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Articles
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Articles |
When I was growing up in safe and peaceful Canada friends and family always warned me never to hitchhike unless it was absolutely necessary. "You never know which maniac is in the car", is the one I can best recall. Later when I moved to the U.S. it was abundantly clear that you just didn't hitch rides from strangers unless you were looking for trouble. Israel was a different story.
Until recently, if you didn't own a car, your basic choices in Israel were to use the bus service, private van service, or hitchhike. Recently the state has begun to slowly expand its modern rail system. Unfortunately, that is being done at a snail's pace (the lack of a good rail/subway system will be the subject of another article). Because of the fact that the paid services are not always available or affordable many people in Israel have become accustomed to 'tremping', the slang word for hitchhiking. There are many famous hitchhiking spots all around the country. I remember visiting Israel several years before I moved here and being amazed at how many people hitchhiked as well as how many people picked them up. This simple act of camaraderie was one of the reasons that I longed to live here and be with my people. A lot seems to have changed in lieu of the 'peace process'.
It became abundantly clear to the average person in the street that the more the State of Israel gave in to pressure for the sake of peace, the less secure he/she felt in those very same streets. The more rights and freedom of movement that have been granted to Arabs both within and without the so–called green line, the more violence on different levels have been committed against Jews in Israel. All of these violent acts have hurt the morale of Jews around the country. Many areas once frequented by Jews are slowly but surely becoming 'Judenrein'. Of course, the little guy suffers the most. Beginning with the kidnapping and murders of soldiers while hitch hiking, most Israelis fear picking up any hitchhikers today. Many travelers no longer feel safe hitching rides after dark. Fear breeds more fear. It is this type of fear that is destroying the dream of 'being free in our land'. We may have at least a partial solution during
these very trying times.
We at B'Ahavat Yisrael have embarked on a mission of example. We give Jews lifts all over Israel, day and night. Is it that simple? No. It works like this: Every day people from our organization in their travels pick up hitchhikers along their travel routes. On the passenger side of our member's car is a magnetic sign with our logo, which clearly states in Hebrew B'Ahavat Yisrael 'One Nation With One Heart'. When a hitchhiking person sees the sign he/she is confident that the driver is not a terrorist. We train our members to ask certain questions in order to be as sure as possible that they themselves aren't dealing with a potential terrorist. If the driver isn't 100% comfortable with the potential passenger(s) the lift is avoided. Is this system perfectly safe? No.
This system is a beginning. We will limit the amount of magnetic signs in order to avoid duplication. Once we have enough permanent vehicles on the road we will paint the signs onto the vehicles permanently. The more of these vehicles on the road the more people will be able to travel safely and with greater confidence. On the way from Kfar Saba to Netivot in the south and back to Ra'anana we once gave a total of 25 soldiers lifts in one vehicle alone on that round trip, at least half of them at night. Hopefully soon, we will be able to find a sponsor for bulletproof mini buses in order to give free service to residents in Judea and Samaria, many who are currently suffering from almost complete abandonment.
Dear Friends,
It is the little guy, the hitchhiker who represents the pulse of the nation. It isn't some pre–fixed poll by the biased, all too powerful Israeli media. By working together we can give confidence back to the people and G–d willing begin the process of reclaiming our beloved country.
Dear Friends,
Not so long ago after a terrible personal tragedy I made aliya to Israel. After being here for a while, my friends and I came up with an idea. Why not start an organization that if successful can mend the deep wounds of division between Jews here in Israel and hopefully elsewhere as well? After some thought we opened up our organization. Things began slowly as we began the process of building an organization from the bottom up. Unfortunately the beginning was a little tough for me. I wasn't sufficiently motivated until I became involved in a spontaneous argument in the street, in the fine city of Ra'anana.
As was my habit in those days, I took my late night walk along the main street, Achuza. Nothing seemed out of place. The various people did their various things. It was past the shopping rush as most stores were closed for the day. That meant that the taxi drivers hung out with each other and waited for some business, as the youth of Ra'anana 'hung out' at the local fast food establishments. While the cab drivers were basically one group with little to distinguish one from the other, the youths were a different story.
