A Few ‘Normal’ Days in Israel

My friend Rabbi Neil Katz recently collaborated with the Israeli group “Yonina” on a Hanukkah song entitled “Be the Light!” Along with so many others, I really loved the songs—I must have shared the video with several hundred people. Thirteen days ago, there were fifty-two views on YouTube. Today, there are more than 18,000!

Of course I wanted to meet the Nina and Yoni of Yonina.  It turns out that they were doing a musical walking tour of Jerusalem and the Jewish quarter last Friday. Yoni is a licensed tour guide and the tour was great! I was curious and asked Yoni how much reserve duty he had done during the past year. He told me that he had been in reserve duty for more than five months, and that he had been called up for another two in the spring.

Our apartment in Jerusalem is next to the Dan Boutique Hotel. My sister-in-law incidentally met a woman refugee from Shelomi in the north who has been staying in the hotel since Hezbollah started their shelling of North Israel on October 8, 2023. The woman is a manicurist, and from what I am told is quite good.

We ran into her on a bus recently and she told me of the situation which has occurred in Shelomi and her house there. She also told me that the amount of preparation by Hezbollah, including underground tunnels, on the Lebanese side for a surprise attack had surprised her. We both agreed that Israel was lucky that this attack did not occur—for had it occurred, the death toll would have been even greater than the toll in Gaza on October 7. She hopes to return soon.

I asked her about her son and his service in the IDF. She told me that he had served seven months last year in Gaza. Incredible! I cannot imagine what serving such extended periods of time in reserves does to a soldier or his family or his employment or business.

Shortly thereafter, while in a car stopped at an intersection, I saw a group of ultra-orthodox males crossing the street. All of them appeared to be in their twenties. I found myself being angry at them because of the very real possibility of their being part of the 70,000+ ultra-orthodox males who do not serve in the IDF and who continue to receive subsidies for their “religious studies.” Wonder what Judah Maccabee would have had to say about that? Something must change regarding this issue.

Friday night at 2:11 a.m., a very loud siren sounded, Houthis had fired an Iranian made missile from Yemen. We took shelter in the stairwell of our building as our apartment building is too old to have “saferooms.”

The next night, my beautiful, intelligent red haired 8-year-old granddaughter spent the night with us. She lives in Rosh Haayin outside of Tel Aviv. During the night, I got up to do what most 73-year-old men do in the middle of the night. On my way out of the bathroom, I ran into my granddaughter who remarked, “At least we did not have to get up because of the Houthis!”

Very insightful especially at her age—on the other hand, it bothers me that a child so young would be so aware of the evil of those who wish to hurt Jews.

The next day, we took her to the Festigal music program in Tel Aviv. This is a special Hannukah program for children which has been in existence for more than twenty years, each performance is attended by thousands. Before the final song, the performers mentioned the hostages and how sad it is that they are spending their second Hanukkah in captivity. It was very moving.

One of the stars of the show was Noa Kirel, Israel’s singer in the Eurovision contest in 2023. Noa is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and last spring participated in the International March of the Living, where she sang at Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Yom HaShoah.

And then this morning, I received the following email from a colleague with whom I was supposed to have lunch tomorrow. “Many apologies… We’re going to have to take a rain check. Another young man from our shul was killed yesterday and we’re all on deck with shiva and supporting the family.”

Some things remain the same, but I honestly believe that what Israelis are going through at present is a paradigm shift. I am not sure how this shift will eventually manifest itself, but I do feel that things will be different as far as the way in which Israelis view themselves and Jews throughout the world.

One must be here to see this and to experience things like mentioned above. This is especially true of those in the Jewish diaspora who are in positions of leadership. Those in Jewish leadership, particularly who have not been in Israel since October 7, 2023, need to spend time here and to do so NOW.

A friend of mine, Rabbi Andrew Paley teaches, “In life, one can pretend to care, but you can’t pretend to show up.”

I cannot think of a more relevant teaching for diaspora Jewish leadership at present.