""We returned from a trip to the Golan Heights," Miri Vanish wrote to me this week, "and I felt the need to write about my feelings. We returned enchanted by the paths that cross basalt stones, the fig trees and the abundance of green, the Sea of Galilee that shows its presence from every corner. We met smiling, interesting and interested people along the way. We sat down at a place called Ein Ayah, a pool built in memory of the soldier Ayalon Yaakov Horowitz. Dozens of people sat with us, huddled around the small pool, eating together (without checking what the other person is eating on Passover). We mingled.
We talked about the children, and about fascinating issues such as what is better, a 'posh' hotel or a modest B&B without meal service. People arrived and left with a smile, with a garbage bag in their hand. On the way, we stopped on the side of the road to look at the map. Within seconds, three drivers stopped and politely offered us their help, thinking it was a car malfunction. In the evening, we got home and saw on TV the Israelis traveling on Chol HaMoed. The report presented at length pictures of families around barbecues. What labeling. During three days of traveling in the Golan Heights, I did not see even once a picture of a barbecue like this of the 'people of Israel'.
""There are many people in Israel. There are many travelers on Hol HaMoed. Why miss out on the subtleties, details, and diversity that exist in our lives? Who determined who the 'Israeli' is? Only the one who screams in the various chocolate videos? There is a saying that says: 'You are where your thoughts are. Make sure your thoughts are where you want to be.' I think this saying is appropriate for Israeli society. Our thoughts are constantly around the ugly Israeli.".
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I asked Miri for permission to publish the comments, and I wrote to her to write some details about herself. "I am from the settlement of Atzmon in the Lower Galilee," she replied. "I worked as a division principal at Misgav High School. I am a widow, my husband was killed in a bicycle accident three years ago, and after his death I chose to leave the school, which teaches students from more affluent families, and move to work with at-risk youth in Acre. I am debating whether to write this to you, but in light of the stereotypical discussion in Israeli society, I assume you will understand why I am mentioning the following fact: I am of Moroccan descent.".
After a week of holiday dos and don'ts regarding food, the weekly torah portion comes, also presenting dos and don'ts regarding food. At the end of Passover, the "Shemini" portion comes, reminding us that there are rules and laws regarding food throughout the year.
The story is not just about leaven, but all the laws of kashrut — what is a clean animal and what is an unclean animal, what fish are eaten and what are not. "This is the animal that you shall eat," the parasha says before this sequence of instructions that is sometimes difficult for the modern reader to digest, literally. This language of the Torah, which presents an absolute yes versus an unequivocal no, sometimes sounds foreign to today's discourse. We are accustomed to rights, not duties. Why should anyone tell us what to put in our mouths? Why does the parasha insult the pig so much? And how does it relate to spirituality and morality?
The young Rabbi Haim Navon from the city of Modi'in wrote the following text about this ahead of this Passover holiday: "If the 'mitzvah of testing chametz' were worded in the cultural spirit of today, first of all they would delete the word 'mitzvah' from it. A mitzvah is when you are told what to do, it is not a voice. 'Experience' is better. 'Testing' is also a bit aggressive. It sounds like an investigative committee, only with a different name. And if we have already mentioned 'other', then chametz is the 'other' of the matzah, and therefore if we find it during the event we will not treat it in an alienating manner, but will embrace it. Therefore, from now on, do not say 'mitzvah of testing chametz' but 'experience of embracing chametz'.".
Passover. Prime time for journalism. This is an opportunity to glimpse the parallel journalistic agenda, that of the Haredi media.
The holiday newspapers that came out before Seder night (on Hol HaMoed, new newspapers are not usually printed) include thousands of pages, with a double challenge: on the one hand to educate, on the other hand to sell. The result is what can be called "holy scoops." An attempt to innovate, but within the boundaries of the sector. Instead of revealing articles along the lines of "This is how I got divorced" — revealing the secret diaries of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Instead of recommendations for trips abroad — an entire supplement on a trip to Prague following the story of the golem, and a supplement that traces the shtetl, the Jewish town of old.
Alongside many articles about rabbis, there is also a selection of interviewees from the secular media and the Zionist mainstream. For example, interviews are published with the widow of the spy Eli Cohen, with Ehud Yaari, and with Itay Engel (the risk-taking reporter says there: "I have a special, private prayer that I pray to God every time before I enter a danger zone"). There is also an entire supplement dedicated not to a rabbi but to a rabbi - Sarah Schnirer, who was responsible for the revolution of establishing schools for girls in the last century, is given 68 pages in the newspaper "Hamodheya". "Yated Ne'eman" presents its readers with a thick supplement on the importance of family. What particularly caught my attention was the following sentence, quoted from one of the rabbis, "Only two know whether a person truly fears heaven - the Holy One, blessed be He, and his wife.".
The advertisements tell no less about this public than the articles: Most of the ads deal with vocational training and employment, mainly in studies for academic degrees. The newest ads announce a Haredi branch of the Ma'ale Film School and a Haredi branch of the Bezalel Art School. The "Gift of Life" organization invested in an entire advertising supplement to encourage people to donate a kidney, with the stories of five donors who saved lives. Remember the boy in the elevator begging his father to recycle? The Elah recycling corporation is launching a campaign under the title "Do not destroy," with halachic rulings that require bottles to be recycled.
One of the fascinating projects appears in the newspaper "Kfar Chabad": a complete supplement on the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the heads of government in Israel. From his struggle with David Ben-Gurion over the "Who is a Jew" law to his ties with Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin (who forgot the kippah they had prepared for him for his first meeting with the Rebbe). The most significant connection was with Menachem Begin, who opened his letters to the Rebbe with the title "Our teacher and our rabbi." The Rebbe once said that thanks to Menachem Begin, the words "Blessed be God" and "With God's help" became commonplace in Israel. Officer Ariel Sharon, it turns out, wrote to the Rebbe and received a letter in response stating that he should continue his military career and not turn to a political career in the future. The supplement ends with the warm connection with Netanyahu, who heard from the Rebbe as ambassador to the UN that he should light one candle of truth that would illuminate the darkness in the UN building.
The supplement has been in the works for months, and one article finally remained on the editor's desk — a review of Bozhi Herzog's warm ties with the Rebbe and Chabad Hasidism.
Jewish status: ""Just as a person must be careful not to put unkosher food into his mouth, so he must be careful not to utter unkosher speech" ("Torah of Truth")
• The column is published in Yedioth Ahronoth