I couldn't help but become upset as I walked past the local Subway Sandwich restaurant. Once again, sitting by the tables outside the restaurant along the promenade were 2 groups of youths. On one side sat the modern religious and on the other side sat the non–religious. It amazed me that these young men and women, the future of our country didn't speak to anybody from the 'other' side. I had seen this situation too many times, but today the little man inside of me, called my conscience was looking for me to do something, to say something. I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't move. So, I stared. Suddenly it appeared before my eyes. A message, on a T–shirt was my signal.
There it was clear and bold: "Yesh Lapid L'Chilonim" (There's Lapid for the secular). I walked up to the young man and asked him if I could have a word with him. He looked at me with suspicious eyes like I was about to rob him of something. I told him that I was a recent immigrant from America and I was wondering if he could explain what his shirt meant (I understood the message but was dying to hear his explanation). He told me that the message was referring to Tommy Lapid who runs the Shinui Party (Party for change). He explained that Mr. Lapid was for secular citizens. I asked him if that meant Jewish secular citizens? He replied, "of course". I then asked how I could purchase a T–shirt and join the party? He replied that I couldn't because I'm religious. I told him that I'm not religious. He pointed to my Kipa. I told him I wear it because it makes me feel Jewish but I'm
very far from a tzadik. He said I wouldn't be welcome because I'm religious, that the party doesn't like religious people. I asked him if that meant religious Jews? He said yes. I asked him how his party felt about religious Christians and Moslems? He didn't have an answer. He was becoming very annoyed with me, as were his friends. They told me to go home. I told them that I was bored and was trying to acclimate myself with my People. At this point the mood became more and more interesting.
Suddenly, almost all the youngsters from both sides were standing on either side of us, watching us debate. I then asked my new 'friend' with hate in his eyes if he was Jewish? He replied that he was. I asked him if his mother was Jewish? He again said, "yes". I told him mine was as well. That in fact we are both Jews. He said, "Nu, so what's your point?" I answered like a Jew, by asking him a question. I asked everybody there a question. I said, "Let's say a guy named Mohamed walks by here and opens fire with an M16 machine gun in this direction with the sole intention of murdering Jews, who would he shoot first, the guys with the kipas or the guys without?" I then made the sounds from the American television game show 'Jeopardy', tick tock, tick tock, etc. Then I made the buzzer sound and said, "times up we all lose". One still unimpressed youngster said,
"you're not realistic". I said, "ok, let's say he plants a bomb here in a briefcase, who will blow up 1st the guys with the kipas or the guys without?" They looked at me then at each other, then down towards the sidewalk. I had just scored a point.
Suddenly I felt a surge of energy; my Jewish pride was back. I then belittled both sides for shunning each other. I asked them somewhat rhetorically if they understood the stupidity and national weakness caused by us simple Jews hating each other for nothing? That Arafat and his henchmen are laughing at us. I admonished the so–called religious Jews for not saying Chag Sameach to less observant Jews when walking past them during religious holidays. I begged the non–observant ones to at least learn "who you are and where you come from". Then I closed my lecture by telling them that we are one nation and every one of us is his brother and sister's keeper. An attack on a Jew is an attack on a family member, is an attack on oneself.
Soon after, we began to do more and more activities here in Israel. We had a message: "B'Ahavat Yisrael, One Nation with One Heart". As we grew the same old sickening questions would come through to the office: "Are you a religious, haredi, or secular organization?" We replied as we still do, "we are a Jewish organization". One soldier who we picked up asked us the same sort of question. We asked him if he was Jewish? "Of course" he replied. I asked him if he was in our vehicle getting a lift? He said, "obviously". I asked him to remind me if we had asked him his level of observance when we picked him up? He replied, "no". I told him we picked him up because he is a brother, a Jew, and we are a Jewish organization. This message is the one we feel the country must adopt immediately if we are to survive.
