Category: Meet The People
Matot – Masei July 2021
I’ll never forget the day we made Aliyah, just a few weeks after our wedding which turned out to be the biggest goodbye party of all times. Just to make it clear, in 1985 not very many people were making Aliyah from America. It was an ecstatic euphoric celebration that we videoed of course. Getting ready to board the plane to Israel, my parents had a steady solid look in their eyes, like they believed in me. Who were we kidding- we were twenty one years old with not a clue, only knowing our ideals: to settling the bald rocky mountains of our homeland, the land of our forefathers and of our history. We were two Americanos who didn’t know how Hashem would use us, we walked after Him in an unsown Land. A year later after spending time in an absorption center in Jerusalem we found ourselves joining the original Garin that settled Itamar. We had a small prefab perched on a bald hill overlooking no- man’s land, the setting so demanding and different from the Brooklyn New York we had come from, the human setting too. Die hard pioneers, stoic, serious and not knowing Friends, Macy’s or the subway ride to Manhattan – they became our new reality. Opening up the box of the video of our wedding excitedly we watched the blessings of our friends and family- Moshe’s Uncle Milty had a special smile for us as he said, “Moshe and Leah- may you find what you’re looking for!” I know he thought we were nuts, but there in our backyard, with its small patch of grass that would have seemed like a dot of green on a huge tan expanse had us feeling at home. It colored us with the vibrant blessing about to happen in this sleeping fairy tale of Israel come alive. See how the mountains turn from black to green. The sleeping giant awakes! I was enchanted with every day. Hard pregnancies, difficulties in transportation, troublesome terror attacks were only the beginning of the chapter of my life I would call “Growing Up”. I was in another life on my own away from the comfort of my loving parents. Moshe went to Eilon Moreh every day to study for the Rabbinate, which took thirteen years. All the while, the parents had us believing our dreams. Even later when fierce opposition took ahold of people on Israel and the heartland, as people were murdered on our roads and in their homes here, I was graced in the steady glowing support of my mom and dad. I soon found myself the mother of young soldiers and being that same steady rock in deadly times, truly knowing motherhood for its real meaning. Dark, severe days were warmed in our love and support for each other. We surrounded ourselves in it, built a fortress in it; we are a family of watchmen on the walls.
Parshat Masey begins with the motion of the journeys of Israel on their pilgrimage to the Promised Land. Always on the move, each footstep had a soul-searching lesson in reaching a level of maturity and willingness. At the end of the forty years a new generation came to settle down. Like Abraham who had been promised it but had to pay for it, till its soil, fight in wars, and purge it of paganism they were “on their own” with no Moshe Rabbeinu to babysit or drink bottles of manna anymore. Parenting is sometimes not an easy thing. We spend a great deal of our time nourishing, providing for, worrying about, and investing a great amount of energy into our children only for them to ultimately leave us. This Parsha teaches that the trek we make together through thick and thin leads us to the next generation, the new frontier that we helped them reach with our faith in them and theirs in us. Now is the time that Israel needs to take the “bull by the horns”- even the Promised Land which is a G-d given GIFT has many tasks and tikkunim. It is time to leave the Midbar and inherit the Land.
Jeremiah: 2:2- “Thus says the Lord- I remember in thy favor the devotion of thy youth when thou didst go after Me in the wilderness in a land not sown. Israel is holy to the Lord.”
