This week we celebrated the Hebrew Holiday of Lag BaOmer. This is the day in which Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai passed away, and gave the teachings of the Zohar (a Jewish Kabbalah book) to his disciples, which made it available to the world later on. On this holiday we light bonfires and eat potatoes and meat grilled in fire. This week, however, there were very few bonfires. The whole nation was recovering from a terrible calamity that befell us last week: ten young people were killed in a flood in the Aravah desert. They were going on a trip, and got stuck in a narrow wadi when a flood of water came and killed ten of them. So sad. The pain was so big, that I had to go to one of the funerals, even though I didn't know the person. Nine of these ten people were girls, and one boy. The boy died because he stayed behind to help others climb up and be saved. He saved them, at the expense of his own life. In our post-modern generation, in which no absolute truths are accepted, it is a painful reminder to the fact that boys and girls are different. Boys are physically stronger, and no matter how the feminists would rebel against this, they are better fit to deal with some physical challenges than girls are. The boys were able to climb up and away from the flood. Girls are weaker, physically, and their strength was not enough for them to climb up and resist the flood. All those "politically correct" people nowadays who try to equate men and women in every possible thing (asking the army to let women serve in ALL capacities, etc.) - all these people are wrong, and that disaster is a painful reminder to that.
Because we were all badly traumatized by this disaster, the authorities asked people to abstain from lighting fires on Lag BaOmer, fearing that in this hot weather, yet another disaster could happen, G-d forbid. Surprisingly for Israel, such a stiff necked nation that we are, most people obeyed! The air was clean, no smoke, hardly any fires. People were united with grief and concern for each other and decided to give up the favorite past-time of Lag BaOmer for public safety.
Because we were all badly traumatized by this disaster, the authorities asked people to abstain from lighting fires on Lag BaOmer, fearing that in this hot weather, yet another disaster could happen, G-d forbid. Surprisingly for Israel, such a stiff necked nation that we are, most people obeyed! The air was clean, no smoke, hardly any fires. People were united with grief and concern for each other and decided to give up the favorite past-time of Lag BaOmer for public safety.
After that painful, difficult week, I got some ray of light sent to me by HaShem this week. Some of you know that in addition to my regular job, I also teach Hebrew to supplement my meager salary. For me it is not just work, it is also a mission. By doing that, I feel I help, even just a little bit, in G-d's plan to settle the Jews back in Eretz Israel (The land of Israel). My students are Olim Chadashim, Jewish people who leave the meat-pots of America or England or Australia to live here, in this little desert corner in the Middle East, surrounded by hostile Arabs and the sea on all directions, without knowing the language, without having friends here, without having proper jobs here. I enjoy teaching them and helping some of them settle. Helping them learn Hebrew facilitates their absorption process here, which is very important. I love this job, and one of the reasons that I don't go for full time job somewhere, is so that I can have time to teach. I teach privately, one to one. Women - at my place, men - in a coffee shop or a hotel lobby.
So this week G-d sent me a gift: a new female student. She is originally from Hawaii, 4th generation Japanese, who converted to Judaism, married a Jewish guy from New York, and now lives as a Haredi (ultra-orthodox) woman in the Sanhedriyah neighborhood of Jerusalem. She and her husband have 5 children. She teaches dance to girls here, and she needs Hebrew for her job. I often hear from my students many personal stories. Often in our classes, as they talk to me (in Hebrew) about their life and personal experiences, tears come to their eyes. I feel so enriched by the privilege of being there to hear people's stories!
This new student of mind told me that she went back to Hawaii for a short time, and there, at her old high school, she told them about the change she has done in her life, about the choices that she has made which make her feel so happy. What an amazing Kiddush HaShem (Sanctification of G-d's name)! She said that one woman who interviewed her for the school newspaper told her that after hearing her talk, she couldn't sleep at night, because it opened inside of her all those bottled-up feelings, yearnings and thoughts that she didn't dare addressing before. My student told me that, to begin with, she used to feel some emptiness in her life, even though she had a good life, with good friends and a good family. But something was missing. She was looking for that 'something' in different ways, but couldn't find it anywhere else. She told me that she traveled the world, went to all different countries, but never found it anywhere. And now, when she lives in Jerusalem, she feels she doesn't want to go anywhere, she wants to be here. She's been living here for a few years now (with her basic Hebrew), so she knows what she's talking about. It made me shiver. It is so beautiful. I am grateful to G-d for sending her my way.
