Yom HaAtzmaut at Pina Chama

As Israel celebrated its 63rd birthday, my family went to Gush Etzion's Pina Chama (soldiers' hospitality hut) to make a barbecue for our men and women in the Israel Defense Forces and thank them for their service to the nation.

Dozens of volunteers cut pickles and pitot, counted flatware, filled containers of salad and barbecued chicken, franks and hamburgers that were finished as soon as they were finished. :)

Volunteers did anything and everything for the benefit of the soldiers. I washed dishes (although I'd never wash them at home) and stacked pickle containers (a vital task). One of our neighborhood builders washed the floor. Accountants and entrepreneurs manned the grill.

Folks from every community in Gush Etzion sent the Pina Chama salads, sodas and cakes for the soldiers. Food was plentiful and spirits were high.

The chayalim (soldiers) came in waves, thanked the volunteers and left with boxes packed with yummy meats and salads. They brought packages back to their fellow soldiers throughout Gush Etzion.

Pina Chama is open every weekday, but Yom HaAtzmaut is the biggest day of the year with almost 1000 soldiers joining in the feast-ivities.

Happy Yom HaAtzmaut to Am Yisrael, especially our dear soldiers.

Join us at Pina Chama in these short clips:

http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=194

http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=133

City of Chesed

When folks ask me why I like my community, Efrat, I always answer the same thing - it's a capital of chesed (deeds of loving-kindness) and it has the warmest most wonderful people around, folks who each contribute to the general good.
Well, at the town-wide Yom HaAtzmaut ceremony last night for Israel's 63rd birthday, Efrat honored the superstars of chesed - each one lighting a lamp on the Yom HaAtzmaut torch.

The evening couldn't have started out stronger! It began with a dance by little girls called, "Yachad", (together) and that's what our town is all about - helping one another, reaching out to one another and taking the journey of Israel's eternity b'yachad (together). Kol hakavod to all the little darlings who danced so sweetly and sparkly-ly, and to their choreographer Jocelyn Odenheimer, who set the happy hometown tone for tonight's event.

Then the honorees were called to the stage:

** Eli Mizrachi - former Mayor and founder of the Keren Yeshua fund to help Efrat's needy

** Rebbetzin Vicki Riskin - co-founder of the Efrat Clothing Gemach accept the honor in the name of all those who volunteer in chesed organizations

** Natan Heronian - a builder of homes and synagogues, and a soldiers who battled to free Jerusalem

** Ayelet Avrahami - editor of the Dash Cham newsletter that is sent out on a regular basis to our soldiers, bnot sherut and yeshiva students, who organizes the Purim packages for soldiers each year and volunteers a great day for the post-High Schoolers

** HaRav Baruch Efrat - rabbi of the Zayit Raanan Shul, who is very involved in activities for children and parents together with children, as well as teaching Daf Yomi

** Bruriah Rabinowitz - head of the Efrat Bridal Gemach and Yad Sarah, who represented other devoted chesed volunteers

** Two Tamars - Tamar Hauser and Tamar Ganounian represented the young people who serve in Sherut Leumi and the Army

Continuing with the community theme, the two town choirs sang terrifically. The adult choir and the youth choir even took the stage for a joint song, and the crowd loved them.

Yachad (together) representatives of the three youth groups here - Bnei Akiva, Ezra and Dati Scouts - did some fun flag waving.

And the evening, of course, was topped off by terrific fireworks.

The town ceremonies were over. Folks went their own ways to private Yom HaAtzmaut parties and to another Gush Etzion-wide event - a kumsitz on Netzer Hill.

Happy Yom HaAtzmaut.

These two videos, give you a peek at the terrific evening we all had:

http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=192

http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=193

Permission to Cry

This morning, I attended the Yom HaZikaron/Yom HaAtzmaut (Remembrance Day/Independence Day) ceremonies in the Orot Etzion Lower Division (Chativa Tz'eira) in my hometown of Efrat.
The bleachers were packed all around the basketball court with relatives and fellow first and second grade students. More or less everyone was wearing blue and white, and there were more cameras and videocams than at an Obama press conference.
The children's presentation was so innocent and heartfelt that their words set off waves of deep and very loud sobs from the audience - noooooooo, not just me, people all around me. The tragedies experienced by the Jewish people in the past ten years... okay, in the past 60 years, or all the way back to the destruction of Bet HaMikdash and the massacre of Jews throughout Israel...are sometimes just too difficult to bear.The ceremony began with a Yom HaZikaron program, remembering the soldiers and the victims of Arab terror. Highlighted by this seven year olds was the Fogel Family, the parents and children that were brutally murdered by Arabs in Itamar last month.
We are all so conscious of putting on a brave face, or holding our shoulders up in the face of the deepest sorrow. It was a relief this morning to have a good cry along with others who also felt the loss of our brethren.
Together we share these moments of truth and national trauma. We cry together, and then together we give one another strength to go forward.
Today, the children of Orot Etzion's Chativa Tz'eira put on a magnificent (yes, it was magnificent) program filled with simple heart and love for those we have lost and optimistically looking toward what we can accomplish together.
Kol hakavod to Principal HaRav Yehuda Eisenberg, the teachers and the children who made the program such a great success.
Chag HaAtzmaut sameach - first we cry and remember those who made our lives here possible, and then we wave our flag and thank G-d for giving us the privilege of living in this blessed land.
For a peek at the ceremony, watch these:
Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day):
http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=190
Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day):
http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=191

