Israeli Shlicha Letter to the Communities

January 29, 2008

Dear community members of Cairo, Carbondale, Paducah, Belleville, Benton and Alton,

Last week I went to Chicago for a Jewish Agency conference.. It was my first time in this big, beautiful city and it left me with a good taste. I met our previous shlicha, Galit, and her husband, Jessie, both now live in a nice, cozy apartment in Chicago. She told me how much she misses you all and how meaningful the two years she spent here were for her. She is now working as a program director for a Hillel in Chicago and misses Israel a lot!

Before going to Chicago people have warned me of the cold wind and weather there and I was prepared for the worst, but surprisingly, I found that my body has adjusted itself to being in cold weather – I didn't suffer at all. If anything, I enjoyed the snow that was accumulated on the city streets. Coming back to Carbondale and finding the lakes around completely frozen was another heart-warming sight.

Speaking of weather, Israel now has the coldest weather it's had in 15 years! It is now snowing in Jerusalem (!!) and the other regions are blessed with rains – rains much prayed for. All the schools in Jerusalem will be closed tomorrow because of the snow, and this is going to be a big celebration for all the city dwellers and visitors who happen to be there. It happens once every 3-5 years, and it's beautiful!

Last Sunday, Jan. 27th, I was excited to join the Alton congregation for an intimate, cozy and warm Tu B'shvat Seder. All of us, 13 people in total, took turns reading from the Haggadah and spiced it with songs and good food. I was most delighted to deliver the quiz prizes to the three recent winners who were all there: Patricia Hinton of Belleville, Judy Catanzaro and Anita Cooper of Alton. Let's see who wins this week's prize!

Just before heading towards Alton, I spent two hours with the kids of Sunday school (it was a long but delightful day). We talked about different styles of settlements in Israel: Kibbutzim, Moshavim and cities. We watched two short films about two different Israeli kids, one who lives in Kibbutz Lotan and the other lives in Jerusalem. I enjoyed it, and I think the kids enjoyed it too.

Some of you probably know – in Israel we plant trees all year round, but mainly on Tu B'shvat. This year is Shnat Shmita, a Sabbatical year for the land. In the Torah God commands us to till the land for 6 years and to give rest to the land on the seventh year (Exodus, 23:10-11). Therefore, since this year is shnat shmita, we can't practice the custom of planting trees on Tu B'shvat in Israel. What do we do then? It's easy. We plant virtual trees on the JNF's website. The trees that we "plant" there will be planted physically next year! Isn't it amazing?

I was happy to meet some of the SIUC Hillel students yesterday for dinner. I hope to see them again for services this Friday. Right after services in Hillel I'll be on my way to join the Benton congregation's Friday night services.

We're going to start an Israeli Book Club in Carbondale, people from nearby congregations are welcome to join us. Our first meeting would be sometime in March. Once I hear from all those who would like to participate, I'll be able to set a date. If you're interested, contact me for more details. I'll order the books and deliver them to you.

Some federation events for February:

In addition, we hold a Hebrew class at Beth Jacob (Carbondale) every Thursday at 7 pm. Everybody is welcome.

March is full of events too (speakers, Purim party, book clubs, possibly folk dancing, etc.). We'll send the info towards the end of February.

Now, two personal requests:

I'm interested in visiting schools and talking about Israel and/or Judaism. I've done it many times in Japan and in Norway, and it was always a very successful thing. I would love to do it here. If you know any school teachers or principals that would like to have such a talk, please let me know and let them know of me. Thanks.

Also, we're doing our best efforts to start a Hillel/Jewish house in SIUE. All we got for now is one interested Jewish student, one interested Jewish professor and some names and contact details of other Jewish students that don't answer back when we write to them. If any of you has ideas, contacts, or knows Jewish students at that school, please let me know while I'm still here. Thanks!

Quiz 4:

Last week's quiz was: 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?

Tel Aviv was established in 1909. The meaning of its name in Hebrew is a Hill (also archeological mound) of Spring, therefore combining both old and new. It was first called Ahuzat Bayit.

Melanie Tiahrt, Judy Catanzaro, Ken Jaffe, Karon Donahue, Susan Pearlman, Ed Benyas, Sheila Bengtson, Patricia Hinton and Susan Wolk all gave the full and correct answer, but the prize, Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel, went to Anita Cooper of Alton (I was happy to give it to her at the Tu B'shvat Seder).

Quiz 5:

To make things more challenging, this quiz includes two different questions:

  1. January 27th is a very important date designated by the UN General Assembly to commemorate a very important chapter in history. What is it?
  2. Tu B'shvat is the New Year to the Trees.. It is also the birthday of a very important Israeli institution. Which one?

The first to send me the full and correct answer to both questions will win Rick Recht's album What feels so right and an Israel 101 brochure.

Wishing you a wonderful, meaningful rest-of-the-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