The Hobbit in Israel or 'My Personal Obsession with Tolkien Just Got Kicked Up A Notch'

I recently saw the new Hobbit  movie with my husband and some friends of ours here in Jerusalem. I can't tell you how excited I was for this. Despite the fact that it was in 3D - the 48 FPS was awesome but the 3D was overkill - I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am soon to see it a second time with my brother in law. I freakin love Tolkien and I am obsessed with Peter Jackson's adaptation of his work. As a student of cinema there are literally dozens of reasons I could list in order to describe why I think Jackson's work on these films is stupendous. But I won't right now. Right now, I want to tell you about something interesting I thought about upon seeing this film for the first time.

Seeing it in Israel was interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, I didn't expect there to be such a following here in the holy land. Also, I went into it thinking the subtitles in Hebrew at the bottom of the screen would be very distracting; happily they weren't at all. Second, and more to the point of this point, the movie seemed to really resonate with the audience beyond mere entertainment. Israeli audiences were really moved by the portrayal of the an ancient clan coming back to reclaim their ancestral homeland. Wait a minute. . . 

It didn't take long before the imagery slapped me in the face either. The Dwarves are the Jews. Did Tolkien knowingly draw his inspiration for this plot from the Jewish experience? Who knows. . . but go with it for a minute.

As if I needed another reason to absolutely adore Tolkien's sheer brilliance, here are some motifs and themes which I read into the movie (and books many years earlier but it's only now that I'm piecing it all together) and which, not surprisingly, seem to resonate very strongly with Israeli audiences, knowingly or unknowingly.

In the book it goes into this in more detail- it's only mentioned in passing in the movie - a special language- the Dwarves have a special, almost holy tongue which not many know or can read. When the Dwarves were banished from their homeland they started speaking other languages so they could communicate and work among men and hobbits. But they maintained their language teaching it to their kin and offspring and using it for special occasions. It keeps them separate. It anchors their identity. And it gives them hope. 

Jewish comparison: Obviously this is Hebrew. Nuff said.

Again from the book, and mentioned only superficially in the movie, but the Dwarves are very few in number. Compared to the elves, men, and others- the Dwarves number very few. This is super surprising because they live for like, 250 years and marry around age 100 so you'd think this wouldn't be the case but whatever. It is. Small nation among all the other ones. Always has been. Jews.

The Dwarves have been attacked, chased, scattered, regathered, and attacked again multiple times. By Orcs, Dragons, Gobblins. They went from Mountain to Mountain until they were finally scattered for the long haul. Babylonians, Persians, Romans. My theory has some traction, you must admit.

Because of the Dwarves many exiles they had to pick up trades and skills they could take anywhere. The Dwarves became smithies and masons. Working with stones and steel. They didn't own land in their wanderings, they settled here and there, so farming wasn't a viable option. Jews were merchants. Money lending people. Currency changers. That's us. And the Dwarves even got a bad rap for being gold-hording, money-hungry, greedy, large nosed creatures. Come on! We share the curse of bad circumstance is all. But share it we do.

For a long time, the Dwarves were the only beings who withstood the evils of Sauron and the Ring. They couldn't be taken by it's power. Everyone else 'fell into it's darkness' but the Dwarves stayed strong. It's assimilation the way I see it. Everyone around them was buying into this new philosophy, this new outlook, but the Dwarves/ Jews were too stubborn and insular. They weren't having any of it.

I could go on, or not, but I would be remiss to not point out the biggest and most obvious similarity of them all: The Dwarves had their ancient homeland taken away from them and now they are returning to reclaim it! The Arkenstone/Temple and of course the Lonely Mountain/ Israel. Ya.

 It's an industrious ancient people who have long memories, don't believe in forgetting your enemy, are exiled from their homeland, have a special relationship with G-d (see Aulë referenced in other Tolkien's writings), live dispersed among other peoples but in their own communities, have their own language which they only use among themselves, physically not so attractive (except for Thorin, ladies. . .) and are stereotypically associated with a passion for wealth. Am I reading a lot into something that may not exist at all? Maybe. 

But that's what movies do. They touch us as people, right where we are, or rather, right where we want to be. They present us with stories which the audience relates to through the lens of our own experiences, cultures, biases and world views.

So kudos Peter! Bravo J.R.R. Yasher Koach! Here's one fan whose drinking the juice and going back for more.

Oh, and here's something to leave you with. Neil Finn's amazing rendition of the Song of Lonely Mountain. Lyrics below if you want to join me in reading into Jewish history and symbolism. 

