Holy Chevron

On an Egged bus to CHEVRON (Hebron) with my twins .

If Jew s have a pilgrimage to our origins,a journey to trace our roots ,this has to be it .
We begin to teach our children at a tender young age about the stories of our patriarchs and matriarchs ,and they recite it thrice daily in the Amidah Prayer ,"אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו ,Our G-d and the G-d of our fathers".

My hope and prayer for my children and I as we journey to the burial grounds of our holy ancestors ,is that it sparks an inner parallel journey toward the spiritual energy of those same ancestors ,that are buried as well in our own psyches,implanted deep within the collective consciousness and sacred imagination of every Jew.

This will help them make the connection,that the sacred spirit that coursed through the lofty souls of Abraham and Sarah ,flows through our souls as well.

אלקי אבותינו , the g-d of Abraham is indeed אלקינו, our g-d and the g-d of our children.

Tears stream down my eyes as the bus winds it s way up the narrow roadways and I imagine my ancestors,trekking through these same winding paths.

These majestic ,somewhat perilous, mountainous pathways are symbolic of the spiritual journeys we must also undertake as we venture into the unknown often craggy terrain of our own lives, guided by the same faith as Avraham when he embarked on his "Lech Lecha "journey,that continues through us as well today.

I m listening to a cantorial piece by Yitzchok Meir Helfgott accompanied by Itzhak Perlman ,from the new album aptly titled" Eternal Echoes ".

It popped up magically as if the Judean hills were mystically coordinating somehow with the shuffle feature on my iPad.

The lyrics are from the prayer that we recite at the end of the Amidah prayer.

"Yehi ratzon meelephanecha hashem elokainu velokai avotaynu sheyeebaneh
Bait hamikdosh beeymhayrah beeyamaynu vetayn chelkaynu betoratecha."

"May it be your will our G-d and G-d of our fathers that the Holy Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days ."

As I watched my daughters pour their hearts out to G-d in the presence of the spirit of Avraham and Sara,Yitzchak and Rivkah ,and Yaakov and Leah,I
felt a piece of the temple restored in that holy moment .

I will fasten myself to this moment and bring it back home, and though I won't have to declare it at customs,its certainly more valuable to me than anything else I will have brought!

Winding down a most HEAVENLY day in a slightly more EARTHLY way,with dinner at
Burgers Bar,on Emek Refaim street in the German colony.

Layla Tov !

It s good to be home !!

On the flight from Heathrow to to tel aviv,it hit me how ironic it is that the one time of the year that you can find Jews and Muslims and Christians together is on Christmas Day,either on the picturesque ski slopes of New England ,or on planes headed to Israel. The Christians who are working the holiday shifts,either because they volunteered for double or triple pay,or had the bad luck to be chosen,are all disgruntled and moody. Though the temporary theological solidarity that the Jews and Muslims share is based more on the Christian faith that we don't embrace and less on our abrahamic roots ,it s still something I guess . Then I wake up in Israel and read in the morning paper about an Arab bakery in Jaffa that starts making Sufganiyot a month before Chanukah and is still making them now ,selling about two hundred and fifty of them a day ! Given all that how hard would it be to just acknowledge our eternal connection to our homeland ארץ ישראל ,then we could celebrate annually by establishing dec 25th as a day when Jews and Muslims all over the world eat Sufganiyot together . Until that day comes however, we must do everything in our power to be unconditionally supportive of the only place in the world that every Jew can really call home!

Happy Third Day of Chanukah!

The BeadleIn Jewish life in Eastern Europe, one of the most important positions in the Synagogue “Shul life” was also the least celebrated. He was affectionately known as the “Shamesh” (beadle), caretaker of the shul.Truth is he was far more than a simple caretaker of the Shul. The entire being of the Shamesh was in perfect sync with all the rhythms of Jewish life and the flow of the community. He was the one, always in the background, who truly nurtured the soul of the Jewish community, the quintessential giver, forever in the mode of serving as the name connotes. Le’shamesh, his entire identity was always ready to serve G-d and his people.Tonight as we bask in the glow of the third candle, let us remember that our own lights shine brightest when we act like a Shamesh and help kindle the light of an other.Chanuka SameachRabbi Yossi