This is Aryeh Ben Yaakov. Aryeh is from Cleveland, Ohio, and he made aliya in 1961 at age 21. After his IDF service as a paratrooper, he settled in Kibbutz Misgav Am which is located literally on the border with Lebanon. In this picture you can see this Hezbollah flag as a tiny green dot in Lebanon just over the fence of the kibbutz.
Aryeh is a prolific and passionate spokesperson who meets with many of the groups that visit Misgav Am to better understand the dangers of living in a border community as well as to see firsthand the Zionist spirit and dedication of those who live there. I have heard Aryeh on numerous occasion, and I visited with him on Tuesday along with the Ramaz 8th graders on their class trip.
Aryeh doesn't like to talk too much about himself, but he is not shy about why he lives in Israel or what the Jewish State is all about. As usual, though, he left his listeners with a lesson in Jewish pride and a certainty in the justness of Israel. I think it's a critical lesson for all Jews, and I'm glad my students heard it loud and clear.
"Why do I live in Israel? I'm Jewish...This is home for the Jewish people. It's a miracle. It's wonderful...Israel is Jew Land...Whenever you come, we'll be ready for you."
We all know that there is a lot about Israel that is complicated. At the same time, Israel is a special place. We must remind ourselves of this, while making sure our children (and all around us) hear - and feel - this unique quality.
The Torah predicts this phenomenon in our parsha.
וישבתם לבטח בארצכם
And you shall dwell in safety in your land. (Vayikra 26:5)
The Midrash explains:
וישבתם לבטח בארצכם – בארצכם אתם יושבים לבטח ואין אתם יושבים לבטח חוצה לה.
In your land you shall dwell in safely, but you will not dwell in safety outside of it.
What exactly does this mean? Why can’t we live securely outside the land? Even with all that is going on, I still feel pretty safe as a Jew in America.
וישבתם לבטח בארצכם is not only about safety. It is a reality that the natural state for the Jew as a Jew is in Israel. It is in Israel that Jewishness permeates everyday life, where it is part and parcel of one's identity. It is in Israel where we are naturally and organically Jewish.
This is not to say that one can’t be a proud, passionate Jew elsewhere in the world. I’d like to think that we do a pretty good job here, but Israel is the land of passion and pride. Israel is the place that attracts Aryeh Ben Yaakov's, that inspires American high school graduates to spend a year in the IDF or national service before college, and that elicits pride just by setting foot in the country. Israel can provide an automatic and instantaneous infusion of religious spirit and passion for laid back teens, and it is only in Israel where bikers naturally make Kiddush.
A former neighbor of mine made Aliya to Israel and spent a weekend with his family at a Field School in Midreshet Sde Boker - near Kibbutz Sde Boker, the former home of David Ben Gurion. Shortly after arriving on Friday, they heard the roar of motorcycles and watched as a large gang of bikers rode into the parking lot. It was a group of graying, beefy older men riding a very fine collection of classic bikes – and they were all speaking Hebrew. All of a sudden, my friend is
approached by one of the bikers who wanted to apologize in advance for any noise they might need to make on Shabbat morning when they were planning on leaving to continue their ride. Bikers with manners.
After Friday evening services in the shul, the family went to the dining hall for the Shabbat meal. It was a communal dining hall, so that is where everyone ate. And in walk the bikers.
The leather was gone, and they were now wearing clean t-shirts and blue jeans tucked into dusty engineer boots. They sat down right near my friend’s family. All of a sudden, one of the bikers stood, filled, his cup with wine, and the rest stood up on cue. They all took the neatly folded pink dinner napkins from their place settings, and perched them carefully on top of their heads as makeshift yarmulkes, while the leader began making Kiddush.
Kiddush recited by a bunch of “secular” Israeli weekend motorcycle warriors. My neighbor said to his wife, "I think that has to be the holiest Kiddush I've ever heard".
It is a cute story, which reinforces for us that things are very different in Israel. It is a reminder of what remains at the core and foundation of Israel. In Israel, Judaism is natural. Israel is the place where Judaism infuses and inspires the religious, the secular, the cynical, the student, and the bikers.
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