Israeli Shlicha Letter to the Communities
January 22, 2008
Dear community members of Benton, Belleville , Paducah, Alton and Carbondale !
I hope this letter finds you all in good health. The temperature in the past couple of days is at its lowest point since I got in the US, and I like it! The small lake near my home is half-frozen and this is a beautiful sight to wake up to!
Today is Tu B'shevat (15 of the month of Shevat), often translated as Jewish Arbor Day, and practically being Rosh Ha-shana La-Ilanot, the New Year for trees.
Originally, when the Children of Israel were still living in the land of Israel (before the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD), Tu B'shevat was used as the beginning of the new year for calculating the ma'asrot (tithes, one-tenth of one's harvest). Part of the ma'asrot was given to the Levites who served in a religious role and had no income of their own; another part was used to feed the poor and another part was used for celebrations in Jerusalem.
With the destruction of the second temple and the expulsion of the Jews from Israel the custom of giving Ma'asrot stopped, but Jews still marked Tu B'shevat in different ways. In the 16th century in Sefad the famous Jewish mystic Rabbi Itzhak Luria (also known as Ha-ari, the lion) instituted a Tu B'shvat Seder that included drinking wine, eating the fruits of the Holy Land and discussing deeper meanings and symbolism related to this time of year.
In Israel the holiday is marked by planting trees in different places in the country, by eating dried fruits and by admiring the shkediya (almond tree) whose blossom looks very much like the Japanese sakura (cherry tree) blossom.
To keep with this tradition, we celebrated Tu B'shvat with the Benton congregation last Friday night. Our Federation director, Steven Low, led a beautiful Seder during which we drank white wine (symbolizing winter and hibernation of nature), red wine (symbolizing summer and the awakening of nature) and a combination of both (symbolizing the process in between and very tasty!). We ate different fruits that grow in the Holy Land and discussed their symbolic meaning. After potluck dinner we entered the sanctuary where Steve led the Shabbat services with an added measure of spirituality (as Jerry Hart said, whenever Steve comes, he brings God along with him) and was accompanied by Nate Bernstein's beautiful guitar playing. The evening we spent in Benton was pleasant and intimate and enjoyed by all who attended. I hope to see the Benton congregation again soon.
The previous week I joined the Paducah congregation for services with their amazing student Rabbi Jean Eglinton. Services were scheduled to start at 7:00 pm, but having learnt the phrase "Jewish time" and having experienced it in all the other congregations of this federation so many times, I arrived at the shul at 7:05 and was sure I'd be one of the first people to be there. I was really surprised to see the parking lot full of cars neatly parked one next to the other in perfect order. When I entered the temple, Jon Freed was on the stage, talking about the situation of Jews in Paducah in past years and I heard that the Rabbi had already started services. I was late. I couldn't believe it! It is so beautiful to see these differences in mentality and practice between the different congregations of this federation, even though these congregations are situated more or less in the same area.
Rabbi Jean Eglinton led services Broadway style. The regular prayers were replaced by Broadway songs written or composed by Jewish artists, their meaning adjusted to religious services by change of lower case letters to upper case letters, such that love songs became love songs to God. This was original and beautiful! I've never seen anything like this before (the Rabbi later told me jokingly that neither did she) and I liked the idea a lot. The congregants had a great time and the service was a big success. Rabbi Jean Eglinton will stage a play for us this year in the Purim party and will be helped by Sara Faye Marten who will serve as a casting director.
Last Tuesday I attended a talk given by former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright in Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis. The ticket was kindly given to me by Emily Martinez of the Belleville congregation when she heard that Albright used to be my hero. I was so excited last year to accidentally find Albright's memoir in a second-hand book shop in Israel (it's not an easy one to find!) and having the chance to see her speaking was an exciting thing for me. Surprisingly (or not), she talked a lot about the Arab-Israeli conflict and was adamant that education of children and adults to demonize and hate "the other" is at the source of many of the problems there. I couldn't agree more. It's true that there are feelings of hostility and resentment on both sides and children absorb and reflect it, but while in Israel PEACE is such a sacred value and children there are taught to revere it and aspire to it through the formal education system (drawing pictures of doves with olive branches is something that every Israeli child has done many times in his/her life), the situation is quite different in Gaza and the West Bank. The following link is to an interview (broadcasted on the Palestinian television) conducted with beautiful little Arab girl who state very eloquently that Statehood is not what they want. Rather, they state, they want Shahada, sacrificing their life for the sake of Allah. The interviewer obviously approves of that and encourages that. To me it's a sad testament that peace cannot be reached by peace-agreements while the next generations are educated to hate and to kill in the name of God. My heart goes out to those children in Gaza and the West Bank who experience the difficult conditions they do, but for a real change to occur in their lives and for them to experience real prosperity as they deserve to have, real peace should come about, a peace that entails mutual recognition and acceptance between them and their Israeli neighbors. As long as there's a refusal to recognize Israel's legitimacy and right to exist, the conflict will continue and no real change in their lives will be feasible.
Here's the link: http://www.pmw.org.il/ASK%20FOR%20DEATH.htm
(When the webpage opens, click on one the picture of the two little girls).
Some community news:
As part of our Israel at 60 event series, we're going to hold an Israeli movie series. The first movie will be Walk on Water and we'll show it in Alton (Feb. 5th). Paducah (Feb. 8th), and Carbondale (Feb. 9th).
We're happy to have Gershon Larkin, Susan Pearlman and Lenny Gross join us for the Carbondale Hebrew class. We meet every Thursday at 7:00 pm. If you're interested in joining us, let me know. We won't have a class this week because I'll be in a conference in Chicago.
We're also happy to have Deborah Crouse Cobb, Susan Wolk and her two daughters Katie and Becky join the Hebrew class at SIUE. We meet every Wednesday at 6:00. If interested, please let me know.
Those of you who are interested in learning Hebrew and can't attend my classes can take an online Hebrew course (ulpan) with Israeli teachers. For more details: www.hebrewulpan.com.
This Sunday (Jan. 27th) at 4 pm we're going to have a Tu B'shvat Seder in Alton. The alton congregation welcomes all who would like to participate, but we would need to know in advance to be prepared, so if you're interested call me or write to me and I'll give you more details. Thanks!
Yom-Huledet Sameach (Happy Birthday) to Mark Lee of Carbondale who will be celebrating his birthday tomorrow! Until 120 (and more!) from all of us!
Quiz no. 3:
Our quiz of last time was: what is the system/method of assigning a numeric value to each of the Hebrew letters called? I thought it was a difficult one, but I was surprised to get so many people write back with the correct answer: Gematria! (An example for how Gematria works comes in the name of the current holiday: in Tu B'shvat the Tu stands for 15).
Kol Ha-kavod to Sheila Bengtson, Melanie Tiahrt, Jack and Marsha Hall, Susan Pearlman, Caron Allen Taira, Fern Palmer, Barbara Goldenhersh, Josh Faibisoff, Karon Donahue and Shai Yeshayahu who wrote back with the correct answer and to Emily Martinez who gave it to me by heart when we met. The prize, however, goes to Patricia Hinton of Belleville for giving the right answer just before everybody else.
Quiz no. 4:
This week's quiz is: what year was Tel-Aviv established; what is the meaning of its name in Hebrew and how was it called before it was named Tel Aviv?
This week's prize – Alan Dershowitz's book, The Case for Israel – will be given to the first who sends me the correct and full (!) answer!
Wishing you all a wonderful week,
Revital
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Revital Yona
Israel Emissary to the Jewish federation of Southern Illinois, Southeastern Missouri and Western Kentucky
314-956-9247
revitalsimokyfed@gmail.com