The Genetic Power of Survival – Maccabee Style

The Genetic Power of Survival – Maccabee Style

I left Israel with a genetic power ” an Earth Shaking” NEW connection to Miracles, Survival and My People.

Genetics are a big deal. Genetics are powerful sources of who we are and who we will become. To understand genetics on a surface level, we look at our eye color and our hair color, we examine our body and our shape, our height. etc…The genetics of the Jewish people however, look far deeper than that. We look to our collective memory, we look back at our history, our narratives and stories. We look at our people in Israel. All of this helps us create and shape our genetics. It’s how we own the narrative of our people. It’s how we know that we are Survivors. Generation after Generation. This is how I felt when I returned home, a week ago, after my latest mission to the Land of Israel.

I went with a small contingent of Jewish woman, each of honored to repair and prep homes on Kibbutzim on the Gaza border. The six of us woke up in the morning, we prepared our meals for the day and went to work. We worked on the homes of families that have been displaced since October 7th. We also walked in the footsteps of the tragedies that occurred during and after October 7th. We met and held space for those who have lost so much. The stories that we heard and descriptions and detailed accounting of what happened was Earth Shaking. It was not surprising, it was not shocking. It was not something that just rattles you and your sense of sanity. It was Earth Shaking = to shake the very ground and the firmament that was created by Hashem when He created the world.

And the world will never be the same. The Earth will never be the same. I will never be the same. It has all shifted, and so has the mindset of the Jewish people. But one thing remains the SAME – Our collective and individual Genetic Power of Survival and our ability to SEE Miracles everywhere.

A new friend, Eliyahu, a fellow kibbutz worker said to us, “Miracles happen here every day, we see miracles every day and every moment, even in the tragedy, we see miracles.” This vision, this eyesight is deeper than the genetics of eye color. This is Jewish genetics. The genetic of heroism. This is our Jewish genetics of survival. This is the unwavering, deep rooted vision (not eyesight) of the Jewish people.

We are genetically wired to SURVIVE!

So we went walking around the beautiful Kibbutzim, we went swinging on the tire swings, we had picnics on the grass and we drank coffee wth Gadi, in his home. He and his wife and three children have been displaced since October 7th. We straightened the photos on the walls of families, our families. When you rebuild someones home, when you clean up someones yard, when you prepare someones home, when you repaint a childs’ bedroom, when you do these things you become wired differently, We have tapped into the Collective Genetic Power of our People.

This is genetic heroism. This is genetic survival. This is the genetics of the Jewish people. This is miraculous. We are a part of the miracles they speak of each and every day.

As Chanukah is here, our holiday of Miracles. I stand in Awe of my brothers and sisters in the Land of Israel. I left Israel a week ago, feeling completely courageous, filled with hope. Filled with love. Filled with a deeper Genetic Vision – a vision far deeper than my eye color or eye sight.

I left Israel with a genetic power – “an Earth Shaking” NEW connection to Miracles, Survival and My People.

(I’ve written this in the memory of Eliezar Ben Aaron, May his eternal light continue to connect us in the deepest way to the Jewish people, to heroism, to survival and to miracles.)