To quote one excited reviewer "Neil Finn was right. Pop music does need more anvil". My g-d I agree.

Lyrics to “Song of the Lonely Mountain” by Neil Finn

Far over the Misty Mountains rise
Leave us standing upon the heights
What was before, we see once more
Our kingdom a distant light

Fiery mountain beneath the moon
The words unspoken, we’ll be there soon
For home a song that echoes on
And all who find us will know the tune

Some folk we never forget
Some kind we never forgive
Haven’t seen the back of us yet
We’ll fight as long as we live
All eyes on the hidden door
To the Lonely Mountain borne
We’ll ride in the gathering storm
Until we get our long-forgotten gold

We lay under the Misty Mountains cold
In slumbers deep and dreams of gold
We must awake, our lives to make
And in the darkness a torch we hold

From long ago when lanterns burned
Till this day our hearts have yearned
Her fate unknown the Arkenstone
What was stolen must be returned

We must awake and make the day
To find a song for heart and soul

Some folk we never forget
Some kind we never forgive
Haven’t seen the end of it yet
We’ll fight as long as we live
All eyes on the hidden door
To the Lonely Mountain borne
We’ll ride in the gathering storm
Until we get our long-forgotten gold
Far away from Misty Mountains cold.

Hodu: Turkey and Praise in Israel

Since Ben and I have made Aliyah our transition has been, for the most part, pretty smooth. We have certainly been blessed and I cannot complain. Of course we had the help and support of friends and family, which I understand, not all Olim have. And for that I am so very thankful. 

This week, aside from being one of the most horrific Israel has seen in a long time, has been a build up for me towards Thanksgiving. Now I know with everything else going on it shouldn't necessarily be on the top of my list of important things to be thinking about but I needed the distraction and the comfort of this tradition which my husband and I have chosen to bring with us from the United States. 

A quick historical note, George Washington proclaimed the first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God". However, Thanksgiving was only first celebrated on the same date by all states in 1863 by a presidential proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November in an attempt to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states. So President Washington saw a need for the nation to give thanks after a tumultuous few decades of war and striving for Independence and President Lincoln saw fit to declare it once more against the background of civil war and the need for National unity.

The origins of the day and the historical debates about when and why it arose are surrounded by plenty of speculation but I don't really care right now. I know the day to be one where my family gathered in Alabama and we sat around and had a big, delicious, meal and gave praise to the Lord. All the memories of my playing with my cousins and the food we ate and the pies my Nana made are part of parcel of what I know as Thanksgiving. Family and Food. Pretty straight forward. 

Food and family are pretty essential elements to living well, in my humble opinion, in and of themselves however I think more broadly one can point to these two things and say they represent sustenance and fulfillment. And neither of these two things come into play without G-d. Yup. G-d. I said it. The Almighty. Hashem. He deserves some credit here and we should endeavor to refocus the day from what it is we are thankful for, to whom it is that we should be thanking. 

You see the past 8 days in Israel have brought some ideas into clear perspective for me. Israel is indeed a blessed country. "By all rights we shouldn't even be here" to quote my favorite hobbit. Time and time again Israel and the Nation of Israel have been witness to miracles big and small over time and throughout history. Pharaohs  Kings, Empires, Tribes, Western Countries and Eastern neighbors have tried to kill, eliminate, oppress, manipulate, scatter, and terrorize us and yet here we are. And hey, not only are we still around but we have some new friends. Meet Mr. Iron Dome, meet the FireBall, and oh yes, say hello to EyeBallR1 (if you don't know what these are, go look them up). I'm pretty proud of our new friends. We only invited them to the party because no one wanted to hang out with us but they turned out to be a big hit. So while everyone else was at the 'let's kill Israel party' Hashem blessed us with the 'we kick ass and develop awesome state-of-the-art weapons to minimize civilian casualty and assure astonishing accuracy' shindig. Hashem is pretty great like that. 

And with the help of my Rav, I came to realize that Israel's leaders are seeing the value added benefit of recognizing Hashem's hand in all of this. You see the last time we went into Gaza it was called operation Cast Lead. A name that comes from the popular folk Hanukkah song about a fancy dreidle cast with metal. Something man made and yes, something that can be likened to a missile if you want to poetic. 

This time, after years of living in terror and dealing with THOUSANDS of rockets raining down on us, we decided to coordinate an operation to root out the terrorists and attempt to bring a little normalcy back to our lives here in Israel and especially the lives of the Israeli citizens living in the South. This time, they called it Operation Pillar of Clouds- constantly mistranslated by the media and then re appropriated as a mistranslation by the Israeli new media apparatus- Pillar of Defense. Chaval (Shame). People should understand where this name comes from. Go look at the Hebrew folks. The Pillar of Clouds comes from the Pillar of Cloud that Hashem sent before Bnei Yisrael to protect and guide us when we left Egypt and journeyed in the desert for 40 years. This Pillar of cloud blocked the Egyptian army's arrows and kept Bnei Yisrael safe from harm. 

