Holding Hands in the Face of Terror

Yesterday was by all means a terrible day. We woke innocently enough, but as I finished my morning minyan, the awful news broke. Two terrorists had attacked a shul in Har Nof and, using revolvers and butcher's knives, had shot and hacked and killed 5 Israelis and injured many more. From that moment, the entire day turned dark, black. I genuinely felt that I was in a haze all day, finding it hard not to migrate repeatedly to the news on the radio and internet, and then again turning it off because it was all too horrific, too raw.

But here was yesterday's silver lining. Something else happened yesterday, right by my home in Gush Etzion. It was a wonderful, uplifting moment. It was a human chain. 2, 000 high school kids decided to join hands to celebrate life and to embrace their desire to grow up peacefully and to live in Gush Etzion.

What stimulated this event? Well, the previous week, Gush Etzion was yet again rocked by a dreadful terror attack. A young woman, Dalia Lemkus z"l stood at a bus stop on her way home from work. She was a social worker and had spent the day helping underprivileged youth in Kiryat Gat. As she stood waiting, a car suddenly ploughed into the bus stop running her over. The terrorist proceeded to get out and stab her to death as he went on a frenzied rampage. 

This attack took place at about 4:35pm. Five minutes earlier at 4:30pm, at my daughter's school 300 yards away, the 9th grade had just been released. Many schoolgirls take a bus from that same bus stop. The school went into panic, everyone feared that it was one of their friends. A "lockdown" was declared as soldiers scanned the area to ensure that other terrorists were not lurking in the vicinity. The girls recited Tehillim (psalms) and cried and hugged one another.

In the end, thankfully, all the schoolchildren were fine, but tragically, a fine beautiful young woman was killed. And the schoolgirls asked themselves how they might respond? What could they do? The 11th grade came up with the idea of a human chain. Their motto was :  "בלב אחד נמשיך לפעום We will continue to beat with one heart...". Their website says: "This is not a protest or a demonstration - it is our empowerment." Indeed, it wasn't a protest - it was an attempt to express love, determination, community, life - עם ישראל חי!

Who are these kids? They are my children, teenagers of my friends and neighbours. Fun-loving, ordinary, talented, phone-addicted teenagers. These kids get around by buses and hitchhikes. Their summer began with three of their schoolmates being kidnapped at a bus stop they all use. For 3 weeks we all sat tearing our hair out worrying, and then we discovered their bodies and understood that they had been brutally murdered. Then there was the Gaza war with many fathers and brothers in the line of fire. And in the latest chapter of carnage, a lovely 26 year old woman was killed at a local bus (just across the road from where the boys were abducted.) These teenagers have had to deal with an abnormal amount of emotional trauma lately. Ordinary questions like taking a bus become dilemmas of life and death.

So look at this incredible response. Maybe the girls wanted to cry. They certainly did. Possibly some wanted to give up, to respond to the tension and death by falling out of school. Who knows? (- I am sure school psychologists have a harder time in Israel.) I am sure quite a number were filled with anger, even hate. But they did something different, something impressively positive. Yesterday, the young women of Neve Channa who thought that one of their friends had been killed at that bus stop, decided not to protest, not to call for "Death to Arabs" or "Destroy the terrorist homes." They created a gesture remarkable in its dignity. They turned the pain inwards and upwards and directed it into building and strengthening the community. They invited all the local high schools to make a chain which stretched 2 miles, from the main Gush Etzion junction, past the bus stop, and ending at Kfar Etzion, a kibbutz that housed the school where Gilad Sheer and Naftali Frenkel had studied. The schools supported their initiative, the police and army fell into line, and the municipality offered logistical support. This was their statement, their empowerment.

The stood together with their friends, in unity, hand in hand, to reclaim their road. They said "עם ישראל חי!" We belong here. We will continue to live, grow and flourish in our beloved land, here in Gush Etzion.

I am really proud of them.

What's in a fifty Shekel Note?

Today I took money out of the ATM and received the new fifty shekel note. It looks like this.

The figure on the note is Shaul Tchernikovsky (1875-1943), one of Israel's most lauded of the "1st generation" Zionist poets. There is barely a city in Israel that doesn't have a street named after him; he is truly one of the greats. I took a look at the verse printed on the note and it reads:

כי עוד אאמין באדם,
גם ברוחו, רוח עז.
For I shall believe in mankind
In its spirit great and bold

Now, this phrase comes from Tchernikovsky's poem אני מאמין (see English and Hebrew) popularly know as שחקי שחקי due to the opening words. It was written in 1892 when he was just 17 years of age, in Odessa. Let us recall that this is before Herzlian Zionism, before the Zionist congresses. As such, his words express an almost prophetic confidence in Mankind, and in the revival and future statehood of the Jewish people:

אאמינה גם בעתיד,
אף אם ירחק זה היום,
אך בוא יבוא - ישאו שלום,
אז וברכה לאום מלאום.

