I've wanted to write about Yaakov and Bilhaa Yinon for so many months, almost a year now. Last October I translated and transcribed so many stories. Then I found myself by chance in Netiv Ha'asara standing in their garden by the charred remains of their burnt out home and I think I was just so overwhelmed by it for so long that I couldn't tell their story, I was literally standing at the place where they had been burnt to death just weeks after their murders (we didn't know yet for sure about Bilhaa). I didn't know them, have no connection to the family or moshav, but the surviving whimsical, vibrant, gloriously colourful art she made and the story of his agricultural work both touched me so deeply, people so devoted to life, love and tikkun olam butchered so horrifically. It wasn't until I saw the press release from Volcani that I felt able talk about them and hopefully do something to help honour their memory.
Letters from Israel
Sunday, October 13, 2024
The legacy of wheat
In the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War when kibbutz Beit Hasheeta in the Jezreel Valley lost many of its young men in the fighting. Dorit Tzameret, a resident of the kibbutz, wrote a poignant poem, later put to music, about the seeming indifference of the natural world continuing the cycle of the seasons as the residents of the valley tried to come to terms with their terrible losses. At once a tragic song of grief and mourning it also came to symbolise resilience, the wheat will grow again, the promise of a future even in the face of such tragedy.
Sunday, October 06, 2024
It's hard to hold 1200 people in your heart all at once. Here is just one of the Israeli families wiped out by Hamas on October 7 2023.
Wednesday, October 02, 2024
Symbols of hope and renewal
How to process this year's discordant mix of war and hostages still held captive and hope for the new year and gratitude for the good that we have experienced throughout all this and trepidation of what might yet be to come and prayers that we will yet know safety and peace?
Friday, September 27, 2024
Honey and remembrance
For many of us time seems to have stood still this year, stuck in the horror of Simhat Torah last year when our world came crashing down, a horror film made real, claiming the lives of so many.
And yet somehow a whole year has gone by, the Tishrei holidays are once again upon us, in a few days time we will be sitting down at the traditional meal of blessings for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah and still our country is at war. How do we balance all these conflicting emotions, the sorrow and pain of war, the hope for the coming year? How do we permit ourselves joy in the middle of war, at a time when over a 100 of our brothers and sisters are still held hostage, when so many of our family and friends are fighting on the frontlines?
I don't know that I really have any clear answers, but these questions were all very much on my mind in the past week as I volunteered in three related areas, as always finding solace and optimism in doing, in following the teaching of the Esh Kodesh: in your time of trouble or sorrow, find a way to do good for someone else.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Scorched landscape after Hizballah fire into northern Israel |