Through the Looking Glass

My family arrived from America yesterday, just in time to stand with me during the siren in memory of Israel's fallen soldiers. They walked into the house, gave me a hug and all was regular.
There wasn't screaming and jumping as was once the norm.
Well, I had just seen them the day before. We got together on Skype. We chat almost every day for a few moments or a lengthy talk.
I see their new eye glasses. They see my messy office. We are together. Sitting together, sharing together. They're on one side of the looking glass, I mean, the screen. And I'm on the other.
So, when they walked into my kitchen last night, they were just walking from one side of the screen to the other.
I do not get a fee or percentage for people who sign up to Skype. :) But I have become a big fan of this program that keeps me connected to my loved ones in a very real, up close way.
It's more than email, more than a phone call. It's almost "Beam me up, Scotty." Maybe one day it will be.
Meanwhile, it's "the closest thing to being there." Thanks, Mr. Skype.

Plane (Never Plain) Preview

I was driving through Gush Etzion on my way to Alon Shvut when suddenly four magnificent sleek jets flew over my head in a diamond-shaped formation. I was breathless at its beauty, sort of how I'd have felt if a pride of unicorns ran right passed me.

I wished I'd had my camera. But I made a click in my head (like Cam Jannsen used to do) and I preserved the moment.

Planes and helicopters and all sorts of Army equipment are dusting themselves off in order to gleam for Am Yisrael on Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) on Tuesday, IY"H. Army, Navy and Air Force bases will be open all over the country on Tuesday, and the shows to be put on by the base soldiers will be exceptionally thrilling.

Happy Yom HaAtzmaut.

Wave the flag.

A Children's Independence Day

Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Iyar, one of my favorite days of the year. That's when the children of ganim (preschools), three to five year olds, celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel's Independence Day). They gather on the grass or the gym floor or the local plaza in their blue-and-whitest finery with hand-made crowns, crepe paper ties for the young gentlemen and blue crepe paper flowers for the girls.
They sing. They dance. They clap. They wave their flags. They listen to quizzes that surprisingly (or maybe not) they can answer. "Today is the birthday of Medinat (State) Yis____." "___rael." Yay.
"We love to visit Israel's capital, Yerushalay___." "__im." Yay.
"The highest mountain is Israel is the Her___." "___mon." Yay.
They have some entertainment (I'll get back to that) and they give presents to the soldiers of their area.
At the end of the Yom HaAtzmaut program, each gan (preschool class) sends pint-sized representatives to join the teacher in presenting a box of goodies to the soldiers. Usually the box is filled with fun food, toiletries and specialty items that the army might not provide to soldiers. If enough preschools are represented, the soldiers take a pretty good haul back to the base. :)
The boxes are decorated in blue and white with Israeli flags or blue hearts or all kinds of splotches on them. As the mother of some soldiers, I can honestly say that the soldiers cherish the boxes themselves and the notes in them even more than the licorice and clean socks inside.
At our local Preschool Independence Day celebration in the Efrat Community Center, I was lucky enough to be part of the entertainment.
Some of the women from DAMES of the DANCE 4 - The Promised Land, which performed after Purim this year, came together again to do their famous march, A Tribute to the Israeli Army. About 25 women marched in DAMES and sent the audience out of their minds with excitement and flag-waving patriotism. But the DAMES performances were at night, and the two gan shows were in the morning, when students learn, working women work, non-working mothers have to take care of their babies and everything in between. So, although it was difficult to get a group together, we did indeed. We reworked the dance for a small troupe and we marched with our biggest smiles and hearts filled with love for all these little tykes.
After we marched, we went into the crowd and pulled out little children to march with us too, and the result was tremendously great fun. The children cheered. The women soldiers who were present said that we were very professional. :) This actually prompted the MC of the second performance to call the IDF soldiers, the "real soldiers" and we were the "volunteer dancing lady 'soldiers'." If you'd have seen me in a kumta (Army cap) over my headscarf and black pants under my skirt, plus a long-sleeved shirt under my Army t-shirt, I think you wouldn't have confused me with a soldier. Then again, maybe if you were three years old...
The teachers said we were wonderful. Yay. What a way to celebrate Rosh Chodesh!! What a great preview of Yom HaAtzmaut to come!! We had such a terrific time with the kids, we already asked the head of the program to invite us back again next year.
Happy Israeli Independence Day!!!

Be part of the Children's Independence Day. Watch here: http://www.voices-magazine.com/index.php?page=inside_page&id=189