Names of operations mean something for the IDF. Since each and every battle, operation, incursion, and conflict put at stake lives, human lives- the way we conceptualize our involvement and understand our mission and goals is revealed in the language we use to describe our actions. This time, we recognized Hashem in our actions and our purpose.

If General Washington declared a day of thanks while striving for Independence and if President Lincoln declared a day of thanks with the aim of coalescing National unity- then it seems all the more appropriate for us here in Israel, today, to celebrate in that same spirit and give thanks to Hashem. (And I would be remiss if I didn't point out that in hebrew Hodu means Turkey, but it also means Thanks or Praise)

So today, as Ben and I and our expat American friends celebrate thanksgiving here in Israel, on the day after a ceasefire is established with our enemy, we will recognize G-d's hand in all this. That more people were not killed we are thankful and recognize Hashem. That we are blessed with technological capability and military prowess we are thankful to Hashem. That we have a country, a modern Nation State, and that we have our eternal capital Jerusalem, we are thankful to Hashem. 

Dual Citizenship: Voting Here, Voting There

Last night Ben and I went to the OU Center in Jerusalem and cast our votes for President of the United States along with Senators, Congressmen (and women), and 4 referendums on the MA State ballot. It was a very interesting experience; we walked into the building, everyone spoke English, and we entered a large event hall where booths, information posters, computers, pens, paper, and volunteers were all made available for those Americans studying abroad or those of us with dual citizenship, all who had come to make our voices heard and our votes count in a country across the world where some of left for good, and others might return in the future.  

We all gathered to do something quite peculiar if you think about it. I will set aside for a moment the Americans studying abroad who were voting absentee, or the Americans who live in Israel half the year, or for a few months only. For those most part- the room was filled with people like Ben and I- Olim who had picked up our lives, left our friends, family, jobs, and communities in America to start over and build new lives in our homeland, the State of Israel. The room was filled with Americans who didn't want to live in America, but who thought they should still have a say in the politics of that country. People who seemingly didn't want to stay or raise families in America, and who thought, for various reasons, it was better to live here. 

It's hard to not call a spade a spade but that's exactly what we were there doing. Talking out of both sides of our mouth. Ben and I both feel strongly that the future of the Jewish people does not lie in Diaspora. Our close friends and family have heard us say on numerous occasions that the time has come for young Jews to come home. I'll go into our beliefs about Aliyah and the future of world Jewry in another post but suffice it to say that our being in that OU Center voting as Americans in the American Presidential elections felt, well, it felt weird. 

We got off our Aliyah flight so happy and proud to be Israeli. We received out Teudat Zahut (Israeli Identity Cards) and we were beaming. But it's funny how some things work. We find ourselves talking about "Israelis" here and how "Israelis" do this and that and yet in America, we distinctly separated ourselves and would sometimes say "Americans do this and that". It's as if in both places, America and in Israel, we sort of feel like outsiders. Not completely belonging in either, yet . . .G-d willing one day we will be comfortable enough to casually say "We" when we speak about Israel but after only 9 months here we're still a little schizophrenic in our identity affiliation. And last night's exercise in civic duty didn't help much. 

I have heard arguments from many sides relating to this. Indeed it is a multi-faceted discussion and implying there are only two sides and that things are black and white would be incredibly misleading. Some say that as Olim we should cut the umbilical cord and that we shouldn't vote in American elections because the day to day goings on in that country no longer affects us directly. We gave up the right to have a vote when we decided to make Aliayh. Others argue vehemently saying that American foreign policy directly affects us in Israel and it is our duty to continue to cast our vote. Still more people argue that the dual citizenship agreements between Israel and America are proof that the nature of the relationship between the two countries is such that American Jews who make Aliyah should remain connected politically to both places. 

I see merit across the spectrum of these arguments however something about last night still doesn't sit well with me. Indeed I cast my vote. What's done is done. I went in there and gave my American Social Security number, something it seems like I will never fully escape having to remember, and I voted with a bunch of other Jews who now reside in Israel. But over the course of the evening, and we spent about an hour there, interestingly putting more effort into understand the referendums for the State in which we were registered and less time deciding who we wanted to be the next President of the United States. (Spoiler Alert- Ben and I did not vote for the same candidates!) But in that time I spoke with a few people and while no one was crass enough to ask directly who we were voting for, people seemed very enthralled with the idea that they were doing something unusual and I heard many jokes and comments about it. 