Shabbat shalom, Leah
Leah’s blog – Parshat Balak
Rabbi Hillel Lieberman HY”D ZT”L was a great friend from Brooklyn who came to settle Elon Moreh and the Yeshiva in Shechem, “Ode Yosef Chay” in the early 1980’s. He paved the rocky way for us to come into and claim the heart of Israel. He brought down a quote for all times- “Dueteronomy 33:15, “Harerey Kedem umimegged Givot Olam.” “In the exact heart of Israel lies a place, the land of Yosef, that received a double portion in the form of two mountains, Gerizzim and Eval- The mountains of the blessings and the “curses. In Judaism, curse means only to those who do not apply blessings to themselves THROUGH Israel, the Torah and truth.” Yosef HaTzaddik, who appeared to be cursed with all he had to endure, in the end was not only blessed, but he blessed all of Israel and all of Egypt. He knew the secret formula; you don’t have to be a wizard to concoct that. However, at the start of the Yosef saga- it seemed as if there was a bad omen on him- things just kept going wrong, and unjustly so. There is always that balance to a real story, you reach the climax when a choice is made on what direction is taken to get to the punchline. Yosef invited blessings in, therefore he received two portions of tribal inheritance- a double blessing. His reputation was of a person focused on his dreams and in reality pouring blessings into vessels, even when there was no vessel in sight. Some people who think they are politically correct say- there are two sides to every argument, counter arguments and support. That, my friends is not balance nor will it bring harmony. The whole essence is focus on decisiveness to CHOOSE the right way to view it and then to act. Ambivalence is not a part of the puzzle in the story of Israel ever. If so, it will fall away like a withered leaf in Autumn with no return in Spring.
Today many of us feel frustrated as things seem to be going wrong and unjustly so. The rampant neglect of law in the illegal building in the Arab sector goes un noticed while Jewish communities here in the heartland are at crazy times scraped off with no batting of an eye by our own security forces. With our fingernails we try and hold on to precious parcels of open state Land to make a continuous territorial sequence from the Jordan to the beaches of Tel Aviv. Instead of being clearly praised for it, for in many instances the conditions are rough all around, we become challenged on all fronts, not appreciated and in many instances ostracized. It’s kind of like the Yosef saga where his brothers just couldn’t see eye to eye on his dreams. We have CHOSEN to be blessed though. “How goodly are your tents!”, a prayer taken out of this week’s portion leads us to know we choose the right thing to do. We are also SURE the clarifying point for any person will come soon on this subject. You can’t participate in a pro-Palestinian rally and a pro-Israel simultaneously. Maybe the super sugar coated days of the Oslo accords had Chaim Saban and all the glittery peace love and good movies people dancing in all weddings at the same time but that time has ended. Israel has to be blessed as our enemies are cursing it. It is as unpreventable as Bilam came to bless Israel against all odds. The bashing of Israel, whether it be in the U.N. Security Council, the terror attacking it from within Israel and surrounding it, Iran and its evil plan of genocide has clarified the call of the hour. Anti-Semitism is up 700 percent. Hate of Jews and Israel (because you can’t undo that union) is being indoctrinated in schools, social media and just the social norms of today. Parshat Balak, more than any Parsha in the Torah intimates the meaning of redemption and suggests with an exclamation mark what will happen at the end. Nations will come together against Israel. They will try to curse it but to no avail. All of these plans boomerang as we read that Bilam actually became the agent for the blessings. He himself became the obstinate she -ass that knew Israel and truth, that Hashem’s love for Israel is not dependent on any circumstance. The world is building a tower of witchery, evil is babbling in every corner, enforcement is lacking yet Hashem’s face continues to shine brighter every day. We will deal with our own struggles here. ” עם כלביא יקום- ” Israel will rise up like a lion. More and more Israelis have chosen our path. They don’t want a terror state plunked down in the middle of this tiny country. Liberal Jews have to make choices now. No one remains ambivalent now. In the meantime, I am here on the ground trying my best. Friends of Itamar is digging in even deeper but relies on your kind blessings. Have a beautiful healthy and peaceful summer. We hope to see you soon here! Shabbat shalom, Leah
Enjoy the beautiful picture taken on Itamar in courtesy of the Sogorov family
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Leah’s Blog Chukat 2021
Chukat 2021
Some of you on your journey through Israel may have passed Tapuach Junction, probably to visit Gav Hahar just north of the juncture. A critical connecting point of west and east, north to south, it serves as the middle crux on the axis of Israel, the poopick we call it meaning bellybutton. Not far from here a more biblical term applies to this area, תבור הארץ, literally: the umbilical. Trucks of produce from Jordan cross the Allenby Bridge riding through Tapuach Junction west, farmers of the Jordan Valley returning home east from a day in Tel Aviv, a distance of 75 kilometers. Yes, that is the waistline of Israel! Today I will be passing it, going south for a day in Jerusalem as I did yesterday on a trip to Ariel. Hitchhikers decorate it, women with big colored head scarves, boys with big backpacks coming to stay the week on Itamar at Yeshiva, soldiers with big guns in their olive gear to the backdrop of olive groves. For Gav Hahar people, it’s the only way out. Every now and then, a regular occurrence of stabbing of Jews or shooting at us happens here, but life seems to go on miraculously despite these numerous terror attempts and attacks. It’s just a way of life- surreal but real. Just recently as you have read on this thread, a Yeshiva boy, Yehudah Guetta HY”D, that learned in our Beit Midrash was murdered here as well as friends from the past like Eveyatar Borofsky HY”D from Yitzhar. Tapuach Junction is the epitome of the map of the Land of Israel because it sits in the heart of the Land of Israel. There are those (most) Israel bashers that declare it “deep in Palestine”, like a mantra. Sure, the closer you get to the HEART the harder the resistance.
