Powerful Days in Israel

Yesterday, Irma and I joined a community bus tour to Masada – a 2000 year old mountaintop fortress that has become a symbol of Jewish survival. Since we are celebrating the holiday of Chanukah, another symbol of Jewish survival, the tour was especially meaningful.


For me, the high point of the tour came near the end of the tour guide’s presentation. We were in the mountaintop synagogue and she was explaining how the zealots committed communal suicide rather than die at the hands of the Romans or become their slaves. It was time for Mincha (afternoon prayers) and another tour group arrived at the synagogue and began Mincha. I joined them in prayer. It was a very powerful experience for me.

On another occasion, Tisha B’Av, a day commemorating several tragic happenings in Jewish history, we joined a group bus tour to visit Machpela, the burial place of our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah. For me, it was very emotional, feeling that after 3000 years I was finally visiting my ancestors’ graves.

Every day I look out my window at the road between Jerusalem and the southern part of the country, where the Torah records that our ancestors traveled: to Beer Sheva, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ephrata (Efrat), and more.

All around us are reminders of our history in this land – this land that G-d has given us. There are reminders of our connection to the land, but there are also reminders of times when people tried to separate us from the land and destroy us: Babylonians, Greeks, Syrians, Romans and others. Today, in our fight for survival, we are facing Arabs, the UN, the CFR and others, including some of our own people.

Recently the Amish Church reversed a long-held position and announced their support for Israel and the Jewish people. We are thankful for their support and the support and well-wishes of others, including many other Christian and non-Christian groups. In reality, many of us are under attack by the same enemies.

When push comes to shove, though, we need to remember that G-d is still in charge and still sets the agenda. We, however, still get to choose our own responses and are ultimately responsible for those responses. We all need to pray for the wisdom to make the correct responses.

Be well, Y’all,
Mel

Israel's Flag at Masada

A Time of Hope Gratitude and Joy

This season’s Jewish holidays went out with a bang, as far as I’m concerned. Several days ago we celebrated the holiday of Simchat Torah in Israel.

There are several aspects to this holiday. One aspect involves the fact that it is the conclusion of almost two months of special prayers, asking forgiveness, fasting and feasting, singing, dancing and getting closer to G-d. One who really “gets into it” feels a mixture of joy, sadness, relief, excitement, hope and a few other emotions, all rolled into one. Since this is my first Simchat Torah living in Israel, it is especially moving.

I’ve been in touch with people in the United States lately, and having lived there all my life, I know that my feelings of being here in Israel for these holidays are way far above anything I’ve ever experienced before. I invite all of you, Jews and non-Jews to come and experience the joys of praying in Israel.

Every day, several times a day, Irma and I thank G-d for giving this experience to us.

Another aspect of this holiday is the fact that on this holiday we complete one annual cycle of reading of the Torah and start reading the Torah from the beginning again. In many ways, beginning that cycle again signifies the rebirth of a new year, with all the hopes and promise of things to come.

In my own case, there were a couple of added features to this season. For one thing, I see my new life in Israel as a kind of culmination of 2000 years of searching and desire by many generations that preceded me to return to my people’s homeland.

For another thing, for some unknown (to me) reason, members of my new congregation decided to give me a special honor on that day. That honor, Chosen Beresheis, is the first aliyah (first person called up – feel free to ask for an explanation, if you wish) for the Torah reading for the beginning of the new cycle. Basically that honor amounts to a prayer from the congregation that the honoree have a fruitful and creative year. It was a surprise and an incredibly emotional thing for me.
I take that event to be recognition of my move to Israel and a challenge from Above to do something worthwhile with my time this coming year. My best guess at this moment is that I need to use my writing as a medium for education and enlightenment. I think that means not only to continue the writing that I have started with these blogs, but also to take their content more seriously and to add more writing projects that will spread the story of Israel and a bit of the Word of our Creator.

The annual Torah reading cycle starts with the story of the creation, telling us that G-d created the world and all that exists, and goes through Adam and Eve and that generation. That should be a reminder to all of us to think about he Creator of all things when we do and see what we do every day.

The second week’s portion tells us about Noah, the flood and those generations, to remind us that the world is G-d’s and is His to rule as he sees fit. He has given us rules to follow and has ways and the inclination to enforce those rules.
In this week’s portion, Lech Lecha, G-d tells Abram (later renamed to Abraham) to pick himself up and move from his homeland to this other place – a place that became the land of Israel.

