dear boys,
like every single Jew i
pray for your immediate and safe return.
but even when that prayer
is answered (please Gd!), you will have missed out, because of your captivity, on simply
experiencing the world through your senses these last many days. i wish to share
that sensory experience with you so that it’s not as if you missed it all.
because for us, you are here, breathing the same air. why shouldn’t you see,
smell, feel, taste and hear all that’s been going on outside............
i see.
i see glimpses of the
heavenly sparks that reside in the souls of my friends and neighbors – as we
greet each other with a knowing look and take leave of each other, somewhat
strengthened from the shared emotion, eyes filled with prayer and hope.
i see chayalim.
chayalim from the tzafon.
chayalim from the darom. chayalim from the merkaz. chayalim with optimistic
smiles and, maybe because of their young age, a tender demeanor that i
recognize from my own children.
i see degel yisrael.
i see our roads and our
tachanot decorated with our proud flag. many, many flags. speaking of tachanot,
every local bus stop/trempiada is adorned with hand painted murals proclaiming
“Am Yisrael Chai”.
i see you.
pictures of you and your
full hebrew names. i see you on facebook. i see you in the newspaper. i see you
at ma’arat hamachpela. i see you at the kotel. i see you outside rami levy and
i see you at the matnas. all over israel
i smell the smell of bar-b-q.
last night soldiers camped
out in the local branches of b’nei akiva and ezra, welcomed by everyone. people
just wanting to strengthen this team of brothers that is searching the judean
hills day and night for you, their brothers. and also we get strength from
them.
i feel the warm embrace of
am yisrael and jews abroad.
while physically i feel real embraces - from my smallest to biggest child (not wanting to miss an opportunity to hold them close) and from each friend i see as we busy ourselves with activities we pray will prove meaningful in bringing about your return. activities including communal prayer. supplying the pina chama. raising the overall level of chesed in our lives to, please Gd, effect a change in this harsh decree.
while physically i feel real embraces - from my smallest to biggest child (not wanting to miss an opportunity to hold them close) and from each friend i see as we busy ourselves with activities we pray will prove meaningful in bringing about your return. activities including communal prayer. supplying the pina chama. raising the overall level of chesed in our lives to, please Gd, effect a change in this harsh decree.
i taste tears.
this will probably
continue even after you return but i welcome those tears – tears reminiscing
how we longed for your return. you were torn from your mothers’ arms but we are
all mothers. you are, each of you, a precious pikadon on this earth from haKadosh
Baruch Hu. our purpose is one with your mothers who were initially charged with
guarding and raising you. bringing you
back is the only thing. for each one of us.
and i hear.
of all the senses, hearing
is the one most fraught with the sort of incongruous emotions we are
experiencing all at once. i hear my children playing while i recite tehillim
through tears. i hear soldiers greeting each other and greeting local residents
and it has the feeling of the first day of summer camp – the excitement and the
uncertainty. later i hear sirens. sometimes total silence. we go to sleep and
wake up to the relentless dull hum of drones scouring the hilltops and the
wadis for signs of you. there are noises of life as usual – construction
equipment chipping away at bedrock, ice-cream truck jingles signaling the start
and finish of school, cars beeping, and smachot – graduations, weddings,
britot, bar mitzvahs – each containing tefilot for your immediate and safe
return.
the smachot feel surreal.
but they continue as a testament, please Gd, to your return to the cycle of
life – graduations, weddings, britot, bar mitzvahs. and to all the sensory experiences they
entail.
sincerely,
lisa m.
chayalim – soldiers
tzafon – north
darom – south
mercaz – central israel
degel yisrael – the
israeli flag
tachanot – bus
stops/hitchhiking posts
trempiada – hitchhiking
post
Am Yisrael Chai – the
nation of israel
ma’arat hamachpela – cave
of the patriarchs
kotel – western wall
rami levy – a supermarket
franchise in israel
matnass – local community
center
b’nei akiva & ezra –
youth group movements
pina chama – a volunteer
run cafe for soldiers to stop in for home-baked goodies, coffee or slushie
chesed – acts of kindess
pikadon – something on
loan
haKadosh Baruch Hu -
Hashem
tehillim - psalms
smachot – happy
celebrations
britot – circumcision
celebrations
tefilot - prayers