A lot of things have occurred recently, which have shattered certain myths. We no can no longer buy time. Israel is undergoing a tremendous test to her right to exist as a safe haven for the Jewish People.
Yasser Arafat and Ahmed Tibi have an agenda. Left wing, right wing, religious, secular, Ashkenaz, Sephardi, they feel that we are one and the same. They feel that our Nation is an impediment to their self and national interests. I couldn't agree more. Now it's up to us, the Jewish People to unite as one strong nation and affirm our claim to statehood in Eretz Yisrael.
In Bereshit 12:1,
G–d enjoins his faithful servant, our forefather Abraham, "Go from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's home to the land that I will show you." That land is the land of Canaan.
G–d tells Abraham to leave the comfort of his home and his birthplace. He is asked to leave all the close friends and acquaintences that he has made over the years, and to go to a new land.
Upon coming to this land, Abraham passes through Shechem and builds an altar to G–d at Elon Moreh. From there, he turns to Bet El and then to the Negev.
It is with regard to this land that G–d establishes a covenant with Abraham: "And I will give to you and your descendents after you the land of your sojourning all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession" (Bereshit 17:8). This possession of ours, the Land of Israel, has the unique quality of being "the land of your sojourning" — the land for which Abraham forsook all his materalistic and mundane attractions of his birthplace in order to better serve G–d. It is a land that marks Abraham's devotion to G–d and reminds us of our forefathers and foremothers and their deeds and actions which they performed for the sake of coming closer to the G–d of the universe.
Bet El and Elon Moreh mark spots on which our forefather Abraham built altars to G–d. Jerusalem is where Melchizedek, "priest of the most high G–d" blessed "the most high G–d who delivered" Abraham from his adversaries in freeing his nephew Lot (Bereshit 14:18–20). For fifty shekels of silver, David bought the threshing floor of Aravnah the Jebusit "to build an altar unto the L–rd" (Shmuel II 24:21). Above this altar, Solomon erected the first Bet HaMikdash and turned Jerusalem into a center of pilgrimage, thereby implementing the injunction that "Three times a year shall all your males appear before the L–rd...in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks and in the feast of tabernacles" (Devarim 16:16). Eventually, Solomon's Bet HaMikdash was replaced by Herod's magnificent structure of which the Western Wall still stands. Within the now standing walls encircling the old city of
Jerusalem, excavations have revealed parts of the city wall of 100 BCE built by the Hasmoneans who, as a result of their deep devotion to G–d, fought to restore to the Jewish people their freedom to serve and pray to their G–d and observe the divine ways of the Torah for which we celebrate the holiday of Hanukah to this day. Burrowing deep into the ground under the Moslem quarter of Jerusalem's old city are Solomon's Quarries. From these caverns, Herod's masons quarried the rocks for the renewal of the Bet HaMikdash. On the site of Mount Zion can be found the Tomb of David, chosen by G–d to be king of Israel, a man who did not allow fear and adversity to thwart him from protecting the spiritual happiness and physical well–being of the people of Israel. Along the Kidron Valley are a row of sepulchres: the pillar of Absalom, the tomb of Yehoshafat and pyramid of Zachariah, which recall many a Biblical scene.
Leaving Jerusalem towards the south, one follows the ancient route along the valley of Rephaim where "the Philistines...spread themselves" and were conquered by David to preserve Israel's spiritual and physical freedom (Shmuel II 5:22). In Bet Lehem, we find the tomb of Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel, who, in recognition of G–d and His holy way of life, attempted to hide her father's idols. Here, in Bet Lehem, was the home of Naomi and her family; here Ruth gleaned in the fields and met her kinsman, Boaz; and here their great–grandson, David, was born and later anointed by the prophet Shmuel as king of Israel. Close by is the village of Tekoa, where the prophet Amos was born. Nearing Hebron, one comes to Mamre, where Abraham dwelt and built an altar to G–d. Here Abraham pitched his tent and welcomed his celestial visitors, who promised Sarah that she would bear a son (Bereshit 13:18). Near Mamre, in Hebron, Abraham bought the
field containing the cave of Machpelah from Ephron for "four hundred shekels of silver" in which to bury his departed wife, Sarah (Bereshit 23:16). Abraham himself was later buried here, and so were Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah, while legend holds that the graves of Adam and Eve were also in the same location.
