To Ari (Eli's brother) Esther, Tzof, Hanani, Nofat, Deuel and Meitar (Did I forget anyone?) Hello and congratulations,
It's hard to believe that you're been abroad for half a year ... I have countless times turned to Dina and said: 'Come on, we're going to the City of David to visit Ari and Esther & Co.
From the flow of souls and coffee we will deal with the big questions down to the small hours. We will talk, compete, argue and agree, dive to the bottom of the infinite abyss and solve the unsolvable mysteries and fix a world in the kingdom of demons (in the first stage) and if not, at least we will sit for a few moments with close brothers. Like water face to face, and the team itself will calm something from the volcanic and murky storm that is sweeping our tormented society.
But you are there, overseas, in another world. And we are very eager to hear in detail about what is happening to you, about your work, your successes and disappointments in the community and of course everything that is happening to you as a family.
Einstein destroyed the conventional notion of simultaneity. It is not scientific today to say that at a certain time something happened in Hebron and at the same time an anonymous thing in Johannesburg. So what do I care about Einstein? Why can I not sit here, in a narrow outpost in the southern Hebron Mountains, in the bone-chilling cold of the dining room tent (the only place in the outpost that has a table) and think what is happening to you at the moment in summer Africa?
But it really is impossible, or at least very difficult. A person lives in a relationship and it is difficult to translate from system to system.
Which system is normal?
Of calm Johannesburg where people light up each other, that life is run smoothly, polite Anglo-ski, the pleasant Johannesburg where ordinary citizens stop at a traffic light and take their car, Johannesburg of fear at night, of increasing motherly violence (I am not God forbid anti-father-in-law) and my son Our people see there their lives and their future and the future of their children.
Or here in Israel?
In Israel, they are not satisfied with the murder of ordinary citizens. And traffic lights? There is not even a stop sign. A divided and divided society. Brotherly hatred. Deaf shouts. incitement. accusation. A gross footstep of any enlightened social norm. And here is the place of our lives and our future and the future of our children.
I sit in the dimness of the tent (a 40-watt generator bulb) and barely see the letters I write. And how do we notice the divine letters written and enacted in the great gloom of these days?
I leave in a few minutes for an overnight tour, eight hours in an open jeep in the mountainous frost of Mount Hebron (I am in reserve by the way). When I return I will continue.
Of course I did not continue and a few days passed. In the meantime, I had a day off and Dina and I went to Givat Haviva, which specializes in Arab-Jewish meetings of Nitzanei Shalom, for a meeting between the director of education of the national kibbutz and principals and educators in the national-religious stream.
"Meetings" are a new fashion that is spreading among the people. Encounters between secular and religious, right-wing and left-wing, etc., a very soft seedling of thirst for unity and peace, or even anxiety about a real civil war.
Will he crop up from the neglect when the shock of the murder passes? Will he be crushed to dust in the cauldron of the upcoming election campaign? Or will it grow, develop and create new patterns in society? And what patterns? In any case an interesting point of light.
And the truth is (what a pretentious opening) that this is a very wonderful time, full of confusion and challenge, heartache and anticipation. You can not say that life is easy, but you can also not say that it is boring.
It is difficult to express my thoughts clearly, I will attach to this letter things written by Eli Sadan (and I will not attach my critique comments), and also the introduction to an educational program I am trying to process (see what comes out of it). I will try anyway to bring some illustration, to give a snapshot.
Nablus was handed over to the Arabs in a hurry and in a hurry, while burning Israeli flags, in the IDF and almost as a disaster for female soldiers who were accidentally trapped in the government building that was handed over to a jubilant and rioting mob.
A few days later Bethlehem was delivered and the pain was even greater. The next day we drove to Jerusalem via a bypass road (actually a bypass bypass, because the bypass will only be completed in the summer if God willing) and all the way Dina cried and my heart ached inside me (because of Bethlehem, not because of Dina and maybe actually because of Dina).
Yishai, David, the flock, the pastoral saint who surrounds soft hills on the way to the kingdom of Israel, between the mountains of Hebron and the mountains of Jerusalem. And mourning and insult, anger and grief, are used interchangeably.
A few days later, Dina traveled to Jerusalem again, this time by hitchhiking. The driver insisted on traveling through Bethlehem, which has meanwhile been opened to Jewish passengers, with the responsibility for their safety resting with the Palestinian Authority's terrorist gangs.
The description of the trip was amazing: a PLO flag hoisted on the government building, Palestinian tours of the streets, a city celebrating and rejoicing, adorned with thousands of flags (the whole country flags) - and suddenly a feeling that nothing has changed, or perhaps worse - the IDF barbed wire fences, Our armed soldiers, an occupying army - have gone away and everything is more normal, more natural and calm, and even the security fear is gone (we are talking about my dear wife, Dina).
In fact it has never been different. What a lousy performance of a "I think" game.
It's hard for me to describe Dina's feelings, she did not snatch a stone in her head, nor did she decide to compete for a real place on the Meretz list. So how did she feel? Hallucinations? Imaginations? Maybe. But perhaps there was an intrusion of a more basic truth here.
father. Joshua published a long article a few days ago calling for dialogue with the religious. Now that the question of the entire Land of Israel has been decided once and for all, after the absolute victory of the peace camp and the complete collapse of the thesis of the Land of Israel, one can turn to more important questions.
And the truth is that although the "peace camp" won and the Land of Israel was actually handed over to the foreigners, the battle for the Land of Israel did not, in fact, begin to hold Nablus and Bethlehem as an occupying army and as a confused people, who do not really understand what we are and our lives. Of truth.
The Six Day War was a brilliant and important military operation, it changed both the map and the hearts - to a certain extent. Residents of Yesha and the Golan Heights This is an important and significant fact, but it is also limited.
As long as we can talk about the value of the people of Israel separately and the value of the Land of Israel separately, as long as no one closes their eyes when they belong to the "national camp" - who hates morality and peace, or when they belong to the "peace camp" - who hates the Land of Israel, religion and Nationalism, as long as we have not crossed the barrier of superficiality - we have not yet conquered.
The incarnations that we will still roll on the way to our inner self are unpredictable and we light fog lamps in an effort to illuminate a few meters in front of us. Each in his own way.
But the main thing - most importantly, generation after generation will praise your deeds. And with regard to the wonderful future of the generations to come one can only compensate Pino with a song of thanksgiving without reservation and restraint. The graceful beauty, intelligence and lack of skepticism of the younger generation (ages 2-3 months) pulsate with their intensity and herald a bright and good tomorrow.
The experience of grandparents as a fact and as an example. On the one hand there is complete emotional and intellectual involvement in every point of life in this soft and delicate (and fat) fortification, and on the other hand there is complete awareness that our degree of control is extremely limited.
I have to finish and get organized for the tour. Heavy rain, city winds (I wish they would fall asleep a little) even a little lightning and thunder to the spice. You would think there are reliefs for grandparents.
Write! You children too, who I did not manage in this letter to ask how you are and how you have adapted and do you have friends and what is most fun for you there and what is most "on the face" there and you already know English? (I already forgot).
with love
Eli
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