In reading various commentaries about this week’s portion, I came across an article by Rabbi Berel Wein that I’d like to share with you. Because it’s an article from a copyrighted website, I’m adding the copyright information at the end.

Why The Land of Israel?

"The Torah teaches us that our father Avraham was told to leave his home in Mesopotamia and to travel to an unknown land, which eventually turned out to be the Land of Israel. Midrash points out to us that the entire success of Avraham’s mission in life – to spread the idea of monotheism and the universal God – was dependent on his living in the Land of Israel.

The question naturally arises why this should have been so. After all, he could have been successful in so doing had he remained in Mesopotamia, which then was the center of human civilization and culture while the Land of Israel was somewhat of a backward, out of the way place.

There are many possible answers to this question but the one that intrigues me most is as follows. Being successful in spiritual missions and growth always requires sacrifice and some physical discomfort. The prophet castigates those that are complacent and comfortable in Zion.

A person is born to toil and accomplish, to be busy and productive. Without undergoing the arduous and potentially dangerous journey to the Land of Israel, Avraham will never fulfill his spiritual destiny. Avraham is the symbol of challenges in life.

The ten tests that he undergoes shape him and mold him into the father of our people and the symbol of human civilization and monotheistic progress. Only by leaving his comfortable and familiar surroundings can he achieve greatness. It is therefore imperative for him to leave and to wander, to be a stranger and an alien in foreign society in order to grow into his great spiritual role of influence and leadership.

But why the Land of Israel as the desired destination for Avraham? Jewish history provides us with this insight. It is in the Land of Israel that a Jew can truly achieve spiritual elevation and development. The Land of Israel provides greater challenges to Jewish development than any other location on the face of this earth.

Throughout Jewish history, the Land of Israel has posed the greatest challenge to Jewish communal living. It is no surprise therefore that we who live in Israel find it to be a daily struggle in our lives. Nevertheless, it is the place for the greatest Jewish accomplishments and achievements. And therefore it is the destination for Avraham in his quest for spiritual growth and attainment.

He will find it to be a difficult place to live in. But as he struggles with his tests in life and rises to each challenge and occasion the Lord promises him that the Land of Israel will be his place on earth for all of his generations.

The challenge of living in the Land of Israel has never waned but God’s promise to the Jewish people has always remained in force as well. It seems obvious that the ultimate fulfillment of Jewish life can only be realized in the Land of Israel. The problems faced there sometimes seem overwhelming. But the rabbis stated that according to the pain and difficulty so is the reward. As the children of Avraham and Sarah we are bidden to rise and overcome all of our tests and challenges as well."

Rabbi Berel Wein

The Torah.org web site, mailings and other materials are Copyright © 1995-2010 by Project Genesis, Inc. and are protected by United States and international copyright law. [Torah.org is a registered trade name of Project Genesis, Inc., and statements that content is copyrighted by Torah.org and copyrighted by Project Genesis are synonymous.] The authors and/or publishers of individual works, including but not limited to classes and articles, may have retained copyright to the content of those individual works.


Be well, Y’all
Mel

Chag Sameach Y’all

 (Happy Holiday)

It’s erev Sukkot in Efrat and all over the world. That means it is the day before the start of the Jewish festival of Sukkot (one of the Biblically mandated Holy Days for the Jewish people). The festival starts five days after Yom Kippur, the Holiest day of the year.

In sukkot you shall dwell for seven days;

all citizens of Israel shall dwell in sukkot

Leviticus 23:42

In my experience, there are big differences between Sukkot in Israel and in America. For one thing, since there is a greater concentration of Jews in Israel, pre-Sukkot activities are more noticeable. In Efrat, for example, almost every family has their own sukkah.

Sukkah Above an Efrat Bomb Shelter

Sukkot in Front of Row Houses in Efrat

Interior of Our Sukkah

An Efrat Sukkah

In our neighborhood, the sukkah building activity started between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. You could hear people unloading lumber and working into the night, happily constructing their temporary one room dwellings (usually just large enough for a dinner table and chairs – for the family and some invited guests) in their yards or on their outside balconies.

People are working happily because this festival is referred to as “the Season of Our Rejoicing.” We are happy to have arrived at this season (it’s also harvest time) and happy to be performing the mitzvahs of the Torah (G-d’s commandments).

