Shavuot to me this year has a renewed immediacy and relevance. I see so much each week that feels like a living dialogue with the Book of Ruth, a modern exegesis on the themes of Shavuot: My renewed connection to the agriculture focus existence of my ancestors. Farmers who are meticulous in providing food for those in need, finding modern ways to follow the biblical injunction to donate part of their harvest. The intense personal thanksgiving with every field of wheat that I see among the springtime golden landscapes of the north-west Negev. Profound appreciation for the modern desalinisation and water recycling technologies that mean that despite this year's severe drought Israel is not facing famine and our farms can still grow plenty of produce to feed the country. The loving kindness of people from other nations who have chosen to come to Israel in our time of need to lend a hand wherever needed with such warm smiles and support for our traumatised people. A few modern day Ruths in the process of converting to Judaism because in the wake of October 7 they decided that the right response was to join the Jewish people. The many foreign volunteers from all over the world and all walks of life who one day decided to get on a plane and go to help Israelis because they felt it was the right and moral thing to do after October 7. There are no stereotypes or fixed demographics. I meet people of deep faith and none at all, farmers from all over the world who've come in solidarity to help Israelis farmers, random professionals from all over who on the spur of the moment came out to spend a week or two slogging it out in the potato fields of Nir Oz or the orchards of the Upper Galilee. The religious Jewish volunteers who spend the time bouncing around on volunteer buses deep in prayer, reciting Psalms or studying Torah. Middle aged grandmothers from Paris, London, Melbourne who want to volunteer while visiting their Israeli grandchildren alongside a Californian firemen, a retired Yiddish professor, Chinese university students, Mexican tour guides and Asian Muslims (to protect them I won't say which country they were from, their country doesn't officially approve of its citizens visiting Israel) who were here in Israel to try to reach out to the Israeli people in the hope of building a better future. A woman from the south Pacific who saw the news reports on October 7 and took her life's savings to come and help the people of Israel. Devout Filipino Catholics who come each year to spend Holy Week in the Holy Land and who wanted to do something to help while they were visiting.

Each week I see so much, hear so many stories, learn so much, appreciate all the more the blessings of this land and the humble, determined resilience and dignity of my fellow Israelis, the generosity of strangers from around the globe. It's a view that is so different from my regular urban and suburban central Israeli existence and my whole perspective on our national situation, on the Otef, on the borders is much more nuanced as a result. May all our hostages be freed and our grieving nation know comfort and security.

 

מילותיה של נעמי שמר מהדהדות אצלי כבר הרבה זמן, כאילו נכתבו ממש עתה, בימינו, כמו דברי נבואה שנעמי חזתה לנו למציאות של השנים האחרונות.

המילים האלה מהדהדות בכל חג. בכל אירוע משמח. בכל פעם שהעזנו לברך על משהו טוב. בכל רגע של הודיה על חסד שחווינו. בימי עצמאות ובימי הולדת. מכל תינוק שנולד. בכל עת של נחת. בכל מפגש עם האנשים הנפלאים של ארצנו - הגיבורים, המתנדבים, בעלי החסד והלב הרחב והרגיש אוהבי הבריות, העם והארץ. בכל פעם שנהננו מפרחי חורף או אביב ומעץ פורח בניסן ואילן שנותן לנו מפירותיו. בכל פעם שנפעמנו ממראה קסום או מוסיקה מרוממת. בכל פעם שחווינו משהו שממלא נשמה כואבת בכוחות חדשות והכרת הטוב.

אולי זה הנפש החסידי שעבר אלי בגנטיקה ממשפחת אימי. אולי זה פשוט משהו עמוק בתוך הנפש היהודי, מנגנון כזה של השרדות ששמר על אבותינו בכל דור ודור שקמו עלינו לכלותינו אבל בכל זאת המשכנו לשיר את מזמור לתודה ועל הניסים ולחגוג את חגינו עד כמה שהמצב אפשר לנו.

בכל דור ודור השמחה שלנו היא המחאה שלנו ובכל דור ודור אפילו בזר הפרחים הכי יפה יש קוץ אחד או שנים כמו שבשיא שמחת החופה אנחנו בכ"ז שוברים את הכוס ומעלים את ירושלים על ראש שמחתנו.

וכך גם ההפך, אפילו בתוך הזוועות של מגילת איכה יש ניצוץ של תקווה ואפילו בימי חורבן בית המקדש, כשחכמי הדור ראו בשועל יוצא מאתר קודש הקודשים ופרצו בבכי מהמראה המזעזע רבי עקיבא פרץ בצחוק כי כבר חזה את גאולת עם ישראל וירושלים.

על ראש שמחתי

מילים: נעמי שמר

לחן: מתי כספי

על ראש שמחתי

ענדתי זר,

זר פרחי שדה,

עם קוץ אחד או שניים.

יצאה שמחתי

לחולל בחוצות,

ברגל יחפה

בתוך הצהרים.

תפסוה השומרים

הסובבים בעיר,

מה את רוקדת ככה,

ועל מה יצהל קולך?

מוטב שתשירי שירי מחאה,

זה מה שהולך עכשיו,

זה מה שהולך.

אמרה שמחתי

אני ארקוד וארקוד,

עם זר פרחי שדה

וקוץ אחד או שניים

כי השמחה שלי

היא המחאה שלי,

ברגל יחפה

בתוך הצהרים.

אמרה שמחתי

אני אשיר וארקוד,

עד צאת נשמתי

כי השמחה שלי

היא המחאה שלי

והיא כוחי האמיתי.

If you haven't been a Jew or an Israeli travelling outside of Israel you won't get the nerve this El Al ad touches. Growing up it was ingrained that outside of Israel, outside of heavily Jewish areas overseas you hid being Jewish as best you could - tuck Magen david and Hebrew necklaces under your shirt, cover your kipa with a hat or cap, don't tell people you are from Israel, don't carry a bag or wear a shirt with Hebrew writing or Jewish symbols and so on. My parents and my grandparents had heard too many hateful comments, a few times even experienced anti-Jewish physical violence in supposedly "safe" Western countries like the US, UK, Canada and France.

Just now travelling as an accompanying parent with our secondary school robotics team over Pesah to their international competition in the US (flying via Europe on a European airline) we had to explain all of this to the boys. My heart broke telling these religious boys that had to cover or take off their kippot, hide their tzittzit and most galling: we were told by security experts that our team couldn't display the Israeli flag on their competition uniforms because it was too dangerous. It was so humiliating and deeply upsetting to walk around the huge arena and see teams from all over the world with their national flags proudly on their team shirts while our boys team shirts had been designed to make sure they included no Hebrew, no Israeli flag and no mention of Israel.

The boys felt it too though - they had brought Israeli flags with them and during the competition, within the arena itself they draped themselves in the Israeli blue and white flag, just as teams from so many others countries proudly walked around with their national flags worn cape style over their shoulders. And you know what? Our team (and the several other Israeli teams also competing) were well received by people from all over, whether it was American teams (in the clear majority) or elsewhere, including students from Turkey, Armenia and China. This isn't to say that we needed to be alert to possible threats from anti-Semites and anti-Israeli activists, but that there is also a time to show our pride in who we are.