Monday, April 26, 2004
Sparks From Israel
Yom Kippurim
It’s almost a year since I have made Aliyah, and there isn’t a day that has gone by that I haven’t thanked G-d for giving me a seat here. Of so many thousands and millions who are ‘occupied’ with other things, how is it that I have been so lucky as to be plucked out before the flood and given full membership in an unfolding prophecy called Israel.
I returned tonight to one of the places I had been to last year when I was still a visitor. Like every year on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, Rabin Square is filled with thousands of Israelis who remember the fallen. Top Israeli singers sing ballads and patriotic hymns inter-cut with videos of family members who recall a son or daughter that was murdered this year by our despicable enemies.
The music of this Nation is far superior to the shallow American music that I grew up with. The ballads that are sung, one after the other express the sadness and the glory of the Jewish soul reaching beyond death into something eternal. Although Israelis can be tough and abrasive and cloak themselves in all sorts of un-Jewish things that they embrace, this is one time when all the layers are set aside and the beauty of the soul of this Nation is revealed in all of its splendor.
This is the beauty I saw when I first arrived, and now a year later confirmed. There they sit, fathers holding their children and giving them tender kisses, boyfriends and girlfriends, the young and the old all of them brave soldiers, and all of them with tears in their eyes. This is more than a Nation it is a family, made up of members of every race and tongue. It is the essential family of mankind building the purpose of Creation.
I won’t dwell on the contrast of the religious version of Yom Hazikaron - Tisha B’av that mourns the loss of the temple and G-d’s presence. According to our Torah it is for this reason that all of the history of our nation is accompanied by tragedy. On that date rabbis give many musser speeches (speeches that inspire us to improve our character traits) but rarely does it conjure up the emotion and tears of the present day conquest of our land which is rebuilding the Temple before our eyes, in stages.
Yom Hazikaaron is not recognized by the religious world. Their observance focuses on the absence of G-d, and includes an abstract concept of a physical nation that once was, and will be again, while the other focuses on the absence of the dear ones we have lost in the building of this physical nation that exists before us in all of its glory, as it searches for it’s G-d.
They say that in the times of Moshiach, we will celebrate only one holiday – Purim. And even Yom Kippur will be a joyous holiday. Our rabbis say this is alluded to in the word Yom Kippur, which hints at Yom Ki Purim (a day like Purim). The thought occurred to me tonight, that the rabbis might not have meant literally Purim would be celebrated, but rather a holiday that was similar to Yom Kippur as well as Purim.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if the very holiday that is not recognized by the religious world today is in fact that final holiday that alone will be recognized. Yom Hazikaron is followed the next day by Yom Haatzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day. A day of sadness and remembrance, similar to Yom Kippur, followed by a day of the joy of liberation, similar to Purim. How awesome it is to see G-d’s hand shaping His Nation, and to be a part of this unfolding mystery, just by living here.
Yom Kippurim
It’s almost a year since I have made Aliyah, and there isn’t a day that has gone by that I haven’t thanked G-d for giving me a seat here. Of so many thousands and millions who are ‘occupied’ with other things, how is it that I have been so lucky as to be plucked out before the flood and given full membership in an unfolding prophecy called Israel.
I returned tonight to one of the places I had been to last year when I was still a visitor. Like every year on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, Rabin Square is filled with thousands of Israelis who remember the fallen. Top Israeli singers sing ballads and patriotic hymns inter-cut with videos of family members who recall a son or daughter that was murdered this year by our despicable enemies.
The music of this Nation is far superior to the shallow American music that I grew up with. The ballads that are sung, one after the other express the sadness and the glory of the Jewish soul reaching beyond death into something eternal. Although Israelis can be tough and abrasive and cloak themselves in all sorts of un-Jewish things that they embrace, this is one time when all the layers are set aside and the beauty of the soul of this Nation is revealed in all of its splendor.
This is the beauty I saw when I first arrived, and now a year later confirmed. There they sit, fathers holding their children and giving them tender kisses, boyfriends and girlfriends, the young and the old all of them brave soldiers, and all of them with tears in their eyes. This is more than a Nation it is a family, made up of members of every race and tongue. It is the essential family of mankind building the purpose of Creation.
I won’t dwell on the contrast of the religious version of Yom Hazikaron - Tisha B’av that mourns the loss of the temple and G-d’s presence. According to our Torah it is for this reason that all of the history of our nation is accompanied by tragedy. On that date rabbis give many musser speeches (speeches that inspire us to improve our character traits) but rarely does it conjure up the emotion and tears of the present day conquest of our land which is rebuilding the Temple before our eyes, in stages.
Yom Hazikaaron is not recognized by the religious world. Their observance focuses on the absence of G-d, and includes an abstract concept of a physical nation that once was, and will be again, while the other focuses on the absence of the dear ones we have lost in the building of this physical nation that exists before us in all of its glory, as it searches for it’s G-d.
They say that in the times of Moshiach, we will celebrate only one holiday – Purim. And even Yom Kippur will be a joyous holiday. Our rabbis say this is alluded to in the word Yom Kippur, which hints at Yom Ki Purim (a day like Purim). The thought occurred to me tonight, that the rabbis might not have meant literally Purim would be celebrated, but rather a holiday that was similar to Yom Kippur as well as Purim.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if the very holiday that is not recognized by the religious world today is in fact that final holiday that alone will be recognized. Yom Hazikaron is followed the next day by Yom Haatzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day. A day of sadness and remembrance, similar to Yom Kippur, followed by a day of the joy of liberation, similar to Purim. How awesome it is to see G-d’s hand shaping His Nation, and to be a part of this unfolding mystery, just by living here.
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