Sunday, July 24, 2016

Israel From my Mothers Heart

My next post will include some reflections posted by my mother on Facebook. She generally posted bits and pieces as comments on my posts etc...  I will edit them a bit but left most intact to share how she felt to be there.  

Many people long to go to Israel for various good reasons. The cost is always substantial but the rewards are immeasurable. She has only been there twice, once in 1977 for my Brothers Bar Mitzvah and once this summer to celebrate the Bar Mitzvahs of my son and nephew. Yet as a survivor of the horrors of Europe in WWII, she held the dream of Israel in front of her like a light in the worst of the worst. 

So here it goes...


There is an energy, an "aliveness", within Israel, that goes to the soul. People walk everywhere from dawn till all hours of the night; with cafes and stores and music and spontaneous dancing, and lots and lots of food everywhere.  

The people here come in all shapes and sizes, all colors, all nations, all religions, and all sexual orientations.  And everyone has an opinion and their attitudes seem sometimes hard; but if you are in any apparent need, the hoard immediately parts the waters and individuals insist on helping you and making everyone listen and help.

There is JEWISH security everywhere, Israeli flags flying proud everywhere, most signs in three languages (Hebrew, Arabic and English) and sometimes in Russian and French, etc. 

I miss the Israeli flags. And the energy of Israel and of Jerusalem at night. And the walks at night in Netanya. The boys were transformed, at the Kotel especially. This was certainly a life-affirming and connecting place, God-given. A miracle unfolding. 

When Jordan spontaneously sang in the rotunda of the Chagall Windows, it was like the sound of angels; and then he sang the Shem in various octaves. Our children are the heritage of this new and old land; of a future. 

The young people are beautiful, and confident. And of course, the history of the buildings, the sites, thousands upon thousands of years of Jewish history protected and preserved by the Jewish soldiers, made available to ALL. 

When you touch the heritage site stones,  there is an instant energy - My hands got red and hot by just touching the container of David's Tomb. 

We went to a huge waterpark, seemed like billions of people, all running about in joy; Jew and Arab alike, many languages, and of course, food; AND one family, came over to us in sympathy and insisted we have watermelon slices, and bottles of water - they were French. 

Innovations and advancements are everywhere, pink and yellow flowers EVERYWHERE,  the land green with trees and cultivation and protected by watchtowers - across all the borders - turning from lush green land to brown desolation deserts of the surrounding enemy. 

This is a  tiny nation of innovators and people who love life to its fullest. And these words cannot but "touch" the miracle of this tiny land of and for Israel, brought back to life by the Jews who never left Israel; and the rag tag remnants of European horrors; and the  Refusniks from Russia; and the million escapees from the Arab lands; now reaffirmed by those who are cognizant enough to leave Europe before it is too late; and the American and Canadian Jews who are leaving here now also. 

I miss the energy of Israel. The Kibbutz,Yad Mordichaim that began the reclamation of Israel soil, and that fought the first fight in '48, I have the book and this lives with me. 

I KNOW this to be true; that all the efforts by all the nations,,. by friend and foe alike; to give away Israeli holy soil will NOT be allowed; there is now a Force, that will reconstitute Israel. A destiny arrived. Love


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