I wonder if some of the people who cast votes last night felt as I did? I'll try to sum it up like this: In America, I had some very pointed political opinions; some very strong, sometimes contradictory, and always passionate ideals which guided my vote and my political activity. But it seems like now that I live here in Israel, now that I have made Aliyah, become a citizen in a different country, and cast my lot as it were, with the fate of Am Yisrael, some of my opinions held previously have been called into question. Some of my ideas have been challenged, and some of the ideals I valued in the American system are simply no longer applicable here in Israel. 

I grew up learning about economic principals in a capitalist society. No government ever stepped in when cottage prices rose in the market. I grew up in a society where property rights, the right to bear arms (the two, I believe are intrinsically intertwined), and States's rights were ideas that lent themselves to many political conversations in school and otherwise. In Israel, it's just not so. For so long I thought of civic duty in terms of being an American that I forgot how different it could be when you vote as a Jew in a Jewish Nation State. The only time in American that I ever considered voting as a Jew was when it came to Israel, and even then, it was an entirely different conversation. Now, with elections coming up in Israel, I will be able to vote as a Jew, in a Jewish homeland, where for better or worse the game is different here, my priorities are different here, and the expression of my civic duty now incorporates my Jewish beliefs whereas before, when voting in America, it often times did not. Maybe it should have. Maybe I have changed. Maybe my relationship with Hashem and Torah has changed so much over the years that the person who voted in 2008 is not at all the same person voting now in 2012. And is that a bad thing? I'll be totally honest here and say that I'm just not sure. 

So what am I getting at? Last night, I think that I felt for the first time I was voting as a different person, with a different beacon guiding my values, in a political context that I no longer related to in the same way I used to. Yes, I went in as a dual citizen exercising my right to vote in another country but what in fact occurred was that I had a clash of priorities and I was not simply an American voting from abroad, rather, I was a Jew, voting from Israel. Last night, it was less about property and State's right's, constitutional liberties, free market principals. Last night I also tried to think hard about Tzedek (Justice), Halacha (Jewish Law), and Derech Eretz (I hate this translation, but loosely, 'The Way of the Land). 

I also considered the Hebrew Date- Zayin Cheshvan- the 7th Day of the Hebrew Month of Cheshvan (also happened to be my Hebrew Birthday). During the Second Temple Era, Cheshvan 7 was the date on which the Jew most distant from the Holy Temple -- who resided on the banks of the Euphrates River, a 15-day journey's distance from Jerusalem -- arrived at his homestead upon returning from the Sukkot pilgrimage. All Jews would wait for this before beginning to pray for the season of rain. On a deeper level, the “last Jew” can be understood as the most distant Jew in the spiritual sense—the one whose occupation is the most material of all. Yet all Jews, including those whose missions in life have placed them but a stone’s throw from Jerusalem, cannot pray for rain until the farthest of pilgrims has reached home. For without this last Jew, our work is incomplete; it is he, more than any other, who represents the dual investments which we in Israel must have. It is this Jew, living far from the Holy Temple, his mind in other places most times of the year, and his body very much outside borders of the Jewish homeland, it is he  who we all wait to return home, his wealth-fare and safe passage which we here in Israel concern ourselves with .(Thank you Chabad.org) 

I thought about how appropriate it was to be returning, so to speak, to activity in my life less associated with Holy Activity, a little farther from my Israel based life than normal. After all, these were secular elections in a non Jewish country, where neither candidate was Jewish, and the majority of policies put forth by both candidates had little or nothing to do with elevating the Jewish neshama (soul). But no. We have to wait to pray for our rain. My family, my friends, and many, in my humble opinion far too many, of our brothers and sisters still reside in America and are still very much effected by the policies of the leaders there. 

And so last night, as with many moments of my Aliyah here in Israel, I examined, wrestled with, and considered carefully the many hats I wear now, the many concerns I have, the many identities I affiliate with, and the many repercussions my actions have. Last night I thought about the Jews on the "banks of the Euphrates" and I voted for a President who would sit on the shores of the Atlantic. And I am positive that my family and friends across the sea will have something to say about how Ben and I cast our votes here in the upcoming Israeli elections as there can be no denying that the policies in this country affect the Jews living outside of it. And I am pretty sure that's a good thing. 