People are asking me about the new politics in Israel. I think Evyatar will be the turning point and test for it; Evyatar,a new settlement set up near Tapuach Junction on state survey land as a counter reaction to the soft response of this terror we have to contend with on a daily basis. There are already fifty families living there with seventy more on the waiting list. If Naftalie Bennett can get around and get over the radical left’s agenda of instilling globalist liberalism that in essence opens the gateway to radical jihad takeover, as his very own coalition that has stolen the vote (because most Israelis are right wing ). If he can keep Evyatar on the ground as Netanyahu has kept the tens of thousands of illegal arab building projects going up like mushrooms on the ground as well with zero enforcement; it may prove that despite the coalition with the left, there is a new clear voice saying-: “HEY! THIS IS ISRAEL!” We are just getting over the recent aggression of thousands of missiles on Israel proper including to Tel Aviv and Petach Tikva. What country in the world would stand for the burning down of ten synagogues and go almost without a word? The closer you get to the heart, the harder the resistance. Israel’s soft response to the takeover of the Negev by Bedouin Mafia tribes with crime up and no enforcement has us asking the same questions you ask- how will this government respond? It’s unheard of that having a flag parade in Jerusalem needs the stamp of approval by Hahmahs, this too is surreal yet very real. Are we strong we ask the crucial question?
As these hurdles need to be made there is at the same time,an overleap of consolation in the Abraham Accords. Just yesterday, a contingent from Bahrain came to learn in the yeshivas of Modiin Illit professing the will of Sunni Arabs to live in peace with their cousins and to solidify a covenant based on love and honor. Refreshing things like these do not come out much in your media I am sure. Rabbi Moshe continues to learn with our Pashtun brothers who have such a thirst to reconnect with their Israelite roots. People from all over the world send encouraging notes that really mean a lot especially at times like these. The world revolves on an even axis of mercy and judgement. We pray to hashem to continue to bless and we supplicate in all of this mix of chesed and din. Hashem’s attributes are so great – we learn so much from them. We should shower down blessings, it’s what makes the world turn. But the vault of balance is what is crucial and the din, the judgement that needs to be applied at times is what gives the unending bounty pouring down its shape. It contracts the blessings into a vessel that contains the good in this world. Our holy Rabbis told us long ago that the mighty warrior who will fight the final war prays in the aspect of judgement and will descend into the throat of the sitra ahchrah (the other side). He does this in order to redeem lost souls that do not know what Tapuach Junction is or means in truth of Israel. He will pray this way until ultimately destroying the entire realm of evil. We need to pray that the other side vomits up all the damaged souls it has swallowed up until at last evil and its life force vomits itself up. When the total truth is revealed, we will know we’re close. In the meantime, there is still so so much to do as we pray. We still really need your help. Please tell a friend about friends of Itamar our 501c3 that is doing its best to keep the heart of Israel alive.
Shabbat Shalom, Leah
