Cantor Roochvarg's Israel Trip Blog

Installment #12

Couldn't resist photographing the sign on a car near our apartment as I went to meet with two young former Charlotteans (and former bar/bat mitzvah students who have made Aliyah, Rebecca Gerger & Nathan Berger, both 29) for coffee. Each of them caught me up on their lives. They both recently became engaged - Nathan to an Israeli and Rebecca to an Israeli, originally from Moldova. We reminisced about the "good old days" in Charlotte. They knew that I had retired, but did not know that Rabbi Ezring was about to retire. Rebecca remarked how strange it would be on her next visit to look upon the Bimah & see two unfamiliar faces!

On our last evening, Linda & I had a light dinner at the apartment. I had one more mission to make: My dad's (of blessed memory) yahrzeit is tonight & tomorrow, but Linda & I have a 5:30 AM departure, so I attended a Ma'ariv service at the Great Synagogue & said Kaddish. Any prayer recited in Israel is "like a local call to God!"

OUR LAST MORNING IN ISRAEL, MONDAY APRIL 29
Our taxi came to take us to the airport at 2 AM. At the airport, SURPRISE, we were visited by (a THIN!) David Ben-Gurion himself to see us off!

EPILOGUE
I will close with two additional experiences I had: one negative, one positive.

First, the negative: Our final experience with Israelis came after we had already left Israel. We flew from Tel Aviv to Madrid. The plane taxied to the arrival gate, five or at most, 10 minutes late. Linda was on the aisle seat, so she, along with many others, stood up to retrieve our things from the overhead compartment. The plane door had not yet even been opened. Nobody was pushing or shoving anyone else, just standing in the aisle...until along come two Israeli fellows who had been several rows behind us. They were pushing their way through the line, saying that they had a flight to catch in half an hour. Linda did not like the idea that they were assuming that merely saying "SLICHA" entitled them to push to the front of the line, especially considering that many OTHER people in the line ALSO had connecting flights to catch, including us. She stood her ground, and before I (still seated at the window) could say or do anything to defuse the situation, they simply forcefully shoved her aside & moved past her. Israelis like these give Israelis in general the reputation for being pushy & rude. Ever since, I have been replaying the scene over & over in my head, thinking of things that I could have/should have said at the time, had I been quick enough.

Now the positive experience: It was Sunday, our last full day in Israel. I was walking back from the cemetery to our apartment, along Tel Aviv's quiet back streets. (Yes, Tel Aviv HAS some quiet back streets!) Two children were walking towards me, A boy who looked about five years old, and a girl a little younger. They had bought ice cream and were eating it on the way home, while talking animatedly.

How many of US would allow our kids at that age (in 2019) to walk alone in a big city? Their parents were obviously cultivating independent children, but even more important, their parents felt that Tel Aviv - and maybe all Israel - is a safe place for children. And I believe they are correct!


A SOLEMN & SAD FAREWELL
On our last morning in Israel, before leaving our Air BNB, Linda & I did an inventory, going through all the rooms to make sure we were leaving nothing behind.

Now I am sitting down to contemplate the SPIRITUAL inventory of just what I AM leaving behind:

• The modern miracle that is the State of Israel, which welcomed its people back after almost 2,000 years of their homelessness.
• The miracle of the resurrection of the Hebrew language, for 2,000 years used exclusively as the language of prayer, now the language of teens on the street, disk jockeys on the radio, doctors, lawyers and, to paraphrase the remark of David Ben Gurion, spoken by Jewish policemen when they arrest Jewish prostitutes....who ALSO speak Hebrew! (....uh...So I've been told!)

Don't get me wrong: I love, and am proud of, my American identity & heritage. But there is just a feeling I get in my soul every time I return to Israel, which I just don't get when I visit Washington or New York. Each visit to Washington, or to NY is just that, a visit. But each return to Israel is a Homecoming.

I am leaving behind all that and more:

• The central bus station in Jerusalem, with its Biblical inscription on its wall; Sha'alu shlom Yerushalayim...(The actual inscription is in Hebrew letters, of course!)
• A city of between 500-1,000 synagogues, depending on whom you ask;
• The only country in the region where Jews, Christians & Moslems all serve in the government (Knesset);
• A country that welcomes any and all Jews to "return" & become citizens.

I know I'll be back, but it can't be soon enough. Meanwhile, I'll just keep thinking of the lines from Psalm 122:

My feet were standing at your gates, Jerusalem; Jerusalem the rebuilt!....
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you prosper.
May there be peace within your walls, tranquility in your homes.

Shalom. Peace.
L'hitra'ot. See you again.