Images From Home

I have intentionally not written any posts this past month as the Chaggim, holidays, here in Israel have geared up and my personal experience and spiritual journey have needed some attention. I found that by just being here and doin the do without describing, expressing, or articulating along the way has had its own merits. I do have quite a bit stored up in me however (it was, after all, my first Chaggim in Israel as an Oleh Chadash), so you can expect snip-its, references, and allegories from this season to appear in other places and in later posts. 

This post, however, will not contain much commentary or written opinion, rather, I just felt like sharing some of the images I have captured over the past few weeks. 

Here you can see some of the children's entertainment at the annual craft fair on Emek Refaim, a popular Street in the German Colony, close to where we live in Jerusalem. Children's activities in Israel range from ridiculous, to educational, to downright scary. This guy spans the spectrum if you ask me. . . 

  

Sure, every anglo always complains about how far behind the curve Israelis are when it comes to recycling, littering,  composting. . . And while I think most of these assumptions are actually unfounded, here you can see Israeli amutot (non profits) trying to organize volunteers to spread the good word and encourage composting, for example, here at the Street Fair.

I don’t really know what was up with this guy but I am pretty sure there was a baby elephant involved and perhaps some LSD

These guys were awesome. Pickin and stompin and banjo-in. Good fun

Yay.

One of the coolest things... really illustrates that necessity is the mother of invention. Weather proof, sturdy protection, convenience, rock on Yashiva Bucher, rock on!

Middle aged ladies partaking in some early morning Ti-Chi on the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University. Nothing unusual about it. . .

The boys are back in town! Our friends Josh and Kayla came to visit Israel from Boston and we have had the pleasure of hosting them for the past few weeks (the subject of many of our late night conversations will undoubtedly appear in more than one post this year). Around midnight we decided to take a hiatus from political, religious, philosophical, Zionist, Jewish, humanist conversation and debate, and introduce them to a new game my dad brought us from the States- Ticket to Ride (highly recommend). Josh looks worried in this photo because he thinks this means we are abandoning Catan. Don’t worry Josh, Ben and I learned all about division of loyalty this year... 

Not the time or place to get into this in detail but essentially, this is a piece of art located in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Upon seeing this, I commented to Josh that I had read somewhere that humans not only perceive rainbows with the lens in our eyes but because of a series of photoreceptors in our eye balls and chemical messages sent to our brain when our rods and cones focus on certain visible light, we also create the rainbow in the minds. I then said how wonderful it was for Hashem to give this to humans as his brit, his covenant to us. Something we both conceive and perceive of. 

We went to the Hasidim exhibit at the Israel Museum and were not disappointed. A very well done display of history, narrative, religion, and culture through videos, photographs, painting, all sorts of mixed media. Was just fabulous

Women’s wedding apparel in the Hasidic Community

Men's religious garments in the Hasidic Community

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and sweet new year! May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life and may many more of us come home this year. B'Shana Haba B'Yerushalayim!

Achdut in Israel: What We Sometimes Forget

So Ben and I have been here in Israel for about 8 months now. Pretty Wild. 

We have BH been blessed with a smooth klita (absorption). As I wrote in an earlier post, we both have jobs, we have a lovely apartment, we are making friends, getting fat, and life is good. 

We made the decision before we came to Israel to try to rent an apartment with two bedrooms so that we could always host friends and family; we also made the decision to try to bring as many Jews with us back home as we could. 

Still working on that second part.  

It was and still is very important to us to be able to offer hospitality to those who come home to Eretz Yisrael, even if they do not intend to stay for very long.

We usually have at least a night or two to give over the Torah of Aliyah to most of our guests; the exchange is equitable we always say. Free room and board in exchange for unabashed Aliyah propaganda (the spreading of information for the purpose of helping an institution)).  Most of our guests have taken it in stride, smiled, and some even leave thinking more seriously about what it means for a Jew to come home. 

This week we have been blessed to host very close friends of ours from Boston. Each day they go out, shop, tour, walk around, and get a little peak into this beautiful country, this complicated capital, and what it means to live as as Jew in 2012 in our homeland. I try each evening to ask what they did, who they met and what their impressions were- of people, places, spaces, anything really. Inevitably the conversation gets divided into what they expected things and people to be like and what they were surprised to learn things and people were actually like. 

Last night I met them for dinner at the uber chic, expensive, but surprisingly enjoyable Mamilla outdoor shopping center. We sat down in a cute cafe and I asked my girlfriend, who had spent a great deal of the day walking around neighborhoods in Jerusalem, what surprised her the most. 

