Celebrating YOM HA'ALIYAH Making One's Home in Israel, The Holy Land

 

For the past few years a "new holiday" has joined the Israeli Calendar, YOM HA'ALIYAH, a time to honor those who made aliyah-- immigrated to Israel. My husband and I made the move two months after our wedding in the summer of 1970. You can read about it here part 1 and part 2. 

YOM ALIYAH is celebrated around the Torah Portion Lech Lecha in which Gd commands Avram-Abram (before his name is changed to Avraham-Abraham) to get himself going to the Land Gd will show him.

בראשית י״ב  

לך לך

א- וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃

1- יהוה said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

Over the millennium many Jews all exiled over the world have felt these words from Gd personally and made their way whether by plane, boat, wagon or foot to the Holy Land, the Land of Israel, even before the modern State of Israel had been established. I was one of them.

I'll never forget how I broke the news of my plans to my parents, who had barely adjusted to my religious observance. You must understand that we were an ordinary American Jewish family, which lit Chanukah candles, had an abridged Passover Seder, were even members of a synagogue, Conservative-- which was the most popular and rapidly growing in the 1950s. But the kitchen wasn't kosher, and Shabbat and many Jewish Holidays weren't on our family calendar.

When I was thirteen 13 we moved to a different community, and the only synagogue actively recruiting new members was Orthodox, the Great Neck Synagogue. There I joined their Teen Club to make friends. It was a chapter of NCSY National Conference of Synagogue Youth, where I was introduced to "Torah True Judaism" which changed my life. Soon after, one of the local Jewish activists got me involved in Betar and Zionism, icing on the cake of my Jewish Life.

I didn't want any ideological, philosophical arguments with my parents about my plan to move to Israel, so I simply said:

"You couldn't stop me from keeping Shabbat and Kashrut. Living in Israel is just another mitzvah, and you can't stop me from doing that either."

It worked. They had no answer, though sometimes I wonder if they were happy to get me far from my younger siblings as not to corrupt them with my revolutionary life style. Within a few years, my mother enjoyed being the local expert in helping other parents with similarly "eccentric" children.

Obviously, Lech Lecha has always been my favorite Torah Portion of The Week. I live in a community, Shiloh, that is a fantastic stew of longtime Israelis and and much newer ones from all over the world. Our local region Mateh Binyamin, which is like an American county, is the same sort of mix. This year Mateh Binyamin made a big festive event to which we had been invited. I really enjoyed seeing so many people; some had been customers of mine when I worked in Yafiz. The highlight was an old-fashioned Israeli singalong. The choice of songs was just perfect.

It's the truth to say that I celebrate YOM HA'ALIYAH daily. I've never once considered that decision I made as a teenager to have been a mistake.

Torah Tanach Bible Commentary, Tale of Two Robes, Joseph and Samuel

Friends and others who have learned Torah Tanach Bible with me over the years, or has it already been decades, know that I tend to notice what others don't. Rarely a teacher much more scholarly than myself will say that one of the sages chazal wrote something similar, but usually my "inspirations" are met with various forms of incredulity. I guess my mind works very differently from most. And I wasn't raised on the usual "sipurei Torah," Torah stories a mishmash of drash commentaries frequently far removed from the pshat actual text of the Torah Tanach Bible. 

Recent Torah Portions of the Week, Parshat Shavua, have mentioned the special coat that Jacob gave his favorite son Josef, the first born of his favorite wife, Rachel. This coat caused terrible jealousy among Josef's ten older brothers, and Josef had no clue as how to lower the tension. Actually, neither did Jacob. That coat became a symbol of the hatred between the brothers, and it was brought all bloodied to Jacob after the older brothers sold Josef to Egyptian merchants.

Compare that robe, the one Jacob gave Josef and the one (actually many) Hannah gave Samuel. Jacob gave one that didn't "fit" causing problems, while Hannah gave Samuel, whom she had sent to "study" with Eli the High Priest in Shiloh, a new one each year to suit his "size."

I picture Hannah teaching her precious son each year when she visited him in Shiloh. Not only was each new robe the correct size for Samuel, but her instructions suited his age and development. That's how Samuel became the great leader, Samuel the Prophet, who was privileged to anoint the first two kings of the Jewish Nations, Saul and David. 

Food for thought. What do you think?

Taught a Totally Original Torah Class

Last week I blogged on Shiloh Musings asking for some "research help" for a Shabbat Torah Class I had committed to give at our Shiur Nashim, Women's Class.

This class I go to every Shabbat I'm home is the most veteran, longest lasting in Shiloh. It began over thirty-eight 38 years ago. We've had the same regulars now for quite awhile and can't manage to attract more women. Most who teach are men, even two generations of the same families, who are much more scholarly than we are. On occasion some of us even try our hand at it. A few months ago, we decided to give the neighbor who recruits speakers a monthly break. A few of us volunteered to give (or bring someone) the shiur, class so she won't have to make the calls. I had plenty of warning that my turn was coming up.

Due to the fact that I did not grow up in a religious home, going to a Jewish school and hearing all sorts of Torah stories from the youngest age, I generally read and learn with a fresh eye. That means I come up with some unique interpretations. Luckily I've found teachers in Matan and Shiloh who don't mind my rather unconventional ideas.

Sefaria

For this talk I had been inspired by the opening words of Parshat Shavua, Weekly Torah Portion Yitro, which was the week before. Since we're not restricted to the weekly parsha, that wasn't a problem.

I managed to get everyone talking and participating, which was quite an accomplishment. Sorry, but I'm not giving more details than you can get in the Shiloh Musings post. Maybe I should "market" myself?

I have another unique shiur cooking in my head...