ישוב יפרח אז גם עמי,
ובארץ יקום דור,
ברזל- כבליו יוסר מנו,
עין-בעין יראה אור.

I believe in the future,
Even if that day is far off
But it will come, when nations
All live in blessed peace.

Then my people too will flourish
And a strong generation shall arise
In the land, shake off its chains
And see light in every eye.

From this perspective, Tchernikovsky certainly should find his place on the Israeli banknote as one of the inspired visionaries and precursors of the modern Jewish state. So, why am I feeling ambivalent about this new banknote? Well, I LOVED the "old" 50 NIS.

It had Agnon on it with his huge black kippa. But what I really loved was a lengthy quotation (in tiny print) which is one of the most inspiring and beautiful Zionist-Jewish statements I have ever read! It is Agnon's speech upon receiving his Nobel Prize for literature in 1966. It reads:

As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of the Exile. But always I regarded myself as one who was born in Jerusalem. In a dream, in a vision of the night, I saw myself standing with my brother-Levites in the Holy Temple, singing with them the songs of David, King of Israel, melodies such as no ear has heard since the day our city was destroyed and its people went into exile. I suspect that the angels in charge of the Shrine of Music, fearful lest I sing in wakefulness what I had sung in dream, made me forget by day what I had sung at night; for if my brethren, the sons of my people, were to hear, they would be unable to bear their grief over the happiness they have lost. To console me for having prevented me from singing with my mouth, they enable me to compose songs in writing.

The Jewish heritage of this man oozes out of this speech, just as his literature is imbued with so much Talmudic and midrashic inspiration, so much imagery of the Jewish landscape of Eastern Europe, and of Jewish texts (along with a hefty dose of cynicism and irony!)

Back to Tchernikovsky. His poem is in many ways a repudiation of religion. It is called "Ani Maamin - I believe" as a play on the traditional 13 principles of faith that proclaim belief in God, Torah and the waiting for the Messiah. Tchernikovsky grew up in a religious home. He knew his religion. Tchernikovsky's "Ani Maamin" rejects religion and replaces God with Mankind:

כי באדם אאמין .... כי גם ברעות אאמין ... אאמינה גם בעתיד,
I believe in Mankind
... I believe in friendship
... I believe in the future

The poem includes many linguistic interplays with pesukim in Tanakh, but secularizing and inverting its intent (examples include לאום מלאום\ עין בעין יראה אור \ שיר חדש ישיר המשורר ליופי ...).

So, when i see the paean: "Rejoice, for I’ll have faith in mankind, For in mankind I believe," I feel ambivalent. I know that Tchernikhovsky was an inspiration to the revival of our national home, and yet, my soul misses Agnon's religious temperament.

Here is the classic version of ""sachki":









And here the Avishai Cohen jazz instrumental version:

Yom Hazikaron 5774/2014 - "Children of Winter '73"

Yom Hazikaron in Israel is a day which has a distinctive soundtrack; some speak of it as a "secular prayerbook." It is a prayerbook, because these songs  form a liturgy of sorts; always the same sombre songs. After a while, these hallowed cultural milestones - beautiful songs, the best of Israeli poetry, which speak of memory, loss, longing, friendship, love, and yes, death in war - take on a sanctity and reverence that is unequaled in Israeli society. The songs that are played on TV, on the radio, at ceremonies in schools and public squares. They are a musical canon, starting with  poetry and tunes of pre-State Israel, on to the War of Independence and all the wars, until today. 

I recall, when I was a new Oleh, that I visited my cousin's house one motzaei shabbat. He was listening to the news as I entered the house. He turned off the radio and said: "Someone must have been killed in Lebanon." His wife replied: "Did they announce it on the news?" He said: "No! But they wouldn't play that song after the news unless someone had been killed." Sure enough, later that evening, the newscaster announced that two soldiers had been killed.

These songs are a code, a language that we imbibe when we live here.

One incredible song, that brings me to tears virtually any time I hear it is the song called הילדים של חורף י73. Listen to it here. Hebrew words are here, English here.

We are the children of winter 1973.
You dreamt us first at dawn at the end of the battles,
You were tired men that thanked their good luck,
You were worried young women and you wanted so much to love,
When you conceived us with love in winter 1973,
You wanted to your bodies to be full with that which the war had destroyed.

