Dear Friends,
Today I cried. Several times. Well, not
exactly cried. More of a tearing up. Because tonight and tomorrow is
Yom Yerushaliam. The day Jerusalem was unified in the Six Day
War. The day Israeli paratroopers fought their way through the Lion's
Gate into the Old City and then to the Western Wall. The day Chief Rabbi Shlomo
Goren blew that historic Shofar to commemorate the return of the Jewish People
to its historic place.
But it was also a special occasion for our beloved
rabbi emeritus here in Netanya, Rabbi Ervin Birnbaum. Today he celebrated his
first real Bar Mitzvah. His 13 year old bar mitzvah was celebrated alone
in Slovakia, during WW2 where he and his parents were in hiding in
different locations. He was in his family home. He took out 13 glasses, found
some slibovitz, poured a little in each glass and toasted himself by
himself. After the war, as an 18 year old, he traveled to Israel on the
famous Exodus, sheperding a group of 9 and 10 year old Holocaust
survivors.
Rabbi Birnbaum and his wife later made Aliyah from
the U.S. with 3 sons. Those sons are grown and have produced 10 grandchildren.
Their youngest son, Danny, was just written up in The Jerusalem Report as the
CEO of Soda Stream, where in 2 years he turned the company around. Danny also
davens, along with his wife who is an Israeli folk singer, and their 4
children. They gave us rousing interpretations of Ashrei, L'Dor v'Dor, Ein
Kehloheinu and more,.
That was the first tearing up for me. The family
Birnbaum is a beautiful unit, grandparents and grandchildren singing together
in celebration of bar mitzvah and 82nd birthday of Zaide. They personify
committment, love of the land, and joy at being here together. They epitomize
what Israel is all about.
Rabbi Birnbaum spoke of the meaning of Jerusalem to
the Jewish people. No other people in any land has maintained a historic
connection to one place for 3000 years, as the Jewish people. And he repeated
the vow of IDF commander Itzak Rabin who declared that "Jerusalem is ours
forever."
That was my second tearing up.
In the afternoon I turned on a TV channel
called MEZZO from Europe which is the music and arts channel for Israel.
They were showing Claudio Abbado conducting Mahler's
Symphony No 2, the "Ressurection Symphony". When he came to the final
movement, I teared up for the 3rd time and stayed that way with goose bumps as
the choir, soloists and orchestra gave an astounding performance.
Could the MEZZO producers have
deliberately scheduled that symphony for today, erev Yom Yerushalaim?
Could they have known that this symphony was peformed in celebration of the
unification of Jerusalem, just days after the capture of the Old City.
Could they have remembered that it was Leonard Bernstein conducting the Israeli
Philharmonic who created the same goose bumps in the audience as they
celebrated the "Resurrection" of Jerusalem? Even at 45 years ago it
still resonates in my memory, just from seeing the video and listening to
recordings.
And finally, how does it all come together, on
this special Shabbat full of so much history and memory?
My neighbor, a 59 year old "secular"
Israeli, who kisses his mezzuzah every time he leaves his apartment but who
hardly ever goes to synagogue, was discussing with me a coincidental item about
our building. I said to him, "Nati, I don't believe there are any
coincidences in this country. I think this is a place where there are small
miracles every day."
"Not every day, Jan" he said. Not
every day, EVERY HOUR. "
And so it is. The enormity of the miracle of this
re-created land, of its extraordinary people, is a small and large miracle
happening every day.
Jan Gaines
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