Anxious Quiet 10/20/23
I skipped an update this week because I was busy–good busy–so you'll need a water and power bar for this message. It's less personal things because I honestly don't have the emotional bandwidth to talk about the extra security guards at school or the gun-toting guards at Bar Mitzvahs any more. Seriously, you put five Jewish mothers in a GroupChat to talk about security and you have eight strong opinions. Exhausting. So, I'll tell you that this week, Tikkun Now’s funds focused on female troops and reserves, since they are 50% of the population and absolutely serving. We were also, quite randomly, pulled into the evacuation of FL citizens effort by David Milstein of Governor DeSantis' office (time, not funds). This is not a political plug, but I give these guys a mountain of credit for moving quickly and helping constituents.
Thankfully, as of this evening, there is good news: two Americans were freed. Thank Gd! I am not naive enough to think Hamas is nervous or negotiating in earnest. They'll soon have $100 million in their coffers, to replenish whatever ill deeds Iran has mapped out. The funds will undoubtedly not go to Palestinian citizens, whom Hamas continues to use as pawns in their clever optics campaign of civilian casualties. And Israel is not fairing well in the media. The New York Times did Israel a huge disservice with that false Gaza hospital story, which they retracted in the most passive and spineless way. Since reputational impact no longer holds weight, I wish another means of accountability would appear. Lawyers can be disbarred, but journalists?There are no real ramifications for false reporting. Israel suffered more than in name, since the US was forced to subsequently table its Arab leaders tour. It was disastrous timing, though I believe happenstance. Seriously though, they were firing rockets from the cemetery behind the hospital that housed civilians. Risky, much?
In the midst of this insanity, I find strength in this week’s Torah portion, Noah. You remember him, he had the arc. Last week provided a prophetic segue to this week’s mic drop moment: “Now the earth has become corrupt before Gd, the earth had become filled with HAMAS. And Gd saw earth and behold It was corrupted for all flesh Had corrupted its way on earth. God said to Noah “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with HAMAS through them And behold I am about to destroy them from the earth.” It literally mentions Hamas twice! Check out the attached pic, where I underlined Hamas in red. HMS is an acronym that phonetically sounds like Hamas. In Arabic, Hamas means zeal or bravery. In Hebrew, it means violence. The latter is more apropos.
Judaism isn’t a violent culture, but it is argumentative–with purpose, since Torah is meant to be debated. It demands that we constantly question and evaluate, to seek the truth. Such discussions can turn to arguments, and from there, to deep cultural fissures, like the partisan divide Israel faced before Oct 7th. That problem still exists, but it has absolutely been tabled. Right now, Israel is UNITED. For whatever reason, tragedy binds us, it does not cause further fracture. There is a sense of solidarity right now that younger generations have never witnessed. Everyone is volunteering–time, money, food, spare bedrooms–whatever they have. Even the poshest restaurants in Tel Aviv have upended their businesses to kosher their kitchens, in order to churn out meals for troops. People are attending funerals of strangers in the tens of thousands to pay respect to our dead. And they’re getting married in droves, in dusty jeans and army fatigues, because honestly, why wait?
Personal example of solidarity: in between his aid work this week, Moti was hustling back and forth to see his father in the hospital (Parkinson's + stress = scary high blood pressure). In one of these meetings, a man he had just met handed him the keys to his new Audi and insisted he take it. Nobody drives an Audi in Israel. It’s the land of Citroens and Volkswagens. With the tariffs, cars are marked up 200%. In fact, most people can’t afford cars at all, they’re given rentals through their job as a part of employee agreements. This stranger insisted Moti keep it for the duration of his stay so he could commute unencumbered and get more aid work done. He didn't know Moti from Adam, not his address or even his surname, but he saw he was making a difference. So, he lent his car to a stranger because they’re in survival mode and everyone is their neighbor's keeper.
As for thanks, a final Hebrew lesson. The Hebrew word for "Jews” is Yehudim. The linguistic root of Yehudim is hoda, meaning thankful or showing gratitude. Despite everything-the death, the trauma, all of it-Jews are thankful that we're still here, that we still have a Jewish state. People have likened October 7th to the Holocaust, but I would argue it's different: this time, we have a country, and an army, and we will fight back. And not only to ensure our survival, but to retrieve our hostages. We want all of our family back.
Shabbat Shalom from Knoxville, on the eve of a big ‘ole Southern style Bar Mitzvah!
Am Yisrael Chai