And when we were born the country was wounded and sad,
You looked at us you hugged us you were trying to find comfort,
When we were born the elders blessed with tears in their eyes,
They said:" we wish those kids will not have to go to the army",
And your faces in the old picture prove,
That you said it form the bottom of your hearts,
When you promised to do every thing for us,
To turn a foe into a friend.

You promised a dove,
an olive tree leaf,
you promised peace
You promised spring at home and blossoms
You promised to fulfill promises, you promised a dove

We are the children of winter 1973
We grew up, and are now in the army, holding our rifle,

Helmet on our heads
We know how to make love to laugh and cry,
We are men we are women,
and we too dream about babies.

This is why we will not pressure nor will we demand,
And we will not threaten!
When we were young you said "promises need to be kept".
If strength is what you need, we will give it, 
We will not hold back
We just wanted to whisper
We are the children of that winter in the year 1973

You promised a dove,
an olive tree leaf,
you promised peace
You promised spring at home and blossoms
You promised to fulfill promises,
you promised a dove

So what is this song about? It was written in 1994 by Shmuel Hasfari, one of the veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a man who lost his best friend in that war. He was at the time working with the army's musical troupe - "lahakat hanachal" and he looked at his soldiers and realized that they were the same age that he had been when he was called to battle in 1973. He sat down and wrote the song.

To fully understand it, let me refer to another song... Yehoram Gaon's song "Ani mavtiah lach". It was a song born in 1973 and extremely popular. In that song, Yehoram Gaon promises his little girl, in the name of all the soldiers who fought, that "This will be the last war". "Children of Winter 1973" is a response of sorts to that song.

 
Who are the "Children of Winter 1973"? These are the kids born after the Yom Kippur War, a campaign in which Israel suffered a huge death toll, but possibly more significantly, a war that inflicted a tremendous knock to Israeli morale. These are the children conceived by parents and raised in a society still hurting, humiliated and wounded from the war. And  their birth brought the hope of regeneration, the promise of new life after the horrible losses of the war. Grandparents hoped that these kids would never go to war; that there would be peace. Parents told their kids that they would grow up in a different era. But the children conceived in the winter of 1973 grow up and find themselves in a country still at war, still in the army, and peace was far off. In the song, they challenge their parents naive optimism. They express their willingness to fight and defend our country. But they suggest that parents should be more careful with their optimistic promises. We should be cautious before we assure the next generation that we will bring them peace.

Some in the Israeli public viewed this song as arrogant, or anti military. I see it as a powerful story of the realism that is modern Israel. I recall, in my child, a storybook in which Yoni and Mustafa join hands and march into a rainbow decorated future. Those books don't exist today. This is a sobering song, because it suggests that war is our reality for the time being; that many generations will still need to fight in order to ensure that the future will eventually bring peace. And as the song says, "If strength is what you need, we will give it, We will not hold back." The children/adults in the song are people who serve in the military and are willing to pay the price, but they are also in a space in which they don't suffer from the delusion that there is going to be an imminent solution to Israel's conflicted reality.

If this song was appropriate for 1994 when it was written, then it is all the more apt for Yom Hazikaron 2014.

Upcoming US Lecture Tour. Feb 17-23

Date and Time	Where	Topic
1.    Mon 17th Feb	PENN (OCP)	God's non-Image
2.    Tue 18th (morning)	Ramaz Upper School – Students and faculty
3.    Tue 18th 8pm	Cong. Mt Sinai Washington Heights	The Ezra Revolution: How a Simple Scribe changed Judaism Forever.
4.    Wed 19th	Maayanot School - Students & parents	Pride, Humility and the Distortion of Religion. The Story of Naaman (II Kings ch.5)
5.    Wed 19th 8-9:15pm	YU Seform Sale	Meet the Author
6.    Thurs 20th	SAR High School Students and Faculty
7.    Thurs 20th 6:30pm	Drisha	The Ezra Revolution: How a Simple Scribe changed Judaism Forever.
8.    Thurs 20 8:30pm	NYU	Mishmar
9.    Friday 21 8:30am	Yeshivat Chovevai Torah	Parshat Hashavua
10.     Fri Night Oneg	Young Israel Ohab Zedek Riverdale/Yonkers	"Tanakh Study: Contemporary Controversies"
11. Shabbat a.m.		The Power of Creativity
12. Shabbat p.m.		Can we be one people? - From Book of Kings to present day
13. Sunday 23rd  a.m.	Cong. Rinat Yisrael Teaneck	Jeroboam: The first "Social Protest"?

Yom Kippur: New Shiur on the Book of Jonah

Please see my new shiur on Jonah here (also link to podcast.)

Here is an excerpt:

"God proves to Jonah that if man is judged by the measure of strict justice, none of us will prevail. We try to do Teshuva, just like the people of Nineveh, but at times it is merely superficial, or short lived. And yet, God is merciful and renounces punishment. He forgives readily, even though the changes are neither thorough nor permanent. Mercy trumps Truth."