In addition to those sights and sounds, there are other goings on. You see, the Torah also commands us to own and perform a ritual and prayers involving a lulav and esrog.

You shall take for yourselves on the first day [of the festival] the splendid fruit of a tree (etrog), fronds of dates (lulav), the branch of the thickly leafed tree (hadas), and aravot of the brook...”

In America, as in most of the rest of the world, most people (usually only Orthodox Jews) who perform these mitzvot need to make special arrangements to obtain those items – usually through their local Orthodox synagogues. In Israel, however, it seems like a whole new industry sprouts up for about a week or ten days. Near the shook (outdoor market) in Jerusalem a large tent (about half a football field in size) is set up, where these temporary merchants offer their esrogim (plural for esrog) and lulavim for sale. These merchants also sell other decorative items for the sukkot (plural for sukkah).

View of Jerusalem Shook Annex

Esrogim for Sale

In addition to the shook, it seems like almost every religious neighborhood has merchants setting up shop on tables in parking lots or strip mall open areas or street corners, selling schach (usually palm fronds or mats for the sukka’s roof) or esrogim or lulavim or decorations. The activity centered around these mitzvahs are really something to see.

If you spend a few minutes watching the business activity, you will notice people carefully inspecting the esrogim and lulavim. People even bring books or charts, guides that describe the best features of these items that should be considered. Picture yourself examining lemons for about an hour, trying to find a perfect, flawless lemon that you can hold and display with pride for a few minutes a day for a week – you won’t even eat the thing! That’s what’s going on – joy, patience, concentration – in order to perform G-d’s commandment with the proper kavanah (holy attitude and intent).

As you walk through the neighborhoods you may notice that there is more going on. The markets and grocery stores are a beehive of activity. Women already did their major shopping a few days ago. Now, husbands or sons or daughters are scurrying back and forth, picking up another dozen eggs or a few more onions or another bottle of wine – those last minute items because “we’re going to have a couple more guests for dinner.”

Did I say dinner? You bet. When you walk around the neighborhoods, keep your nose active and alert. The smells remind you of just how joyful this holiday really is. Mom and the daughters are busily baking challa, and cakes, chopping onions, baking chickens and roasting meat.

Well, I need to stop now and try to help Irma for a few minutes.

Chag Sameach, Y’all

Days of Awe

Days of Awe

Today is erev Yom Kippur, the eve of Yom Kippur. Last week Jews around the world celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. There wasn’t any apple coming down some tower, or cheap paper hats and plastic noise makers. No, there was prayer and confession and celebration in honor of the Creator of the World on the anniversary of the Creation. We asked the Creator to inscribe us in the Book of Life for the New Year, as well as for other kindnesses and mercies.

Now, after 40 days of special prayers and remembrances, especially the last 10 days, we are about to enter the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. We will fast (no food or water – at all) for about 26 hours.

We confess our sins, pray for forgiveness and ask for another year. On Yom Kippur, the Creator makes the final determination of who shall live and who shall die, who will be sick and who will be well, who will prosper and who will fail – how we will be challenged in the year ahead.

Our New Year’s resolutions are more than simply to lose a few pounds or to quit smoking. We resolve to make significant changes in ourselves, so that we can come closer to the Creator in the coming year and help the Creator with His plans for kindness and mercy for the world.

There is obviously more to it than that, but this kind of sums it up for those who are not familiar with this time of year. We pray for peace and that we don’t have a repeat of the 1973 Yom Kippur surprise attack by our “peaceful” Arab neighbors.

Be well, Y’all
Mel

From Efrat to You

As this is being posted, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year is just around the corner. For observant Jews, this is a season of renewal. We ask for forgiveness for what we did wrong in the past and we ask for another year – another chance.

For Irma and me, this is our first Rosh Hashanah in Israel. As we enter this season of repentance, prayer, holiness and celebration, we thank G-d for allowing us to be here and to experience His Blessings and Kindness in this place.

If we have offended or embarrassed any of you in any way, we sincerely apologize and ask your forgiveness.

Thank you, all of you for your friendship, love and kind wishes.

We wish you and your families and loved ones a very happy, healthy, peaceful, meaningful and sweet year.

Shabbat Shalom, Y’all
Irma, Mel and Bandit

On Sad and Glad

A few days ago, Dorothy, a dear friend of ours passed away. Dottie was a beautiful woman who had seen a lot of life in her 80 years. She suffered from cancer and various treatments for the past four years and finally succumbed to a stroke brought on by the cancer’s complications.

