The television was broken
The television broke and it was such a remarkable event that my father went out and rented a television which proudly made its home on the kitchen table where it remained for nearly a week. Not only did we eat supper with the tv blaring from the table, but we were not allowed to talk while it was on. Don’t get the wrong idea, this was not our usual family routine (although at that time when we didn’t have the ability to rewind or playback the broadcast, we often watched shows the old-fashioned way- without interrupting anyone’s ability to see or hear the screen).
The year was 1967 and without revealing my age, (suffice it to say there was only one digit in my years at the time) I remember the television on the table as though it happened yesterday. The six-day war had just broken out, and internet and home computers were not really in fashion yet. The thought of not being able to follow what was going on in Israel was too much for my parents to bear. We were 6000 miles away in Chicago and the television (or the radio I guess, but that would not have been as exciting to write about) was our only source of real-time information.
We all have childhood memories- some stronger and more vivid than others- even with the passing of time. Two of my very clear memories happened that same year- the first was the great Chicago blizzard (still the worst blizzard in Chicago history) in January 1967- especially the fact that we were sent home from school early. But even more distinctly, I remember watching as the kitchen table broadcast the now infamous words” Har Habayit B’Yadeinu”- The Temple Mount is in our hands. I recall vividly seeing Rabbi Goren blow the shofar at the Kotel. I was still a little kid and yet I knew I was watching history unfold before me. It amazes me now, even 59 years later, that at that tender age, I understood the significance of the 28th day of Iyar- the day we now know as Yom Yerushalayim. Wow what a wonderful memory this is – and I don’t just mean the television on the kitchen table.
Chag Yerushalayim Samech
(Shout out to my Chicago readers- Rosen’s pharmacy on Devon Avenue used to rent televisions- now you know!)