As we sat and talked we both noticed the tables around us were filled with so many different types of Jews. Safardi, Ashkenazi, and Mizrachi were only the tip of t he iceberg. There were women wearing pants but covering their hair, women wearing skirts and covering their elbows but allowing their lovely locks to flow free. Falls, sheitles, tichels, headbands. Streimels, black hats (pointed up and down), black caps, knitted kippot, velvet kippot, no kippot. Kaputas, sport coats, tank tops, no tops. There were long beards and short beards and no beards, straggly peot and wound tight peot, tzitzit tucked in, pulled out, and missing altogether (Dr. Seuss would have a field day). 

There were Israeli teens from Russia, Ethiopia, Iraq and who knows where else. We heard French, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Amharik. Some people washed before they ate bread, some did not. We saw benchers for nusach Sefard, Ashkenaz, Chabad, Yemini. We saw shakshuka, ravioli, burekas, chummus, tzimmus, malawach, taboule, and quesadillas. We certainly smelled Schug. We saw all sorts of Jews sitting and eating. . . together. 

At one table you could hear 3 languages, see 4 types of dress and attire, and understand there were more than likely 5 minhagim (customs). 

My girlfriend responded to the questions I posed after a slight pause. She said she was surprised to see how integrated and mixed all these different types of Jews were. In one neighborhood there were so many levels of observance, types of observance, minyans to attend, restaurants to patronize, space to share. To share as one. The Baskin Robbins of Judaism. 31 Flavors and then some. 'That's Israel' I said.

I guess I had forgotten, momentarily, how much diversity there is among Klal Yisrael (the shared community of all Israel). Moreover I had forgotten how inspiring this diversity can be. But as I spoke with my girlfriend and as I thought more about it myself, I realized it isn't exactly the different languages, dress, food, customs, and beliefs of all the different types of Jews- but it's the togetherness of it all. 

It the penny idea- out of many, we are one. One Am Yisrael. One nation, one people. And yes, we come in all sorts of flavors and we don't always see eye to eye and in the worst cases we don't always recognize one another as part of this beautiful and complicated Am, but in the best cases we break bread together at one table, in one Cafe, on a Wednesday night in Jerusalem. 

It's all about Achdut (Unity). It's why we are here. It's the tikun (repair) that we are meant to be doing here in Israel today. It's both the ends and the means to an end. Through Achdus we will be able to discover and accomplish amazing things. for our people and for the world.

Here is an awesome music video from Kutiman that captures the 31 Flavors of this amazing city pretty well. Enjoy, and remember, if any of yall want to come home for any amount of time הבית שלי הוא הבית שלך (my home is your home).

Jewish Time Or Carl Sagan’s Glorious New Dawn as a Framework of Hope on Tisha Ba’Av

For the past month, my husband and I attended a series of classes offered by Sulam Yaakov and hosted by the amazing Pomerantz Bookstore in downtown Jerusalem (a true treasure in the city). The class focused on a number of things but was ultimately geared toward providing a framework for understanding and gleaning meaning out of the Three Weeks and Tish Ba’Av.  

I am unable to give over the entire series and every aspect of what we learned- way too much for a blog but also for someone who is not a teacher. But I want to write about one idea which I found to be super pertinent and which resonated with me very strongly: the idea of exile and redemption, of galut and geulah.

I guess I had never thought too much about it before, but the Rav framed it in a way that made a lot of sense. One cannot understand darkness until he has seen light. There is no sense of alienation, without a sense of self (otherwise, in the words of our teacher- veering away from a core identity is just personal growth). 

Likewise, galut (exile) was not fully understood by Bnei Yisrael until they came back home. In fact, no one conceived of what was happening as exile, until after they had returned to Eretz Yisrael and were able to look back at that period of our history; they were able to label it retroactively as galut. It was not while it was occurring that Bnei Yisrael drew meaning from the process; exile informed our national identity and indeed our national narrative once we had come back to our land, once we were redeemed.  

This idea sort of blew my mind a little bit. Bnei Yisrael had to understand what they had gone through within the larger context while it was actually happening and then again, perhaps differently, after it had happened. It’s like living your life, and then later on, as an adult, showing a photo album to your children from your own childhood. Looking back on certain experiences and particular events - it’s like two different realities. The one you lived and then the one you remember. Who’s to say one is less valid than the other? But most certainly the two will differ.  Sometimes when you look at an old photo- you know it’s true because you can see yourself right there, but you have no recollection of that birthday party of that school play. Or worse, you thought you had been through an experience alone and then you see a picture of your brother and cousin right next to you. The reality you now know to be true is not the one you remembered all this time.

