A grandfather learns a lesson

Since well before the outbreak of the Gaza War, 18 months ago, the concept of ‘Jewish resilience’ has been a topic continually written about in the Jewish media. I took note of a recent article published in a journal supported by the Tikvah Fund, offering a contemporary definition of the key elements of Jewish resilience: “Resilience can be defined by six ideals: endurance, hope, living with uncertainty, remembering the past, the ability to rebuild, and strength of belief. All of these ideals are found in the teachings of the Torah or the Rabbis.”

Having just entered our second Passover holiday since the start of the war, it is clear that this topic remains especially relevant. At the seder table, with the retelling of the story of our exodus, the high point for me has always been when we all raise our wine cups and together sing ‘V’hi Sheamda’:

It is G-d’s promise that has stood by our fathers and us,

For it was not only one man who rose up to destroy us;

But in every generation, there are those who try to do so.

Yet the Holy and Blessed One rescues us from their hands.

Our family loves this part of the seder so much that we always energetically sing it twice around to two different, but well-known tunes. For these past two years, at the request of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, we first recited a special prayer he composed, translated as follows:

May it be the will of our Father in Heaven
Who brought His people Israel out from the suffering of Egypt
that He bless and save our abducted brothers and sisters,
the hostages who are held in iron chains.
May He strengthen their souls and faith,
Protect them from all harm and sickness,
Have mercy on His sons and daughters awaiting His salvation,
Nullify all cruel decrees from upon them.

In His great kindness,
may He send their redemption
and quickly take them from darkness to light,
and from the abyss of captivity to eternal freedom,
and return them in peace to their families and to their homes.

Please, plant brotherhood, peace and friendship in the hearts of all,
Remove envy and baseless hatred
and spread over us the shelter of Your peace,
so that we may soon merit to sing before You a new song.

To say that this put a damper on my spirits would be an understatement. I guess you could say that I allowed my emotions to get the better of me—concerns about the future safety of our children and grandchildren, all of whom live in Israel, thoughts of the severe social discord overrunning our country, the loss of so many lives, worries about the safety of the three soldiers in our family, being surrounded by so many enemies, the unbelievable rise in global Jew hatred and more. I controlled myself, joined in with the singing, and we proceeded with the seder.

Upon awakening the next day, I was consumed with thoughts about my own personal ‘resilience’. Everyone in our family has been engaged in a wide range of volunteer activities in support of the war effort. Since day one I personally have continued my own long-term volunteering on army bases, providing logistical support, or as an agricultural volunteer in places where there is now a shortage of labor, and I have regularly worked in a non-profit army supply warehouse fulfilling equipment orders for our soldiers.

It has been go, go, go for these 18 months. And then I slipped. I woke up feeling fatigued and my spirits were down. We went to the beit knesset for morning prayers, came home and had our lunch. Everyone spread out in the house to relax and the grandkids began playing games.

And then it happened—late afternoon, just before returning to the beit knesset for the afternoon prayers, the sirens started wailing and all 16 of us in the house scurried into the bomb shelter.  We slammed the door shut and everyone stood there looking at each other. The kids immediately sat in a semi-circle on top of their sleeping bags spread out on the floor. They started singing!!! The title of the well-known Israeli song is “We are not afraid” by Udi Damari. Some of the key lyrics translate as follows:

We are not afraid

The people of Israel here are strong

We are not afraid of anyone………

The people of Israel, in the Land of Israel.

United, everyone loves, we are all together

We will not be afraid, because we are all one people.

And we have a great army, and the Almighty…….

Whoever thinks of harming the Jews

Has made a mistake, we are strong……….

And we will not give in to anyone, Hashem is with us, Hashem is one

The parents in the room all had big smiles on their faces. And then it hit me- I learned what Jewish resilience is truly all about.

To quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: “This is how to deal with crisis. Wrestle with it, refusing to let it go until it blesses you, until you emerge stronger, better or wiser than you were before. To be a Jew is not to accept defeat. That is the meaning of faith.”