Dottie, you have been a dear, loving, friend to Irma and me for the last seven years. Your love and caring and your happy, positive attitude made us feel loved and welcome from the day we moved to Boca Raton.

Your love for Yiddishkeit, you respect and love for our Young Israel of Boca Raton and our rabbi, Rabbi R., served to guide us easily into our home at YIBR.

Your love and devotion to your husband, Rabbi G., and your feelings for your children and grand children served as a shining example to us and others around you.

Your ability to endure life’s pains and disappointments with a smile and a prayer of thanks to G-d taught us to appreciate what G-d gives us.

Thank you, Dottie, for your love and friendship. Thank you for your words of encouragement and support on our move to Israel.


We will always remember you and keep you close in our hearts. We hope that you will look down from above and point out to G-d the little garden that was planted in Israel in your honor.


May G-d console your family among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Dorothy's Garden
Efrat, Israel

~~~~~

As G-d gives us beautiful people and flowers and a world of beauty and even sadness, He also give us simchas, happy occasions, that teach us about the continuum of life and its several milestones. This week we were blessed to be able to attend a very lovely wedding in Jerusalem. The bride is the daughter of new friends in our new community of Efrat.

Without embarrassing the newlyweds, let’s just say that the physical beauty of this young couple is only matched by their overwhelming devotion to G-d and their motivation to do kind deeds for the less fortunate among us.

We are privileged to be a part of the wedding celebration, which helps us to understand and accept our profound sadness in losing our dear friend.

Shabbat Shalom, Y'all.

How Could I Punish Her?

Bandit’s post got a better response than mine have. Maybe she needs to start her own blog, or maybe she’ll be willing to be a guest author for me.


Today is Sunday. I usually write my blogs on Friday, but I have two weeks vacation from Ulpan so I have a bit of spare time.

This morning, Irma and I went to the new supermarket that opened about four miles away. It was a magnificent day with a beautiful cloudless blue sky. Since the local bus service isn’t so great, we hitchhiked (a common occurrence in Israel). We got there about 10 minutes after we left the house.

Across the road from the supermarket is the Gush Etzion Winery (Gush Etzion is the name of our region). We heard that they had a good restaurant and Irma needed yeast for making wine, so we went there first. We each had a delicious warm mushroom and cheese sandwich on baguette with a salad. Irma got a small amount of yeast and then we went to the supermarket.

We quickly found the herring that we came for, plus a couple bottles of local Israeli wine (about $4.25 each). Before we left, we ran into a neighbor (I’m making the herring for his daughter’s wedding later in the week). He offered us a ride home, so we waited for him to do his shopping.

All in all, a nice morning. My first visit to the new store, and we got rides both ways. It was a nice little morning adventure in Israel without a car and without speaking Hebrew yet.

By the way, Bandit and I had a little talk. We’re negotiating her fee for doing some writing for me. I had to explain to her that even we don’t eat steak, and besides, there’s no money coming from this blog. She said she’d sleep on it.

Shalom, Y’all

Woof From Efrat

For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Bandit, the beautiful, intelligent brave person who lives with and takes care of Mom and Dad; you know them as Irma and Mel. I know, I look like a Great Pyrenees dog, but that’s just a disguise I used to trick them into adopting me.

Anyway, I have a bunch of friends who live in places in America – Colorado and Florida. I’ve wanted to say, “Woof,” to all of you but never had the chance until now. Dad left his computer on and went out for a while. Usually when they leave me alone, I try to sleep on their bed. This time I’m trying something new…they’ll never know (they’re not so smart).

The three of us left that Florida place and moved to this other place they call Efrat, in Israel. You wouldn’t believe how they brought me here. I wouldn’t put a DOG through that, but that’s another story.

This place is much better than that Florida place, because I have a private yard and garden all to myself, so I can pee whenever I want. I’m worried about the garden, because Mom just planted some trees. You see, I’m female and trees are for boys to pee on. I hope they don’t get a boy dog.

Mom already got one of those smelly cat things; she’s ok. She’s small and doesn’t eat too much of my food. The cat isn’t afraid of me anymore, so we have become friends. She’s not too useful, because she can’t bark yet. I’ll try to teach her.

