Ron Dermer, Zohar Argov and Jacob’s Blessing

One of my survival rules here between me, myself and I is to minimize listening to the news, and especially, commentators who pontificate in the TV studios. And yet, here and there I still fall, and am reminded why I set the above rule, and how much I am punished when I deviate from it…

This is what happened to me when I heard last week the words of Amnon Abramovich – a journalist and political commentator – on Channel 12, who said the following terrible things (without anyone in the studio stopping him!):

“Ron Dermer is a cultured, polite and pleasant guy, but he is not Israeli at heart. He arrived at the age of 26. Why didn’t he serve in the army? His basic experience is not an Israeli experience. I don’t think he knows the difference between Arik Einstein and Zohar Argov or Shoshana Damari and Hava Alberstein or who Shaye Glazer and Nahum Stelmach were or maybe not the difference between Amos Keinan and Amos Oz… Ron Dermer doesn’t know where Rafah is and if you put him in Nir Oz he doesn’t know how to get home“…

There’s so much to be said in response to this stupid statement, especially when it’s made by someone who himself is a descendant of those who were new immigrants at the time (maybe in his eyes, coming from Serbia is better than coming from the US?). I was impressed by the sharp-eyed and eared “diagnosis” of the various singers. I would really like to know if, in addition to distinguishing between Ashkenazi and Sephardic (“Arik Einstein and Zohar Argov”), Abramowitz also distinguishes, for example, between Zohar Argov, Avner Gadsi, Haim Moshe, and Amir Benayoun… or, Yuval Dayan, Noa Kirel, and Eden Ben Zaken, or also, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon… ??

Indeed, that same Arik Einstein and Uri Zohar (I hope you know them and not fail the test here…) have already described this situation well, when each alia stands on a tiny sand dune and points to the new “new comers” following it. There is no doubt that on a more creative and less held-back day, I too could do an entire stand-up show about it, although in the end, it’s just plain sad.

The superficial “test” towards our Jewish brothers and sisters who made Aliya and came to live here from around the world, often with incomprehensible courage, especially in comparison with someone who takes their life in Israel for granted, also stands in contrast with the fact that there are quite a few non-Jews in Israel who can easily distinguish between “Arik Einstein and Zohar Argov” and navigate “Israeli culture” perhaps better than the Minister – the Minister Dermer, Mr. Abramowitz, and not the “guy”; and the question that is asked and needs to be asked is, is this what makes us a People? Is this why we returned to the Land of our ancestors and built a State? All in order to distinguish between Hava Alberstein and Shoshana Damari? And to find the way from Nir Oz?? And by the way, it is usually not a problem to find your way from anywhere in this country, because there are so many good people along the way who help each other, and do not try to fail others on geography and topography tests of the (Ashkenazi). Land of Israel.

Which brings us to this week’s Torah portion (well, you knew I’d get there eventually…), Toldot, when we’re talking about the sons of Isaac and Rebecca.

Rebecca arrived last week after Abraham insisted and made his servant swear: “lest you take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but you will go to the land of my birth and to my homeland, to get a wife for my son Isaac.”

And what if she doesn’t want to come to this Land, with its wonderful singers, annoying broadcasters, various swamps, and all the other challenges we have here? Can I, the servant asked, perhaps take your son back there?

Gd forbid! Abraham answered him, ““On no account must you take my son back there! Hashem, the Gd of heaven—who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who promised me on oath, saying, ‘I will assign this land to your offspring’—will send a messenger before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there. And if the woman does not desire to follow you, you shall then be clear of this oath to me; but do not take my son back there.” (Genesis 24:3-8).

Their story stands in contrast with Ishmael, whose mother took him a wife from Egypt (Genesis 21:21 – and why didn’t his father??), and Esau, who was looking for a true “local” and therefore married Ishmael’s daughter (…). Ishmael himself and the “sons of the concubines” received many fancy gifts. Also in contrast, the Midrash tells us that Jacob prepared lentil stew on the day Abraham died, food for the underprivileged because they were poor at that time. It didn’t matter. For Isaac, our forefather, Abraham insisted on two gifts, two inheritances, two presents that were most precious: the family and the Land. Only this. And from then until today, all the noise around us, is still on this…

When Rebekah arrived, she probably didn’t know the same singers that Isaac listened to as he walked in the field at night, and she too needed help finding her way, but despite everything, it was she who comforted him after his mother’s death, and whom he loved, the first woman in the Torah to be loved by a man.

Raising the children, Esau and Jacob, was not easy and there is much to say about it, but… let’s skip straight to the blessings that Isaac blessed his two sons:

Regarding Esau, it is said:

“And his father Isaac answered, saying to him, ‘behold, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earth
And the dew of heaven above’”…. (Genesis 27:33),

And concerning Jacob, it is said:

““and may Gd give you of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, abundance of new grain and wine’”… (Genesis 27:28).

Dew of heaven. The oil / fatness of the land… The differences in the end are not that big. But between these verses, in Jacob’s case there is one special letter that opens the blessing, which in Esau’s case – is not there. This is the letter “vav“: “And He will give you”… What does “and He will give” mean? Why do we have this “vav“? Rashi emphasizes to us based on Midrash Rabbah: to tell us that He will give and will return and give again.

Esau – seemingly has a huge advantage over Jacob: he has everything, he lacks nothing. However, according to Rabbi Uri Sherki, the one who is not lacking anything – that’s a sign that Gd does not love him. We tend to think that we pray because we lack something, but in fact, it is the opposite: we lack something in order for us to pray. Lack creates need, and need creates a connection – between a person and his fellow human, between a person and his Gd. And even between a person and himself.

In the word “and He will give,” Jacob is told that Gd will give him again and more. Gd will never finish giving him everything He has for him. But Jacob – Israel – will have to feel the lack, recognize it and ask for what’s missing. This cycle will do two things: Jacob will remain “in touch,” and from this – he will continue and grow. Tomorrow he will ask for things that today he has no idea he needs. This will leave room both to maintain his identity and to develop and strive for more and more.

And this is the blessing for the People of Israel. To be who we are – an ancient people, and also – a young, innovative and renewing people. As the poet Yehuda Amichai (you know him?…) wrote in his poem “My Father Was Gd,” about his father who taught him the Ten Commandments, “not with thunder or fury, not with fire or cloud, but with gentleness and love,” and added two more commandments: “The eleventh commandment, ‘Do not change,’ and the twelfth commandment, ‘Change, change.'”…

In the wonderful children’s book “The Egg That Disguised itself,” written and illustrated by Dan Pegis (1973), the white egg is looking for friends “like her”: a white ping-pong ball, a mushroom dancing on one leg, a jug with a strange opening. They really look like her, don’t they? Why don’t they want – can’t they ? play with her? But then the mother hen finds her to continue sitting and incubating her. It turns out that the egg is not an egg at all. It’s a chick…

By way of analogy, if comments such as the above are (still) made, then we have probably not yet fully hatched from our egg, and “incubation” takes time and strength and a lot of patience. But all of this is part of the journey to live this blessing of who we are, of giving and be given, and continuing to give; of not ever changing and always, constantly changing and growing. Whoever misses this, misses something much more fundamental and important, even if he manages to distinguish very well between Zohar Argov and Arik Einstein.

Shabbat Shalom.