After leaving Jerusalem on the road due east, one eventually reaches the famous town of Jericho which fell to the blast of Joshua's trumpets about 1250 BCE, and although Joshua forbade reconstruction of the city, in the ninth century BCE "Hiel the Bethelite did build Jericho" (Melachim I 16:34). Travelling along the scenic western shore of the Dead Sea, one comes across Qumran, where, in 1947, seven earthenware jars were found containing priceless Biblical manuscripts. Further searches revealed a wealth of parchment fragments and scrolls, most of which can be found in Jerusalem's two main museums. Rising steeply to 1300 feet above the Dead Sea, Masada marks one of the Hasmoneans' line of defense bastions holding back invasion from the east and the point where the Jews made their last stand to overcome Roman religious persecution in 73 CE.
Turning towards Bet Shean, one comes across a series of synagogues of the Talmudic period recently unearthed, and one is led to recall the Biblical account of Saul's death in battle with the Philistines who "fastened his body to the wall of Bet Shean" (Shmuel I 31:10). At nearby Mount Gilboa, Saul and his three sons were found fallen (Shmuel I 31:8), and at Ein Harod, Gideon set up his troops to wrest the Land from the oppressive hands of the Midianites (Shoftim 7:1).
On leaving Jerusalem towards the north, one can find Gibeon, where Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, so that he might complete his battle in daylight (Joshua 10:12). As one journeys on, he reaches Bet El, where G–d appeared to Jacob; and closeby is Canaanite Ai, where excavations have confirmed the Biblical account that "Joshua burnt Ai, and made it...a desolation unto this day" (Joshua 8:28). Then one passes Shilo, which was the first home of the Miskan, as well as the town from which the Israelites later brought the holy ark. Later, one can see Mount Gerizim and Mount Eval on which sites Moses admonished the people of Israel before his death, and one can walk through Shechem, around which many Biblical accounts revolve.
Even as far north as Haifa, one comes across Mount Carmel where the prophet Elijah convened all the prophets of Baal and demonstrated their falsehood.
Indeed, almost every step in the Land of Israel conjures up memories of Biblical scenes and acts of devotion to G–d by our ancestors, which, in turn, helps to strengthen one's own devotion. This, perhaps, sheds light on the purpose behind the Biblical command in Bamidbar 33:53, "And you shall take possession of the land and you shall dwell in it."
G–d, upon enjoining us to dwell in the Land of Israel, did not leave it as an uncomfortable and desolate wasteland incapable of sustaining its inhabitants. In fact, nothing would be further from the truth. The Land of Israel is rich in minerals, and has an abundance of flowers, fields and orchards and lush vegetation. And, for eight months of the year, the Land of Israel revels in warm and sunny weather, and, during the other four months, rainfalls of two to three days duration with bright mild intervals provide the land with a year–round supply for agricultural, industrial and domestic use. This is reflected in the Biblical description of the land as "a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey" (Shemot 3:8), the meaning of which the famous medieval kabblist and exegete, Ramban explains as the land's atmosphere being pleasant and healthy and all good things can be found there, being spacious enough to hold all the Israelites comfortably, the
land's having good pasture and water to allow the animals' production of milk in abundance, and the land's sweet and plump fruits ooze juice as the honey extracted from its dates. It is "a land of rivers of water...A land of wheat and barley and grapevines and figs and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey" (Devarim 8:7–8).
It is this warm, pleasant and lush land rich in memories of Biblical scenes and ancestral devotion that G–d commands us to settle. This land — the holy land of Israel — stands before us today ready to take us in. We must only seek the oppurtunity to get up and go.
