can you FEEL it?
July 16, 2006It is very difficult to enjoy shabbos..while in Eretz Yisroel people are living in fear. It hit me when I was davening friday night at shomrei Emunah at the late minyan. The shul is expanding, boruch H-shem so minyanim take place in the main shul and in a trailer in the back. The place was packed and I couldnt help but try to imagine how even though this was uncomfortable… it is still Much MUCH better than what people have to do in Israel. Especially in the nothern towns.
When I worked in Tel aviv months ago, I davening shachris in a bomb shelter that was turned into a shul. I also davened mincha in a different shelter that was near my job. Both shelters had in common several thing. You feel very crowded even though its not packed and you can’t help but think on how it must be if there WAS a bomb scare and you HAD to be trapped in there with dozens or hundreds of other families. We all make comments on how our flights sometimes haave screaming babies. Well, try to imagine, if you could 15 or 20 babies crying because there is no central air conditioning…maybe a few fans and a half working AC unit… and toddlers and kids going nuts because there is nothing to do in these cramped quarters. While there is a evening of tefilla sunday night in Baltimore… you don’t feel the same reaction to people here. In the US we are sad and can try to empathise but we don’t FEEL it. We can’t REALLY feel their pain.
For the first time in my life, a conversation that I had with a yeshiva guy in Ohr HAchaim made sense to me. At the first gulf war I recall a plane of YU guys were going to Israel to daven and show support for them. I couldn’t fathom why they would do this. Mind you that at this point I had never been to israel. Until today did I understand what it was. What it means to feel empty and helpless while our brothers and sisters in Israel are taking a pounding. If you truly believe that Israel is our home and we really should be there. Then we should be feeling the pain that Israelis are. Why aren’t we? Are we better than them because we can afford to fly or drive away or if we had to we could take a vacation and leave work. I remember having a similar feeling after 9/11. The feeling of helplessness did go away and while we can’t get it out of our minds completely, can you imagine feeling this every day. Just reading the quotes of tiberius residents made me shudder. “We now feel like the people of kiryat shemonah”
These people have nowhere to go. They aren’t living up north because this is their summer home. Their jobs are there and they can’t afford to leave. Can you imagine living in israel or anywhere and the constant threat of a rocket hitting your house or your kids school? MAny of us cringe when our kids ask us to cross a 2 way street… well… you’re only 9… maybe next year..etc. There is no defense for these rockets. The patriot missles are helpless to defend against the katushas. One landed near a shul. One in a restaurant that Thank G-d was closed today. This wasn’t in kiryat Shmoneh which is really close to the border. This is in Tiberius. where EVERYONE had gone touring. Will we go again? Would you bring your kids there next time knowing that the missles CAN reach there? WE can decide not to go. Israelis live there and cannot afford to just pack up and leave work for a week or so and head to Jerusalem to tour.
Hopefully with our tehillim H-shem will give koach to the soldiers and Israelis who our our korbonos in this terrible matzav.
It was an eventful shabbos as I ate with Yitzy Pretter at Dov Oken’s house Friday night. YItzy’s family was in Seattle so I tagged along with him friday night. I haven’t seen YItzy in a while but I really wanted to be able to say that I’ve seen 3 of the pretter boys over the past few months. Avi and Dovid in Israel and Yitzy in Baltimore. I can’t recall why that was important to me last week. Maybe it will come to me this week?….hmm… I actually did NOT wear a hat this shabbos. Not due to the incredible humidty. More about that later. But when I asked yitzy if I caould borrow his hat, It didn’t occur to me that my head (with my haircut) would be so much smaller than his. When I tried it on.. only my ears stopped in from hitting my shoulders. I fewlt like the kid who is a friend of Fat Albert who wears his hat over his head and has little holes for his eyes. Well, ein baya.
I can’t recall NY ever being this humid. At 12:30 walking back to my apartment it was still hot and steamy. In israel its hot but its not THIS bad. This morning after a 15 minute walk home from Shul I ate the seudah at My old friend Shloime Kreindler, from Queens. Its amazing what people remember about you after all these years. I walked in the door and his wife said that for the first time in 14 years of marriage, shloimie told her to make sure the cholent was fantastic because Yudie was coming. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m not much a cholent person anymore. So for the sake of shalom bayis I made my way through plates of it. Is actually was really good. It was good to see him and his family. Been many, many years since I’ve seen him.
Well, I’m going to call Penina and see how shes doing. Its about 7:30 am in ISrael.
HAve a good day,
j
