Israel

Tue, 13 Jan 2009

“Rabbi Abba would kiss the stones of Acco, as it says in the Book of Psalms, ‘For Your servants hold the stones of the Land of Israel dear.’”
[Babylonian Talmud, Kesubos 112]

With boundless gratitude to G-d, I am happy to say that my wife and son arrived safely in Israel about four hours ago. The primary purpose: to have Aliza and Yosef Dov spend time with her parents and our family matriarch, her grandmother. I’m thrilled that they can do that as they bask in the holiness of the Land.

So many wonderful things are with us day-in-and-day-out. In 5769, an arrival in Israel is about as awe-inspiring as an arrival in Hoboken. How sad it is to be numb!

I feel blessed—truly blessed—to live in an era in which my wife and son can hop on a comfortable plane and kiss the ground in Jerusalem hours later. How many millions of Jews over 20 centuries could only dream and long and yearn for that? How many of the lucky ones had to use caravans and boats to get there—if they survived the trip?

On how many thousands of days did tearful Jews petition thrice, “And gather us together, G-d, from the four corners of the earth”?

In the 1930’s, my paternal grandparents initiated plans to move to the Land in an attempt to escape Poland’s anti-Semitism. The accursed White Paper of the British made that impossible. What they would have given then to have what is now ours merely for the asking!

I was born before the miracles of the 6-Day War, but my only memory is of access to the Western Wall. We can scarcely relate to the tears shed by the soldiers—and world Jewry—when it was liberated. I feel blessed that my wife and son will soon touch its holy stones.

May G-d speedily bless our Land with peace.
May G-d speedily remove from us our tragic, unwanted need to eliminate other people’s loved ones in order to save our own.

Eliyahu W. Ferrell
17 Teves 5769

Posted with the author's permission.