wait until next week
and Yom HaKippurim, but I have so much to tell you that I decided to go ahead
anyway!!
Let's
get the insanity of politics out of the way and I will try to use language
appropriate to this time of repentance!!
Let's
begin at the end,
or rather the middle. I love watching Members of Knesset, old and new, at the
swearing in ceremony. All they have to do is stand up and say "I
swear" in response to the Speakers oath, but it amazes me how a slight
change in intonation or stance can say so much! The Members of the Arab Joint
List were not present at the swearing in – and the knee-jerk reaction is one of
anger and shrugged shoulders, but although the timing was inappropriate, the
purpose was clear. All of them joined a quiet, well organised demonstration
against internecine violence in the Arab community, town and village, which has
reached terrifying proportions. Only two days ago three brothers died in a
family feud, shooting in the street. Their claim is that the police do nothing
about it and the government is lax in its response. While agreeing in principle,
it must be remembered that policing these areas is not simple and the Arab
community must also work toward helping the police in their job. I would
suggest that an amnesty for giving up all illegal guns would be a good start.
Three
major changes in the Israeli political map occurred yesterday.
1.
The long lasting leadership of Benjamin
Netanyahu over the Likud Party is being challenged by Gidon Sa'ar, one time protégé
who Netanyahu sent packing.
2.
Speaker of the House Yuli Edelstein
announced that Netanyahu was willing to take a leave of absence if indicted.
3.
Yair Lapid announced that he is willing
to step down from the leadership rotation of Blue and White thus lessening
confusion, leaving Benny Gantz and Netanyahu as the potential Prime Ministerial
rotation – if Netanyahu will still be in the game.
4.
PM Netanyahu is undergoing hearings
at the Ministry of Justice with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblitt. The
hearing involve several accusations of illegality.
President
Rivlin
gave a deeply emotional speech at the opening of the Knesset Session asking all
parties and participants to act responsibly and come forward with a logical
coalition because Israelis are tired of confusion and need unification of
purpose among their leaders.
Rosh
Hashana this year was very special – Zvi discovered a way to take out the
pomegranate seeds without getting the juice all over the walls!! It really is
incredible! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUJ9VCbTX4Q
I love
the Rosh Hashana foods, the ceremony and the sense of starting over. First
night and the table looked pretty spectacular, if I say so myself! Two things
were different this year, firstly, we learned about the Rosh Hashana Seder
Plate, a beautiful Sefardi tradition that we adopted it https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/a-sephardic-rosh-hashanah-seder/
; the second was indeed special, we had two soldiers at the Seder, both of whom
we have known since before they were born! Tomer and Shelley, whose parents Ira
and Valeri became members of our family after emigrating from Moscow, making
Aliya just one year after I made Aliya, and now their children are both in the IDF.
It really was a joyous evening and Zvi's grand-daughters were thrilled that in
my family one doesn't only have apple and honey but also challah with honey!
The weather was perfect so all our windows were open and Zvi's beautiful Kiddush
resonated all over our neighbourhood!
The
first day of Rosh Hashana was restful, basically spent in prayer and relaxation,
and of course setting the table for the second night. We decided to be
spontaneous and a wonderful mix of friends came to spend the festival meal with
us. The normal chatter and getting to know one another changed when Dvorit
(prompted by Zvi) asked her husband Meishi Schreiber to tell the story of
searching for and finding his great-grandfather's grave in Germany, a fascinating
tale of detective work. As he finished Gabby Barkay told the story of his birth
in the ghetto in Hungary and his ultimate arrival in Israel after which the
normally quiet Shaul Perlberg began to tell the story of his childhood in
Belgium.
When
he was just two and a half years old Shaul's mother understanding the danger of her
child being Jewish, asked an elderly neighbour to keep little Shaul (or his
taken name Paul) as if he were her grandson. Apparently another neighbour told
on them and a Gestapo bully came to the old lady's apartment and ask if she was
harbouring a Jewish child. When she denied it he said "There's only one
way to discover if he is a Jew" and tried to pull down the child's
trousers. Having been taught by his parents that no stranger was ever allowed
to do such a thing, little Shaul pulled his trousers back up. The "tug of
war" went on for a few moments and the old lady's dog, sensing his little
friend's distress attacked the Gestapo officer who fled from the building. How
such a tiny child had the initiative to fight is incredible. Shaul was taken to
an "orphanage" and at the age of five, war ended, and the child
didn't know whether his Mother was alive or dead. One day, a group of adults
came to the orphanage to search for their children. Shaul was walking down the
stairs, looking very different to the two year old his mother had saved by
giving him to the neighbour, when he saw her and ran into her arms. They came
to Israel where his Mother remarried with another survivor and they made the
decision to remove all memories of the Shoah, all papers and relics, to the
extent of having the numbers removed from her arm. However, Shaul used to
listen in to the conversations his mother had with her contemporaries and
gradually put together the whole story.
Remember
the story of the trousers and the Gestapo? Well Shaul went on to become a highly
respected urologist in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. He and Zvi met when Zvi
was a Sergeant in charge of an IDF field hospital during the Yom Kippur War and
Shaul was one of his doctors –Shaul met his wonderful wife Raya there too. Shaul
and Raya have four children and two grandchildren, he says that's one for each
million slaughtered.
So you
see, sitting around a Rosh Hashana table with friends can teach us so much
about the strength of a two year old under the most dire of conditions and his
ability to turn tragedy into healing.
We
must learn from the past. As a people we tend to be complacent, to enjoy the
present and believe everything will be alright, but just as my wonderful Father
used to say "Don't expect God to come and rescue you every time, you have
to use the intelligence he gave to all of us to understand your situation"
Shaul's story, indeed Meishi, Gabby and
Shaul's stories are a lesson to all of us, now. Look around you and don't just
react, preempt!
Perhaps
one of the most important teachers of our generation was Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King. Since more and more African Americans are following Islam and
have become perpetrators of racist crime, perhaps now is the time to quote the
great man. He knew that both peoples were shaped by
the tragic experience of slavery. He knew that both peoples were forced to live
in ghettoes, victims of segregation. He knew that both peoples were subject to
laws passed with the particular intent of oppressing them simply because they
were Jewish or black. He knew that both peoples have been subjected to
oppression and genocide on a level unprecedented in history.
And so to Kippur. If at any time I have hurt or offended
you I beg forgiveness, I promise it was never intentional. A time of
contemplation and atonement the eve of Yom Kippur has deep meaning. Here Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks explains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW-cSrxQ1IU
Unetanei Tokef is a prayer said on Yom Kippur and here
Shai Abrahamson, the Senior Cantor of the IDF sings to the background of scenes
from the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the war that took Israeli Prime Minister Golda
Meir by surprise, it is said because she did not listen to her Chief of Staff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyBToUaon2w
A
very different Kol Nidre, "all vows" the opening prayer of Yom Kippur,
from a pious man who never fitted description! Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFxv_gI70ZU
The words are written in Aramaic and represent all the vows and promises that
are made null and void as we enter a new sense of responsibility.
Finally,
as they used to say on Monty Python, time for something entirely different. My
prayer is for understanding, tolerance and vowing to change our perceptions. Shalom
Aleinu as you've never heard it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d_i2F2LlF8
May you
be written in the Good Book for health, contentment and the determination to
fight for your identity in a world that is becoming harder and harder.
Gmar
Hatima Tova
With
much love from Jerusalem, from Zvi and I and all our family.
Sheila
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