So where am I going with all this? Today is Tisha Ba’Av- the day we are supposed to remember and mourn as a day of desolation, destruction, and despair. A day when our people’s history has again and again been met with utter chaos and hopelessness: negative reports, military defeats, uprisings crushed, fires and destruction, idolatry,  inquisitions, bombings- a day when over and over we recollect events and moments in our national narrative which defined our trajectory and characterized our fears.

But what if we are not looking at the photo album? What if we are still living it? What if every generation is still, continually, adding new meaning and perspective to the photo? What if our perspective is still, after all this time, limited? What if we have yet to discover our larger context? Perhaps, this is the reason why Tisha Ba'Av was set down for us to revisit each and every year.

We are taught that the era of our redemption is closer now than ever before (there is a bit of philosophical and mathematical humor to this statement). From Russia and the pale of settlement, through Western Europe and across the globe- the spark which set flame to the revitalization of Jewish national aspiration was kindled. Zionism was reborn, the State was established, waves of Jews came home, we built up the land, we set down laws and set up Hebrew Government (albeit an imperfect one), we brought home millions of Jews from around the globe, we made the desert bloom once more and the city of Jerusalem is once again inhabited by her people. We have come home, we are continuing to come home. We are building and are built by the land and still it goes on...

Jewish memory is not stagnant, rather, it is a dynamic cycle of experience. At this moment in our collective memory, Tisha Ba’Av is a sad day. But I have faith in tomorrow. Our sages teach that when the final redemption comes, this will be a day of great joy, a glorious new dawn. We should understand Tisha Ba’Av as more than a day to mark our darkest hour(s)- but as a day when, in the future (BH the very near future) our perspective will allow us to see the full  meaning and beauty of our purpose and mission in this world.

Some heavy stuff to think about, and a very goofy video to lend meaning to some ideas I have attempted to describe ;) . And so to all of Am Yisrael- I wish an easy, and meaningful fast on this Tisha Ba'Av. May it be our last as a day of mourning. 

The Same Coin: The Tal Law and The Olim for Improving Israel Lobby

A few things have been on my mind and my facebook feed lately. The first of them is all the talk about the Tal Law and conscription of Hareidim to the Israel Defense Forces. The second is the buzz around the Olim By Choice, or Olim for Improving Israel Lobby. While these appear to be two separate issues, each with their own arenas of debate, language, figure heads, and hashtags- I cannot help but think they both point to the same problem. The problem being, that the Israeli government has for some time now, been more preoccupied with the past and sometimes the present, and less concerned about the future of the State and the Jewish people. 

For those who need a quick background for issues surrounding the Tal Law and what that is- in a nutshell, when the modern State of Israel was established in 1948, then Prime Minister David Ben Gurion allowed a few hundred Hareidi Jews to be exempt from mandatory army service, which all other Israelis must serve. Some speculate that Ben Gurion felt it was important that, what he perceived to be, the last few Torah scholars should be able to devote time to learning and replenishing the pool if you will, since so many were slaughtered in the fires which consumed Europe during the Holocaust. Others say that Ben Gurion didn't see the harm in allowing such a small number this exemption; these Hareidi Jews and their way of life were pretty much dwindling if not almost dead at that point. Whatever the reason, about 400 Hareidi Jewish males were allowed to skip out on army service and instead, devote their time to studying Torah in Yashivas. Time went on and the Haredim didn't dwindle or fade away. On the contrary their numbers grew and so did the army exemptions. 

Fast forward a few decades and enter the Tal Law. In 2002 Supreme Court Justice Tzvi Tal enacts a law which essentially allows for full time Yashiva students to delay their army service,  until age 23 when they can decide to do National Service, a shortened Army stint, or continue studying. You can guess which option most of the Hareidim chose. The caveat for this genius law, was that it had to be voted on every five years. So in 2007 it was extended, and in 2012 it was not. ( I will get into why that is another time; Israeli politics, coalitions building, Ultra Orthodox strong arming, and Extreme Left intimidation within the political system are an entire Saga onto themselves). So here we are in 2012, the largest unity government in decades being held together by a thread and the prospect of finally forcing some or at least a great majority of the Hareidim out of the Yashivas (to the Army, to National Service, some combination?) is back in the debate. 