So this week G-d sent me a gift: a new female student. She is originally from Hawaii, 4th generation Japanese, who converted to Judaism, married a Jewish guy from New York, and now lives as a Haredi (ultra-orthodox) woman in the Sanhedriyah neighborhood of Jerusalem. She and her husband have 5 children. She teaches dance to girls here, and she needs Hebrew for her job. I often hear from my students many personal stories. Often in our classes, as they talk to me (in Hebrew) about their life and personal experiences, tears come to their eyes. I feel so enriched by the privilege of being there to hear people's stories!
This new student of mind told me that she went back to Hawaii for a short time, and there, at her old high school, she told them about the change she has done in her life, about the choices that she has made which make her feel so happy. What an amazing Kiddush HaShem (Sanctification of G-d's name)! She said that one woman who interviewed her for the school newspaper told her that after hearing her talk, she couldn't sleep at night, because it opened inside of her all those bottled-up feelings, yearnings and thoughts that she didn't dare addressing before. My student told me that, to begin with, she used to feel some emptiness in her life, even though she had a good life, with good friends and a good family. But something was missing. She was looking for that 'something' in different ways, but couldn't find it anywhere else. She told me that she traveled the world, went to all different countries, but never found it anywhere. And now, when she lives in Jerusalem, she feels she doesn't want to go anywhere, she wants to be here. She's been living here for a few years now (with her basic Hebrew), so she knows what she's talking about. It made me shiver. It is so beautiful. I am grateful to G-d for sending her my way.
Yesterday I had a day off, so I went on a group-tour to Haifa, with a few more Israelis. It was a very hot day, but I'm glad I went. I got to learn about the German Colony of Haifa, Wadi Nisnas in which Arabs and Jews live as neighbors, about down-town Haifa, and more. The German Colony (both in Haifa and in Jerusalem) was built in 1868 by the Templers, Germans who thought that redemption is near, and that they should prepare the land of Israel for it. They came here, made a huge contribution to the Land, left us with beautiful houses (especially in the German Colony of Jerusalem!), but with the turns and twists of history, they were expelled to Australia by the British authorities a few good years later. They left, but with G-d's interesting plans, we came. And we keep on building and developing this land. A secular friend of mine from Norway, who came here and saw the German Colony here in Jerusalem, told me that to her it seems as if G-d "used" the Germans to pave the way for the Jews to return home. She said it, not me. Anyway, it reminds me of the verses from Deuteronomy 6: "And it shall be, when the LORD thy G-d shall bring you into the land which He swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--great and goodly cities, which you did not build, and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou didst not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou didst not plant, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied--..."
Haifa is not my place. But I saw pictures of what it used to be just a 100 years ago, and what it is now, and it is just unbelievable. Such huge miracles. Who could have imagined that any of this would happen? Theodor Herzl wrote in his book Altneuland what Haifa should look like, when his vision comes true. Reality far exceeds that which he dared to imagine. Haifa is a thriving Jewish city, living peacefully with its Arab inhabitants, enjoying two universities (Haifa University and the Technion), vast HiTech parks, and more. Quite incredible. In this week's Torah Portion, BaHar, G-d says: "Wherefore you shall do My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and you shall eat until you have enough, and dwell therein in safety." Touring Haifa yesterday, and living in Jerusalem every day (thank G-d!), this is exactly the reality that I see, feel and experience. Baruch HaShem.
Haifa is not my place. But I saw pictures of what it used to be just a 100 years ago, and what it is now, and it is just unbelievable. Such huge miracles. Who could have imagined that any of this would happen? Theodor Herzl wrote in his book Altneuland what Haifa should look like, when his vision comes true. Reality far exceeds that which he dared to imagine. Haifa is a thriving Jewish city, living peacefully with its Arab inhabitants, enjoying two universities (Haifa University and the Technion), vast HiTech parks, and more. Quite incredible. In this week's Torah Portion, BaHar, G-d says: "Wherefore you shall do My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and you shall eat until you have enough, and dwell therein in safety." Touring Haifa yesterday, and living in Jerusalem every day (thank G-d!), this is exactly the reality that I see, feel and experience. Baruch HaShem.
Shabbat is near. I'm invited to eat at my friends' gorgeous apartment in my neighborhood of Rechavia, so I don't need to do much preparations. So now I am going to see the Giro D'Italia bicycle race, which will start today here in Jerusalem. Poor riders, such a hot day today! But I saw some of the riders when I was teaching one of my male student at the lobby of the Orient Hotel. They seem so fit and agile. It makes you want to ride a bicycle too! Those of you reading this on time - you can watch the race on TV or the internet. It is going to be covered widely by the TV networks all over the world.
Shabbat Shalom!
P.S.: back, and with a photo:
P.S.: back, and with a photo:
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