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July 19, 2006 23 Tammuz 5766 |
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Chaverim,
Well, it's been quite a day.... and quite a week.
I couldn't begin to tell you here everything we've experienced
in the past week, but I want to share a few moments... so let's
start with what's fresh, today.
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After 5 nights of the 4 of us (my wife and I and 2 dogs...)
sleeping in our "cozy" laundry room (which is our fortified
room), we woke up from what seemed like a relatively quiet
night. There were of course some "boomim" (booms from artillery
and rockets; ingoing and outgoing), before we went to bed, and
some sounded pretty close, but after that, quiet. All in all,
here in Kfar Vradim we've been lucky, Katyushot had fallen all
around us in various adjoining localities, (including the Druse
village of Pekiin), but none had fallen in our village. The day
began innocently enough, but while I was davening I got a call,
one of the village resident's father had died. At first, I
wasn't even sure if we could do the funeral, since we'd need
army permission for a public gathering, but it turned out that
we were granted permission to do it at 5:00 P.M.
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Even though we're talking about an old man whose death was
really a blessing,
his son was naturally very upset, especially because it wasn't
clear who would be able to come up north, (given the security
situation) for the funeral. To make a long story short, we were
just about ready to begin the funeral, when we heard loud
"boomim", (those were actually our artillery firing into
Lebanon), but then afterwards, we heard another "boom" that
sounded really close. Yup, two Katyushot had fallen in the
village. Well, on the spot I figured out how to perform the
quickest funeral I've ever performed (Yaakov thanked me
afterwards for doing a very "dignified" funeral; I guess I
quickly learned the art of how to be quick yet dignified in the
same time...!). A few minutes later we found out where one
Katyusha landed; on a main road (in fact my wife had driven by
on that road on her way to the funeral about a minute
earlier...!). The other one landed in a wadi, also not far from
the cemetery...
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Yaakov is a secular Jew, but he definitely feels a tie to
tradition, so it was important to him that there be a shiva
minyan if possible. I announced the minyan at the end of the
service, but of course I knew that under the circumstances there
wouldn't be many people attending shiva, even today after the
funeral. When I arrived at the house for Mincha/Ma'ariv, I found
just 6 people, and Yaakov was again very distraught. He told me
he urgently needed to speak to me, that he needed my help. I
knew that Yaakov runs two hostels for mentally retarded adults
in Akko, and that he puts his whole soul into it, like a father
to these people. It turns out that the army informed him that he
had 4 hrs. in the middle of the night to move all the hostel
residents to safe locations in the center of the country. Yaakov
was convinced that this was vital that they be moved away from
the "boomim", but he told me that he felt he had to go with them
and stay with them there, that to do otherwise would be like a
commander deserting his soldiers. Could I give him a heter to go
with them, despite his shiva?! I told him that the Torah teaches
"ubacharta b'hayyim", and that if he felt that he needed to do
this and that he had to be with them, that he should go, and try
to observe the shiva as much as possible in the center of the
country, that if he wished I'd arrange with my colleagues there
that a shiva minyan be formed for him down there. And so we did
Mincha/Maariv without our minyan, and Yaakov thanked me
profusely and made preparations to leave.
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And so during these crazy days, reality seems awfully
strange, here's a case of a man essentially sacrificing his
peace of mind not by staying up north, but by leaving it...!
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And so here we are, living and trying to function as normally
as possible between the "boomim". My wife and I spend much of
our time simply talking to people, seeing how people are coping,
both cong. members and other kfar residents. Linda (my wife) has
been busy calling the parents of the autistic children at her
school (she's an art therapist). I'm also in touch with some
people in the Masorti kehilla in Tzfat (where there is no
rabbi...); Tzfat's been hit hard, but thank God, all our people
are well and managing.
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Last Shabbat is also a story. We had a Bar Mitzvah scheduled,
a boy from a small nearby community (Hila). Family came from
America, and in the end, they decided to hold the service in the
smalll synagogue in Hila, even though they had planned to be
with us. Of course this meant that I couldn't be there for the
Bar Mitzvah, and since I trained Shahaf, (the B.Mitzvah boy..)
he was quite upset about this, but nothing could be done.
Anyway, he was fine. We decided that they would do a "hanachat
tfillin" ceremony at a Mon. morn. minyan in Hila. So yesterday
morn., I went out to Hila with a congregant of mine, and we did
the service there. Despite the "background music" of the
"boomim", it was very festive, although tempered somewhat
because of the situation, and also because Hila is where the
kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is from. Of course I read the
fine prayer that my colleague Simchah Roth wrote up for Gilad
and the other 2 captives, (as well as his prayer for Tzahal and
Israel), it was particularly poignant reading it there, just 50
meters from Gilad's house...
And that brings me to my last story. Last Tuesday, one day
before the Hizbullah attack, the kidnapping of the soldiers and
the beginning of Tzahal's operation in Lebanon, I visited the
Shalit home as part of a special delegation. A good friend of
mine who is a Druze/Arab educator and relig. leader had
suggested that a joint Jewish-Arab group representing our
"Sukkat Shalom" project (this is an interfaith/intercultural
event for youth and adults our minyan has sponsored for 4 years
over Hol Hamoed Sukkot), go visit the Shalit's to express our
solidarity with the family and give our wishes for Gilad's
speedy return. I had been to the Shalit's house a week before
(Gilad did his Bar Mitzvah w/ us 6 years earliier...). and so
Noam Shalit naturally recognized me but he was surprised to see
me with a Jewish-Arab delegation! I explained to him that I view
"Sukkat Shalom" as an important part of my work in the area...
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And so, while some things here are for most of us are very
simple and very clear, (like the fact that this operation to
strike hard at Hizbullah is necessary and fully justified...)
other aspects of our reality are more complex. Like the fact
that a Jewish-Arab delegation from the Galil could visit Noam
Shalit to express solidarity with a family agonizing over their
son in captivity at the hands of Hamas. Like the fact that a few
days later I callthis same friend because I heard that a
Katyusha had landed in his Druze village (the rockets don't
distinguish between relig/national affiliation...). Like the
reality that there are many of us like myself, who tend to the
Left in our political orientation, who believe that we need to
actively work to reopen negotiations with the Palestinians, but
who also (like myself) have one son in the army now and another
who does miluim (reserve duty), after serving 3 years in Gaza.
We know that our reality here is extremely complex, that Israel
doesn't always have a monopoly on righteousness and Truth, and
that there is real pain and suffering on the other side....
despite all that, I say to all of you, this operation is
necessary, it will continue, and it will succeed.
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And we'll keep on hanging in there, between the "boomim" in the
beautiful Galil!
Best regards to all,
Zvi Berger
HaMinyan HaMishpachti HaMasorti
Kfar Vradim
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