What is important to understand is that army service is not isolated in Israel. There are direct correlations between level of education, attaining gainful employment, and army service in this country. When you skip out on any of those, it affects the entire economy and society (and some would argue the Hareidim are opting out of all three). Today, the Hareidim are the poorest and least educated (according to secular, national standards) among Israelis. To be fair, I should mention that more and more Hareidim are entering the workforce, entering special army units, moving out of the shtetles, and integrating into Israeli society. A marked increase and growing number, which should not be overlooked. However, it is not to the credit of the Government that we see such shifts. We need to be asking ourselves what the Government can do to encourage this trend and how can the Government incentivize such behaviors for a set amount of time in order to jumpstart a major shift, so that we get critical mass involvement and therefore more social acceptance among those in the Hareidi community who currently remain silent or worse, those who encourage such behavior privately but condone it publicly for fear of ostracism in certain communities. 

And this leads to the other side of the coin. The Olim By Choice or Olim for Improving Israel Lobby. I am sure many people are aware but if not I will fill you in briefly. A recent study put out by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies (Jerusalem Facts and Trends, 2012) gathered this data:

During the 1990s many new immigrants arrived in Israel, over 80% of whom came from states of the former Soviet Union. The year 2002 marked a turning point during which a significant decline occurred in the number of immigrants to Israel from these countries, measuring 55%. The relative proportion of these immigrants continued to decline in the years that followed, reaching 42% in 2010. Simultaneously, the proportion of immigrants from Western Europe and the United States increased. In 2002, a total of 33,600 new immigrants arrived in Israel. This figure dropped to 21,200 in 2005 and to 16,600 in 2010.

The Israeli Government did its best to absorb new immigrants over the past few decades, whether they be from Iraq, Morocco, Ethiopia or the Soviet Union but one thing is for sure; the same model they used when absorbing those immigrants is not replicable when absorbing immigrants from Western countries, primarily Anglos, or English speakers. You see the Government has yet to understand that the needs of Olim who come to Israel for refuge or asylum are not the same as those who come by choice. It’s quite simple. The framework isn’t in place. The absorption infrastructure is dated and speaks to the needs of yesterday’s Olim with little in place to prepare for and welcome the Olim of tomorrow. The Lobby writes:

Through defending the basic rights of olim-by-choice, this lobby will serve to strengthen Israel's ties to the greater Jewish world; it will give the State the grass roots advocacy and PR needed both throughout Jewish communities and internationally. By proxy, the olim-by-choice lobby will improve the condition of all olim in Israel.

The lobby will serve to raise the success rate of absorption of olim-by-choice, lend to strengthening Israel's economy through retaining this highly professional and educated constituency, and lend to social and political change through its ideological population.

The Olim for Improving Israel lobby is trying to tell the Government that Olim are worth more. Outdated absorption infrastructure, dwindling benefits, and services that are out of touch with the needs of Olim, will if only in the short term help the budget but in the long term, hurt the State. Yesterday’s views do not fit with today’s reality and today’s needs must be flexible enough to accommodate for tomorrow’s opportunity.

Plainly put, the Government is responding to instead of anticipating some of the largest and most important issues the State of Israel is facing today. How we empower an under-appreciated and underdeveloped sector of our society, Hareidim, instead of dragging our feet until the 11^th hour every five years, forcing us to see ‘them’ as a problem instead of an opportunity- and how we plan for and encourage the immigration of more Jews to Israel, how we show support for and appreciation of Jews who leave their countries of birth willingly and come to Israel with skills, education, and passion for Statecraft and the future of the Jewish people-  are two sides of the same coin. Neither issue will be fixed with an extended budget or some other short term Band-Aid. And I am not pointing fingers to the current government and placing blame. Indeed these two problems, symptomatic of a larger ailment, are the reaping of many decades and many administration’ sowing.

Israel deserves better. Jews deserve better. What worked yesterday will not work tomorrow. Yes, demographics have shifted. There are more Hareidim than Ben Gurion planned for but that doesn’t mean we can wait another 65 years to seize this opportunity. And yes, more Jews will continue to come home and return to Israel as the American and European economies contract- we need to be ready for them. We need to entice them to come now. The world is a market place. Mobility is not as daunting as it used to be. Let’s make Israel attractive for Jews now in order to build a better tomorrow. We need an absorption basket that provides the best possible benefits for the future entrepreneurs, CEO’s, Scientists, Teachers, and Members of Knesset that are coming, that are amongst us now!

How we deal with the Hareidim and how we deal with Olim both speak to the success and viability of the ongoing Zionist Experiment. We need Statesmen, not just politicians. We need strategy but we also need vision. Jews from all over and from all ideologies will come to this great State. Zionism is not done! We need a Government that is vibrant, flexible, and proactive. We need citizens who, whether by carrot or stick, build, and are built by this country.

We are here to be a light unto others; let us shine inward and illuminate the possibilities for those amongst us now and let us shine outward, as a guiding beacon for those who have yet to make their way home.