Somewhere Over The Rainbow

The last two days has seen the country going from its saddest day, Yom Hazikaron ( Memorial Day) to it's happiest day, Yom Ha'atzmaut ( Independence Day) . It is well known that the leaders of the country debated whether they should have one following the other. Some people felt it was disrespecting those who gave their lives by going into a giant party right after the day of mourning.

Fortunately, the view that held out was that in order to really understand what the sacrifice was , we need to follow up the mourning with celebration. The celebration of the miracle of the creation of Israel

I have to admit that while I lived in the states I found it strange to say Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut. I did believe  the creation of Israel was a miracle, especially happening just three years after the holocaust. However I did not feel the miracle.

Yesterday we took my mother to see the annual , Yom Ha'atzmaut air show showcasing the air forces' jets and planes. I couldn't help but wonder what she , an Auschwitz survivor, thought about all this. My wife asked her if it wasn't too loud for her ( which if you know her now is an amusing question) and she said it did not bother her.

"They were ours."

You could feel the miracle.

It is a shame that not all Israelis feel this way.

I have mixed feelings about how some of the Arab citizens of Israel behaved yesterday. The fact that they are more free here than any other Middle Eastern country,  a few thousand held protests against Yom Ha'atzmaut , for what they call Nakba Day, which translates into , disaster day.

I am not sure how many countries would put up with their citizens having a protest calling for the destruction of their country, in their country. I am a firm believer in democracy and free speech but I do not believe that free speech means you can say whatever you want, wherever you want. Even sacrosanct freedoms have limits.

The flip side of that is that I am almost positive that if it were the other way around I would do the same thing

Unfortunately, the Arab citizens are not the only ones who loath the creation of Israel. Just as you think that the Haredim have hit a new low, they seem to find a way to go lower.

On Yom Hazikaron, in several places around the country, groups of Haredim thought it was correct behavior to scream and shout during the two minutes of silence that everyone, except the Arabs, observes in memory of those who gave their lives defending this country. The fact that they do this thinking that it is the correct Jewish behavior is even more sickening.

I have already said that I believe that these people are no longer Jews. How can that be argued. They are standing with the enemies of their people. Do they not understand that the only reason there is more Torah study in Israel today than at any other time in history, is because of the ultimate sacrifice these soldiers and their families made.

Would they dare do this in France, Germany or even the United States. Could you imagine a group of Haredim , standing on the side of the Fifth Avenue, at  the Veterans Day Parade, jeering the veterans.

A real Jew , who had fear of g-d, would never act this way.

That was really the most warped and demented thing I have seen since I moved here ( and I have seen a few)

Yet through it all, there are some rays of hope.

Finally , last week, three sort of Modern Orthodox Organizations,( OU, RCA and Young Israel) published a letter condemning Haredi Violence against Israeli soldiers. These are the same groups who handed over conversions to the fanatic Israeli Rabbinate  a few years back. It seems they are trying to make amends. A bit too little too late but it is a start in the right direction.

I am sure that many of you will not agree with me on this next one and some of you may get angry at me, but I need to say it. In Jerusalem there was a Yom Hazikaron ceremony made up of Jews and Arabs who had lost love ones in the non-ending conflict. I know the arguments on both sides of this but my opinion is that even if it was the families of the most saintly of Jews together with the families of the most criminal of terrorists, the fact that 8000 people could get together and mourn together is a positive thing. The sooner we start seeing each other as human beings the better. The government tried to shut this down but thank g-d, that at least for now, we have a supreme court that is still protecting our freedoms.

Another positive was an article I read by Yehuda Meshi Zahav. He is the founder of Zaka, an organization that is among the first to show up at every terrorist attack, and is dedicated  to insuring that the victims get a proper Jewish Burial.

It is a letter to his now deceased Uncle, Amram Blau, who was the founder of Neturi Karta. It is called, "Dear Uncle, You Were Wrong".  The title hints at what the gist of it is, but reading it made me feel that perhaps there is a start of a trend, where some Haredim are able to see the true nature of this miracle called Israel. It is one of the most powerful and Zionist letters I have ever read. You can find it here https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/1506537/you-were-wrong-a-letter-from-yehuda-meshi-zahav-to-his-uncle-rav-amram-blau-founder-of-neturei-karta.html

The other amazing piece of media was a video of Rabbi Menachem Bombach, who teaches at a Haredi yeshiva in Beitar. It shows him giving a lesson to a class of Hasidim boys about the meaning of Yom Hazikaron. It is not only inspiring because of how he approaches it, it is also encouraging  because of the reaction of his students. The video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZDTkD8mMzg

It is clear that not all the Haredim are Anti Israel and I would never want anyone to think I believe that they all are. In fact I can barley hold individual Haredim responsible for their actions. One of the core beliefs of Haredism is that their Rabbis posses Das Torah ( or in Hebrew, Da'at Torah). This means that their rabbis are on such a high spiritual level that they know the correct way to act because they are closer to g-d than regular people.

In other words, they got the phone number.

It is the leadership that is to blame. The fact that the 2 stories I mentioned made such an impact, on so many,is that there are far to few of them.

It is sometimes very disheartening. It seems that the crazies are winning and the rest of us are giving up. For now I refuse to give up. I am very fortunate that I was able to move here and I know that we are living in the miracle, at the time of miracles.

Perhaps there is some hope after all.