A Little Perspective on Israel
57 years young. Mazel Tov, Mazel Tov on another year of miracles.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, the noted Kabbalist and modern day Torah scholar, reminds us that with every breath we take, G-d is creating us. He says that we should take time to meditate on breathing, and thank G-d with every breath. And so with each celebrated year of the existence of the modern state of Israel, we remember that our nation, our state is still being formed, and we must thank G-d with every day that goes by. Sometimes, when we're sick, or if we're old and weakened, our breath is labored. Some people are conscious of every breath they take, because they have to do so deliberately. But even in sickness, even in old age, we are continually formed by G-d. We must remember, we must celebrate, that G-d continues to create us, no matter what the circumstances.
You might think this is going to be another one of those writings where the author tries to tell you to hang in there, that despite the difficult times we find ourselves in, despite the painful adversity that Jews in the Land of Israel find in their own Jewish government, that we must go on. You were wrong.
This is a blog about a few things that are damned well fine in Israel. For example: I have a book called "Those Were The Years... Israel's Jubilee", obviously a history book on the first 50 years of Israel's existence. In my role as an aliyah activist, I've dealt with a lot of people who tell me that it's just too hard to live in Israel. I humbly suggest that those people develop a little bit of courage, and even more perspective. For help on the perspective element, let me submit to you a few excerpts from this very nice book by Yediot Ahronoth:
"26 April, 1949: The cabinet declared a state of national austerity and rationing of basic food products... The citizens received their rations by means of a local grocerty stores. Minister Yosef provided a detailed program, according to which each citizen would receive a monthly supply of food worth IL6. The national austerity menu designed by the new minister was made up of the floowing daily rations: an unlimited amount of standard bread; 60 grams of corn; 58 grams of sugar; 60 grams of flour; 17 grams of rice; 20 grams of legumes; 20 grams of margarine; 8 grams of noodles; 200 grams of skim-milk cheese, 600 grams of onions, and 5 grams of biscuits. The meat ration was 75 grams a month per person."
Israel today:
I had the incredible fortune a couple of shabbatot ago to acquire a Wonder Pot from the mother of a friend in Hevron. I had seen a picture of the Wonder Pot in this same book, under the date 1949. The origin of this invention is unknown to me, but it is an aluminum pan which resembles a bundt pan. You place a small round thing underneath the pan and place it on the stove, and can thereby bake cakes. Now, you may not be too impressed at this point - what's the big deal about baking a cake? But in the early years of Israel, no one could bake cakes, because no one had an oven (unless you consider the public ovens, where people would take their cholents before shabbat and pick them up shabbat day - you could also take cakes there). But when the wonder pot came around, anyone (anyone, that is, who could afford the luxury of a Wonder Pot) could bake a cake right there in their home!! This mother of my friend gave me the Wonder Pot she had saved for years - because it doesn't compare with her oven. In fact, the Wonder Pot is so obsolete in Israel (everyone has a stove and an oven... and maybe a microwave, blender, food processor, mixer, toaster, water boiler, water urn, coffee pot), that as much as I scoured the internet, I could not find one picture to place on this blog. I, however, plan on baking a cake in honor of the Independence of the State of Israel tomorrow morning.
By the way, the austerity plan ended in 1959.
"31 May, 1955: For the first time in Israel, a direct phone link has been established between the three major cities - Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem."
Israel today:
"7 June 1967: "At 10:00am, the paratroopers broke through Lion Gate and liberated the Western Wall and Temple Mount. Motta Gur sood near the wall with his officers and announced on the radio: "Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, Temple Mount is in our hands!" After hours of fierce battles, the sweaty and weary paratroopers burst into tears. Major General Shlomo Goren, chief military rabbi, arrived at the site, blew the shofar and said a prayer: "This is the day we have been yearning for: let us rejoice in it."
Israel today:
"4 January, 1985: Operation Moses, in which thousands of Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel, was made public for the first time."
Israel today:
1990: "Some 200,000 immigrants, most of them from the USSR, arrived in Israel during 1990. The state had to deal with a wave of immigration the size of which it had not faced since 1951. The most serious problem was housing. The immigrants were placed temporarily in IDF camps, hotels, recreation facilities and mobile home neighborhoods. The other problem was employment. Mos of the immigrants were professionals - physicians, engineers, scientists and economists - but had to settle for odd jobs such as cleaning streets or working on production lines in factories."
Israel today:
I could go on and on. But just to prove that Israel is a great place to be on the day to day, a place of perpetual growth, a piece of good news, a piece of Israeli history, from this week's front pages:
New Israeli Plane Makes Successful Test Flight
Happy Independence Day.
