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Leah’s Blog June 27 2015
June 27 2015
Leah’s Blog
The thing that hit me in the face on arriving home last week is how not too long ago we sang a Tzvika Pik song “Pitome Kam Adam Baboker oo margeesh ki hoo Am vematchil lalechet” (Suddenly we woke up in the morning, feeling like a nation and began to walk). The open fields surrounding Ben Gurion Airport are now beautiful neighborhoods, and the full blast of Israel developing hits you, its vigorous burgeoning growth is past the stage of beginning to walk- it is fast forward running- ahead of the times, beautiful trains, buses and roads are bringing people to modern yet still ancient destinations in a force you cannot ignore. This is making it invincible – sturdy as an ox, strong as a lion, it stands broad shouldered boasting skyscrapers that stand defiant to a world policy calling for it to shrink, to be silent, to climb back into bed.
You are infused with an energy here wherever you go ,an electrical energy that sends off a life spirit that can only be holy but so upbeat at the same time. In our revival the pace even quickens as our enemies try to build a fire under it but in their psyche know their plot can’t work. We are always one step, one lurch ahead. As we come close in time again on our calendar to the time of year that we mourn for our destroyed Temple and Jerusalem, it takes on a new logic of the heart as Jerusalem is full of musicians on every corner playing a klezmer or tune, tourists from all over the globe and Israelis in a coat of many colors swell it’s streets. You are cast under a spell and join the masses , bewitched. This soon solemn time takes on a new era of hopeful optimistic prayer to fix things even faster, to restore – ASAP. The people of Israel, after all we have endured have duress like none other. The charisma of the summer here, so colorful and full feels like a blessing.
But as Hashem is making miracles happen, it lies in our own power in this coming of age- of our not walking anymore but running, making it happen. We hold the aces. This is why it pains me when I go to Brooklyn I see people going about their lives as if Israel wasn’t alive and kicking. For them at best it’s a place to take a holiday and taking leave of it causes no heart strain. Some never even come nor do they want to. They remain betzimtzum hadaat and have not heard the call. The torah very clearly illustrates that when Yosef HaTzaddik called out to his brothers and proclaimed “Kama Nitzava!” “My wheat shaft is standing!” (Israel’s skyscrapers are standing! Israel’s ancient holy sites are being revived! The Land is pouring milk and honey!)that it was for his brothers, not the world. The world came to know Yosef and all he stood for, in all he gave without him having to spell it out for them. It was his brothers precisely who needed to be told .But they remained and remain silent and small. In bed. This tugs at me since I know soon their silence will be deafened by the loud sound of heart soul and spirit making a great Yom Truah!
Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith
Every week we would like you to actually (or virtually) “meet” people that live here. – This week on “Meet the people of Itamar” – we want to honor Reb David and Vicki Shneerson for setting up Itamar’s high school for girls – Beit Sarah, after the terrible Fogel massacre in March of 2011. The Shneersons live just two houses away from the Fogel home and were very close to the Fogel family. After the tragedy they decided to set up a girl’s high school in their name which stresses love of Hashem and the teaching of Chassidut. 
It goes without saying that we as a community are entering the time of the yartzeit of Fogel family, hy’d- yihee zichram baruch!
Mazal Tov to the Cohen family on the engagement of their son Amiram. May there be many happy occasions, Amen!
It’s only a few weeks to Purim and the cold winter weather has us spending more leisure time in the kitchen. This week, I made bagels (from scratch as my mom z”l used to say!)They came out so great that our family asked for bagels instead of challah this Shabbat. I explained to them that bagels are a Jewish-American invention and part of our culture- this, to brag about! Then I explained that the essential ingredient to bagel making was PATIENCE as it is a many step process, and every phase needs time of its own. Much like our redemption- I like to throw those hints in too. In an age when we have everything immediately- going back to bagels is having that thrill of expectation- So, if you are contemplating this, just the thrill of anticipation is a lesson in chinuch for the whole family!
2 cups warm water- 1 kilo self rising flour- 1 cup kanola oil- 3 tablespoons sugar- 1 heaping teaspoon of salt- a pinch of ginger spice- mix all and knead into a round ball- let it “rest” as I like to say. After an hour take fistloads of dough and make snakes of dough, closing into tire shaped circles. Place on greased cookie sheet- let it rest again for a half hour.- Place these into boiling water with a pinch of salt and a little molasses- turn over in water after a minute – then remove from water with a spoon with openings- drain on paper towel. Then baste with raw egg and put whatever toppings you like- garlic powder, zatar, sesame, coarse salt (our favorite) or honey- the list goes on. Place into piping hot over for 15 minutes and then remove- turn them over and another 5-10 minutes. Shabbat Shalom Ubeteyavone! Leah
Shabbat starts on Itamar at 4:54 and ends at 6:01
Watch Rabbi Goldsmith’s new lesson for the week.
On Itamar there once lived a very special person known as Mark in Russia – but we called him by his birth name Meir’ka (Hebrew meaning to shine). Meir’ka inspired by his great love and yearning for Zion and national identity, left his family in Russia to move to Israel. His father was put to death by the Soviet Union for teaching and spreading Judaism. Afterwards, his mother was taken to a camp in Siberia never to return home again. Meri’ka, who was now considered a son of enemies of the state, was taken by force from his relatives and put into an orphanage at the tender age of seven. At the age of 16 he was let out of the orphanage weighing only 65 pounds. If it wasn’t for his sister helping him he wouldn’t have made it. He lived in an area that was totally barren of any Jewish life. One time I asked him how he reconnected himself with our faith. He said it was the potato Latkas that his grandmother would prepare on Chanuka. Yes, recalling the Chanuka experience with his grandmother awakened his heart to return to the land of Israel!
In reality, this is the source of our custom to eat Potato latkas on Chanuka made in oil. This reminds us of the miracle of the oil Menorah. The light of the Chanukah menorah is imbedded within the oil and runs through our veins and arteries after being part of our Chanukah feast. In this same way, the hidden light within our soul is the light of heroism that led the Maccabees to victory. This light was scattered into millions of sparks that ignited hope and faith into our people throughout the sufferings of exile. As Harav Kook writes “The G-dly flame of the souls of the Maccabees exploded into millions of sparks that when they will come together again as a torch they will again radiate as they did in the past.” This is because of the fact that as long as Israel is in exile the Divine light that shines within them is in exile as well. But all these lights are turning into a torch with the return of our people to the land of Israel. This is what the name of Meir’ka is all about. As the people of Israel continue to return home the light of Israel will continue to grow stronger and stronger – until our temple will be restored. Chanukah sameach!!
Translated from the original Hebrew version of Rabbi Natan Chay – Itamar’s chief Rabbi 
http://youtu.be/c2U0x6IZaRY