Rosh Hashanna Playlist - My Top Ten

Just to get you in the mood for Rosh Hashanna, here are the tunes I have been listening to as I was cooking for Chag. (Not all are the best rendition but I love these songs.)

Enjoy! - and wishing you all a כתיבה וחתימה טובה a year of goodness ברוחניות ובגשמיות!

Chamol

Rachamana

Avinu Malkeinu (song is great ... not sure about the video)

Ochila Le-El

 זכרינו לחיים

Machnisei Rachamim

Meloch as kol Haolam kulo

Ein Kizva with Rav Amital z"l

Chamol (Pirchei London)

Hanesham Lach

OK one last one ...
Hinneni (Reminds me of my Grandpa z"l) -

My New Website!

I am delighted to announce my new website: www.alexisrael.org where you can access my parsha shiurim and also articles on the chagim. There is also information about my upcoming book. Enjoy!

A Mishna a Day ...

I would like to share with you a project that I started over 17 years ago. It has most definitely made a huge difference to my life and to my learning. I am referring to my daily study of Mishna.

It all begins with a story that someone told me many years back. (I really wish I could remember who told me this story ... I am so indebted to him, but alas, I have no idea who it was!) When his daughter was born, the proud parents made a kiddush to celebrate her birth. Their Rabbi approached the father of the newborn and said: "Do you know that if you study a mishna a day starting now, you will complete Shas (the 6 orders that make up the Mishna) by the time your daughter will become bat-mitzvah."

And so it was: Every evening, the father sat down to study a mishna. When his daughter was six or seven, she asked her father: "Dad, what is that book that you read every evening in the armchair?" He replied, "It's a mishna , and I started when you were born, and I'll finish at your Bat-mitzvah." This young girl asked her father if she could learn with him; after all, it was "her" mishna. Somehow, she managed to "catch up" and they made a siyum (celebration of completion of a unit of Torah study) on the entire Shas at her Bat-Mitzvah - no small achievement.

I heard this story and it impressed me. I was single at the time I heard it, but when my time came, and my wife was about to give birth to our firstborn, I packed a mishna Berachot into the hospital bag. And after my son was born and the pandemonium of the birth was over, mother and baby calm and settled, I took out my mishna and studied the first mishna in Shas.

I must say that completeing the entire mishna had seemed a "Mission Impossible" up to that point. In my 2nd year at Yeshiva, a young guy who had studied at a Yeshiva in Denver made a siym on Shas Mishna - I think it was his 2nd or 3rd time round - and I was astounded to think that he had the discipline to complete such a voluminous work.

But somehow, the fact that this was connected to my son gave it added impetus, and I kept at it. In truth I accelerated the pace; one-a-day was too slow and I kept losing the momentum of the mishna. But I completed the Shas on his 6th birthday. And then I started again. I now learn at a faster pace and am currently in the middle of my sixth time around!

So - why am I sharing this? I know that people find it difficult to so some daily learning. I love mishna.

• It is short, in bite-size chunks. Even a small section has a coherence, and can be understood independently (unlike a talmudic passage) Due to its brevity, one has to have a good excuse not to have time to study one mishna/day. 
• The Kahati commentary is accessible and really useful. Other shorter commentaries exist as well.
• It covers every sphere of Jewish law. Some days you are studying about Peah and social justice, other days about 2nd Temple court procedure. You may experience the festive Bikkurim procession, or the sublime service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur. It could be gory depictions of ancient executions, the mathematics of laws of the Eruv, complicated family patterns in Yevamot, gruesome decaying body-parts in Ohalot, the daily rituals of the sacrifices, or what have you. This is part of our commitment to Torah study. We don't always study the exciting or inspirational. We study Torah because it is our law and lore. This daily rigour, independent of the subject matter offers a deep expression of "kinyan haTorah" - our almost contractual relationship with Talmud Torah (Torah study.)
• Sometimes, I cannot wait to complete a massechet (tractate) because it is overly technical or boring; other times, I greet a new massechet like an old friend, and I rush through it, enjoying its familiarity. 
• But I love the discipline of it as I plough through again and again. It is the marathon run rather than the short sprint, but it is hugely gratifying. 
• It is beneficial as well - I have found that it has offered me an excellent grounding for Talmud study as so many concepts, and mishnaic formulations are familiar to me.

So to friends, students and other readers, its a project worth doing. It takes time, but you will be proud at the end and gain a tremendous amount of knowledge on the way.

If you are seeking a regular Torah learning project, I highly recommend daily Mishna study.