The weather here is nicer than Florida because it gets cool at night. They even have winter here and sometimes they even get snow; not as much as Colorado, but I’m getting older and wouldn’t have fun in that much snow anymore.

I like this place better than Florida because my yard has a fence that lets me see out and bark when people go by. I don’t bark at everyone, because nobody is afraid of me anymore. I just bark at some people to sound like I am on the job protecting our home and our neighborhood.

Mom and Dad will be back soon, so I’d better go. I just wanted to tell all my friends how much I miss you. Please come and visit us. I’ll be happy to take you for a walk and show you the best places to pee.

Hello, Uncle Ira and Aunt Perri; you guys and Fluffy are the best. Hello, Uncle Jeffery and Aunt Barbara; I miss playing with you on the floor. Hi, Lola and Manfred. Hi George at Casuarina. Hi also to the Josephs and the Golds – all good dog people.

I miss Caleb and Rikki, my little grand kids from Colorado. I hope you visit me sometime soon. Also Aaron and Jonah, please come visit me from Michigan. Your cousins, Haddar, Danielle and Raquel come and visit.

Hi Yonah, I miss you; say Hi to your dad, I think he liked me but he was afraid of me. Your sister, Leah, liked me but was afraid of me too. I’m sorry I took Mrs. K. away from you, but I needed someone and Uncle Ira was too big to get into my cage with me.

If I missed anyone, I’m sorry. I miss you all, but I wouldn’t move back to Florida for all the MilkBones in Costco. Please come and visit us.

Woof to you all.
Bandit

Come Play With Me

Efrat's Appeal

Almost five months ago we moved to Efrat, Israel from America. Surprisingly, the transition has been very easy. The people are very friendly and helpful and have welcomed us with open arms and open hearts. The fact that almost everyone here came from an English speaking country has also been helpful.


While much of Israel is beautiful, we find that Efrat and the surrounding Gush Etzion area are especially appealing to us, for a few reasons. One reason has to do with the physical beauty. The Judean hills are absolutely magnificent, reminiscent of my past homes in Pennsylvania and Colorado.

Another, more compelling, appeal to this place is its location. Efrat is built on a ridge encompassing seven hills. Looking off to the right (north and east), you can see Jerusalem, about six or eight miles as the crow flies.

Now, Abraham lived just about 10 miles South of here in Mamre (Hebron), and the story in the Torah about the sacrifice of Isaac (in present day Jerusalem) has Abraham traveling past here to dwell in Beer Sheva. Our forefathers, Isaac and Jacob lived in the neighborhood and travelled up and down these hills. In addition, there are many references in Tanach to Efrat (Efrata or Ephrata). King David spent time walking these hills, as did some of the prophets and Ruth (Book of Ruth). To the kids here in Israel, especially this area, the Torah is their local History book.

Irma, my wife, has been very busy with putting our new home in order. One of her favorite projects, with G-d’s help, has been the transformation of a small weed infested yard to a pretty garden outside our first floor apartment. In addition to garden herbs and tomatoes, squash and cantaloupes, Irma planted roses and other flowers, as well as a lemon tree, a pomegranate tree, jasmine vine, passion fruit vine and more.

This garden has been a task of love and a prayer. You see, a dear, sweet friend of ours has been ill, and Irma has dedicated this garden as a living, growing, expanding prayer to The Holy One, Blessed be He, for her quick recovery. It’s called Dorothy’s Garden, and we are looking forward to the day that Dorothy can make the trip to Israel with her loving husband to visit her garden.

Dorothy's Garden

Dorothy's Garden

View From Our Street

That's Jerusalem in the Distance

That's about all for this week. Feel free to comment or ask questions or not.

Love from Efrat,

Mel

Welcome to Efrat View

Welcome to Efrat, Israel.

My other blog, EphratBreeze.blog.com, was getting too involved in the political stuff going on in the US. While that blog will remain active, at least for a while, the purpose of this project is to share with you all, some of the feelings and beauty of Efrat and of Israel.

Since this is intended to be a sharing thing, please feel free  to comment or to ask questions. That being said, let me give you a picture as an introduction to Efrat. By the way, the picture on the front page has nothing to do with Efrat; it's just a free thing the blog host provided. I intend to create my own format in tne future.

Right now, it's late Friday afternoon and I need to get ready for Shabbos (Sabbath). I just wanted to get this started before I put it off any longer. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a picture from the street in front of our apartment.

Picture of My Street

Be well,

Mel