I have known Leah Garber for over twenty years and always appreciate her perspective on all things Israel. Leah is the JCCA Vice President of Israel Engagement and lives in Jerusalem. The escalated conflict in Israel is disconcerting, and it's important to see the more human side that is not always shown by news outlets.
While Operation Guardian of the Walls enters its fifth day, terror groups in the Gaza Strip continued their heavy rocket bombardment of southern Israel throughout the day. Sirens warning of an attack from Gaza also sounded during the funeral of 5-year-old Ido Avigal, who was killed two days ago in a rocket strike on his home in Sderot.
Everyone who's been to Israel has surely visited the Galilee, one of the most beautiful, peaceful, evergreen areas in the country. Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouins, and Cherkessk live-side by-side with Jewish Israelis in a celebrated coexistence marked by years of good neighboring, partnerships, collaborative programs, and joint ventures. The " Galilee Arab Villages" is a synonym for good Asian food, amazing hospitality, and friendly faces.
The Galilee is still the Galilee—magical, green, inviting. Hamas missiles aren’t reaching this part of the country, nor do they violate the peace and beauty that characterize the place. But the welcoming faces and the well-known hospitality have been replaced by anger and hostility, tension and violence. A curfew for safety has been imposed on Jewish settlements in many areas, not because of Hamas threats, but because of threats from within, besieged residents in their homes. There is no justification for the rage and emergence of violence and incitement. As the late Israeli poet, Ehud Manor wrote:
I have no other country
even if my land is aflame
With a painful body, with a hungry heart,
Here is my home.
On Sunday night, the Jewish world will celebrate Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, the holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai more than 3,300 years ago.
The Torah—the mighty, eternal literary work that relates the story of our people and includes morals and ethics, theory, practice, and guiding principles—was given to us all. To the savages and the wise, the educated, scholars, common people. It has been given to believers and skeptics, preservers of tradition as written and spoken, and to those who see the Torah as an ever flowing, changing, and evolving river.
Racheli Frenkel, mother of Naftali Fraenkel, z”l, one of the three boys kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in 2014, recently spoke these words:
We are almost desperate, longing, longing for simple days where we can stand together without trampling or be[ing] trampled. Being close without crushing each other's identity. Walk without squeezing each other and into each other. Respect the shared and the separate breathing space of each of us. Be able to move forward without needing to climb on others, without pushing. Experience holiness, folklore, light and closeness, each according to his or her taste, but together.
Today, as we prepare for Shabbat in Israel, songs of unity, peoplehood and hope were played on different radio channels throughout the day, easing the news flashes and alarms. One of the songs, actually one of my favorite songs, “Halevai,” another written by the late Ehud Manor, gives me hope:
If only
we'd not suffer and each man'd love his brother
If only
the gates of Eden would again be opened
If only
East and West would mix together—if only
If only
we could renew our days here as long ago
As we gather to learn from the Torah's wisdom on erev Shavuot, let us draw strength from its teachings and learn from its insights to live with a commitment to unity, sharing, acceptance, and mutual responsibility for all, our brothers and sisters, neighbors, friends, and all of humankind.
Shabbat shalom and happy Shavuot!
Leah Garber
I echo Leah's sentiments and wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Shavuot. We look forward to celebrating Shavuot with you at the Jewish Food Festival on Sunday from 1-4 pm, outside at the JCC.
