Monday, November 10, 2003
Sparks from Israel
Chaverim Kol Israel
There is a passage in the siddur that reads ‘Chaverim Kol Israel’ (All of Israel are friends). I thought I understood this passage as meaning that Jews often look out for one another but living in a Jewish country I have come to understand a different meaning to this passage. Not only do you see good friends walking hand in hand and arm in arm (something rarely seen in Canada), but there are other unexpected ways that ‘chaverim’ is expressed. Last night I overslept and missed Havdala, so I went to the corner store. I asked a kippa wearing clerk who I never saw before if I could make ‘kiddush’ on a grape drink. After looking at the ingredients the prognosis was negative. I asked if there was something small he could recommend as I didn’t want to spend money on a bottle of wine, just for one glass.
He told me to wait five minutes and he would take me to his home a block away, where he had wine and candles and all I need. And so, there I sat in a strangers room full of Torah books making kiddish and eating the cookies I bought for him as a small token of appreciation. I could see by his clothes and his accomodations that he didn’t have much money, but nevertheless he was rich enough to give.
In the land of wealth and prosperity that I came from where people live in isolated vaults of opulence, people die of loneliness. Here where there is hunger and need there are true friendships and people are humble. The rabbis here don’t have plush pulpits, they are often paupers during the week and kings on Shabbat. But the Torah that flows from their mouths is prophecy. Although it is a land of hardships, there is a feeling of kindness and blessing from the hand of G-d through His people to one and other. I know many torah scholars who live on a few sheckles a week, but none are beggars. Each one is a gentleman and all find something to give. This is what characterizes the nation ‘Chaverim Kol Israel’.
Chaverim Kol Israel
There is a passage in the siddur that reads ‘Chaverim Kol Israel’ (All of Israel are friends). I thought I understood this passage as meaning that Jews often look out for one another but living in a Jewish country I have come to understand a different meaning to this passage. Not only do you see good friends walking hand in hand and arm in arm (something rarely seen in Canada), but there are other unexpected ways that ‘chaverim’ is expressed. Last night I overslept and missed Havdala, so I went to the corner store. I asked a kippa wearing clerk who I never saw before if I could make ‘kiddush’ on a grape drink. After looking at the ingredients the prognosis was negative. I asked if there was something small he could recommend as I didn’t want to spend money on a bottle of wine, just for one glass.
He told me to wait five minutes and he would take me to his home a block away, where he had wine and candles and all I need. And so, there I sat in a strangers room full of Torah books making kiddish and eating the cookies I bought for him as a small token of appreciation. I could see by his clothes and his accomodations that he didn’t have much money, but nevertheless he was rich enough to give.
In the land of wealth and prosperity that I came from where people live in isolated vaults of opulence, people die of loneliness. Here where there is hunger and need there are true friendships and people are humble. The rabbis here don’t have plush pulpits, they are often paupers during the week and kings on Shabbat. But the Torah that flows from their mouths is prophecy. Although it is a land of hardships, there is a feeling of kindness and blessing from the hand of G-d through His people to one and other. I know many torah scholars who live on a few sheckles a week, but none are beggars. Each one is a gentleman and all find something to give. This is what characterizes the nation ‘Chaverim Kol Israel’.
