Israeli Shlicha Letter to the Communities

February 7, 2008

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

I first set my eyes on this handsome young man just a few days ago, but his sad face has taught me a great deal about life in this country. His name, Tom, means innocence in Hebrew and the sadness I saw in his blue eyes could almost be described as innocent. The reason for his sadness, I found, could (with little exaggeration) be said to be as the reason for life here in America. Why else would an entire nation, men, women and children, quit everything they do (or could do) and for a good few hours do nothing else but glue themselves to a television screen and watch a battle not their own to fight and whose fruits are not theirs to gain? And to think that until a few days ago I didn't even know who Tom Brady was! You can't grasp the essence of life in America without getting to know the sports culture here. It's just too big a part of life to be missed! Well, between Super Bowl and Super Tuesday, I found that one could easily say that Americans, however indifferent to their neighbors-next-door in the day to day routine, tend to unite for a few fateful occasions a year, and even when standing in two opposing camps, behave as one united state(s). It also shows that sports stand on an equal footing with politics, which says a lot about what life is all about here.

Well, I would first like to thank Susie and Marshall Kapp of Carbondale for inviting me to their Super Bowl party, a term I wasn't even familiar with until I got their invitation. Many people gathered Sunday night in their big, beautiful house and enjoyed the game. Luckily, I found that some of them (mostly women) were gladly giving away some of their screen-watching time in favor of gathering in the living room upstairs for casual living room talks. I enjoyed both my time meeting people upstairs and my time watching Tom and his friends downstairs (I can't say that I was really watching the game – I couldn't understand anything of what was going on there, but I was following the human aspect of the game – the small victories, the small defeats, the hope, despair and finally the ultimate happiness/disappointment when the results were final).

As many of you know, we don't really play American Football in Israel. The big sports there are soccer (and I must admit we're not that strong at it, sadly) and basketball (where Maccabi Tel Aviv is the strongest team and usually does very well in the European League – a source of pride for all of us). When there is a very big, important game, people (mostly men, but definitely not only men) quit everything and watch the game. The difference between what they do and what I saw the guys in C'dale do is that here the guys were mostly calm and quiet while in Israel whenever there is an important move in the game, whenever there's a goal or important points won, there's an uproar coming in from all houses in all directions. You don't really have to watch the game, you can just be wherever you are, do whatever you do and by hearing the cheers or boos realize what's going on in the game. I like how this system works, it saves you precious time.

One last thing on the topic – something similar to Super Bowl in Israel would be the World Cup – the int'l soccer championship. It's a great celebration in Israel even though the Israeli team doesn't make it to this stage. Instead, for some weird reason or the other, most of us support Brazil! Why? I really don't know, but during the World Cup month you see many yellow-and-green Brazilian team shirts worn on many people on the streets of Tel Aviv. Some cloth shops in Tel Aviv make it the formal outfit of their associates for that month... That said, as crazy as it is, it still doesn't match the devotedness that Super Bowl attracts here from Americans. The two just can't be compared.

OK, enough about that. Last Friday night I was happy to join the SIUC Hillel students for Friday night services (led by Joe Brown) and Shabbat dinner. I taught them the Israeli version of Adon Olam and was glad that they liked it. I joined them again the next day for Shakshooka cooking (sunny-side-up eggs cooked on a bed of onions, peppers and tomatoes) and hope to join them again soon for other activities as well. Right after Friday night services and dinner at Hillel I joined the Beth Jacob congregation in C'dale for services. My original plan of joining the Benton congregations were changed because they had to cancel theirs due to the "bad" (actually wonderful!) snowy weather. We were a small group in Beth Jacob and enjoyed the service that was led by Jeff Perkoff and Lenny Gross.

Tomorrow I will join the Temple Israel Paducah congregation for Friday night services and show an Israeli movie (Walk on Water) right afterwards followed by discussion. I will show the same movie the next day (Sat. Feb. 9th) at Beth Jacob C'dale over some snacks and drinks (7 pm. Everyone's welcome!).

Last Tuesday, Super Tuesday, I was joined by members of the Alton congregation (that gave up the pleasure of being glued to the TV screen) for a screening of another Israeli movie in our Israeli Movie Series. The film, Broken Wings, inspired a lively discussion afterwards and we all enjoyed the movie, the discussion and the company of one another.

Last week's Wednesday I was happy to meet Bill Flarsheim and Becky Cahan of Paducah in Pub Theology at Jeremiah's, Paducah. It was a wonderful gathering of an interfaith group that discussed theological and other issues. We hope it continues and I hope to be able to join them from time to time.

Yesterday was my last Hebrew class meeting at SIUE. I was happy to teach the group (of about 14 students now) for over one semester, but at the same time I would like to devote my time and energy for doing more things here in this area (my Hebrew class in C'dale continues as usual, Thursdays, 7pm at Beth Jacob). One good thing that came out of this SIUE class (among other things) is that I found a wonderful enthusiastic Jewish student, Diana Jason, who is now working hard with me trying to promote the idea of a Hillel in SIUE. If you have any contacts or resources to help us in this pursuit, please let me know. Thanks!

Two Save the Date announcements:

 

Last but not least: a huge THANK YOU to Bill Bruns of Carbondale that has been volunteering his time and energy to work tirelessly on the Federation website (www.simokyfed.com) and has been doing a tremendous job. Thanks to Bill, the site has gone through a 180 degree change and is still in the process of being improved. Soon I will give Bill the Federation's full schedule of programs and events for 2008, Israel's 60th anniversary, and refer you to that link in my future email letters.

Quiz 5:

Our quiz of last week comprised of two 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?

Karon Donahue, Sheila Bengtson, Ann Losoff and Gabi Maul were all correct when they wrote back that Jan. 27th is the International Holocaust Memorial Day, as designated by the UN and that Tu B'shvat is the birthday of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset (as well as of the Hebrew University and the Technion). However, the prize goes to Susan Pearlman of Carbondale for being the first to send me these answers! This is also the time to thank Susan and Hal for having me over in their beautiful cabin near Pomona last Saturday! I just loved it!

Quiz 6:

In order to win this week's prize (Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel – I have a few more copies which I'll offer as prizes for the next few weeks), you'll have to answer the following question:

I mentioned earlier that Israel's national football (soccer) team doesn't usually participate in the World Cup. Actually, we did make it to the World Cup finals once. What year was it and in what country were the games taking place?

The first to send me the correct and full answer will take Dershowitz's book home!

 

Wishing you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom!

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