1.
This coming Sunday, around 6:00 PM, the year 2012 will end and the year 2013 will begin at an auspicious and successful hour. And at that moment, something else will happen, no less exciting: the year of sabbatical will end.
We've been through the Shemitah fast, haven't we? Well, that's probably because we're not farmers. We haven't faced the challenges that this important mitzvah brings every day, once every seven years, to those whose entire world, and especially their entire livelihood, depend on the soil of the Holy Land.
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Last Rosh Hashanah, just hours before the Shemitah was consecrated, I had the privilege of attending the farewell party of kibbutz farmers who were mourning their land. It was an unforgettable event. Every time this year I drove along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and passed the sign "Here We Keep Shemitah," I was excitedly reminded of the kibbutz members' dancing in the cotton fields. They deliberately sang over and over the prayer they would say the next day in synagogue: "Joy to your land and joy to your city.".
2.
Just before the Shaalim farmers return to the fields, I came across an interpretation that gave me a new, and even more moving, meaning to that Shabbat Eve poem. In the book "I Rejoiced in Your Salvation," which brings together short ideas written by Rabbi Shmuel Emanuel, z"l, one of the Shaalim fathers and the PAI movement, the following idea appears:
""In the prayer 'Well, cast off your fear' on the High Holy Days, we ask God to give 'joy to your land.' Ever since I immigrated to the Land of Israel thirty-three years ago, this prayer has given me food for thought. How do we pray to God, the Blessed One, to give joy to the Land of Israel? After all, joy depends on us. The Blessed One creates the conditions that inspire joy, but joy itself depends on us; it is part of serving God and fearing God, and 'everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven.' After all, the joy of the Land of Israel depends on its residents. If they wish, they know how to appreciate the good things that God has bestowed upon them, and they will always be joyful, and if they wish, God forbid, they do not receive this, and they go without joy and with a displeased heart. The words of rebuke are well-known, 'Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and with a cheerful heart, with much of everything,' which warn us that a situation of 'much of everything' is possible and yet there is no joy.".
3.
We will return to the question of joy in a moment. But before that, a word about the author, Rabbi Shmuel Emanuel: Exactly seven years ago, in the last column of 5775, which was the year of Shemitah, I published here the greeting card for the New Year that he sent to his friends, in which he thanks God Almighty for the ten Shemitahs that he was privileged to observe properly in the Land of Israel, from Shemitah 5772 (1952) to Shemitah 5775 (2015).
When I asked for permission to publish this blessing at the time, his family added another detail that does not appear in the festive text, but that changes the entire perspective on it: In the year of Shemitah 5755 (1945), Shmuel Emanuel was in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where his parents and four of his siblings were murdered, and he did not even know if he would be able to enjoy the next year.
But he was blessed to live, to immigrate to the Land of Israel, to establish a family, a kibbutz, and a magnificent education system. And he knew how to appreciate the Land of Israel and rejoice in it, and especially to rejoice in the privilege of fulfilling its commandments. It is no wonder that he explained the prayer from the High Holy Days in this way: "There is another meaning to the pair of words 'Joy to your land.' The joy of the Land of Israel also means - and perhaps first and foremost - the joy of the land, the joy of the mitzvah of the Land of Israel. And when does the joy of the mitzvah of the Land of Israel exist? When the children of Israel fulfill the mitzvahs, and especially when they fulfill the mitzvahs of the Land of Israel on the land of the land, they love the mitzvah of settling the land and multiply the joys for the glory of the Land of Israel.".
4.
And here he excitedly recounts a series of events in which he recently participated in the company of heroic farmers who do their work in the communities of Pa'i: "In recent weeks, I have been privileged to take part in five celebrations in honor of the Land of Israel: In Menachem Av, I participated in the vineyard of Beit Yatir in the redemption of a quarter of the young vineyard of the young settlement, with the participation of the Rishon LeZion, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.
""On that day, a lively celebration was held to mark the 14th day of Aliyah of our community, Shaalim, with the active participation of the kibbutz members of all ages. On the first day of Elul, we participated in a moving celebration to mark the harvest of a quarter of the grapes of the young vineyard of Moshav Matityahu. Two weeks later, we were privileged to participate in the inauguration of the beautiful Beit Midrash in Mevo Horon. The fifth joy was the light of the 24th of Elul, the memorial day of Baal Chofetz Chaim, among the members of Kibbutz Chofetz Chaim, who were privileged to write a Torah scroll and bring it with joy and dancing to the synagogue.".
""Five joys in five localities, a locality and its uniqueness, a joyous joy and its special character, a joyous joy and its speeches, and their equal side: giving expression to the joy of the land and those engaged in building it according to the path of Torah.".
""Everyone who participates in the joys of the land is encouraged and strengthened," he concludes. "The joys of the land fill the batteries of those who participate in them. Participation in the joys of the land is especially important for all those who feel throughout the year, in the gray days, how much the Land of Israel was bought in suffering. It is worth making a special effort to participate in such joys. They bring joy to the heart and soul, and not just any joy, but the joy of the land." Joy in your land.
5.
From joy in your country to hatred in your country. I had a very hard time deciding this week: Does MK Ram Ben Barak truly and sincerely think that if the right-wing takes power here, they will require female television anchors to cover their heads, or is this just a sentence from yet another inflammatory message page that some strategist wrote for the beautiful and right representatives of the Yesh Atid party who came to restore our hope?
And what is more shocking: the possibility that Ben Barak really thinks like this, that this is his perception of reality, or that he is cynically trying to create such a discourse of hatred and intimidation for political reasons?
Since Ben-Barak is relatively new to politics, I lacked prior knowledge of him that would help me decide the difficult question. So I found myself going to Google and trying to read a little about the man's character. To understand his background. Where he grew up. What world he comes from.
So: He was born in Nahalal, son of the founders of the moshav. Grandson of the people of the second aliyah. He enlisted in the General Staff Patrol and took part in the patrol's operations and operations, including taking over the terrorists in the bargaining attack in Misgav Am in the early 1980s. In his last position, he was commander of a counter-terrorism unit and was discharged with the rank of captain. After the army, he studied at Haifa University for a master's degree in political science, and then joined the Mossad. There, too, he participated in dangerous operations. He was even arrested in Cyprus in 1991 along with other Mossad agents who posed as tourists during an operation to plant listening devices in the Iranian embassy in Nicosia. Wow. What crazy courage. Truly a hero from the movies.
It's no wonder he advanced quickly in the Mossad. He was appointed head of the organization's "Keshet" division, during a time when the division was gathering information about the nuclear reactor in Syria, rose to the position of deputy head of the Mossad, and then was loaned to the IDF and served as a special operations coordinator. After a mission abroad, he returned to Israel and was appointed director general of the Ministry of Intelligence and also director general of the Ministry of Strategic Threats. He was later a candidate for the position of head of the Mossad, but in the end, Yossi Cohen was chosen.
What a resume. Show me more people like that in the Knesset. Show me more people like that in the country. Sacrifice, courage, military sophistication, command, education, management, praise.
And then this sentence comes this week and sums up this entire, truly magnificent tract of life, for the people and the country, into one short bottom line. The hero of Israel, Ram Ben Barak, is one of two things: either an idiot, if you will, or a cynical politician with no limits.
6.
From the in-depth historical research (Wikipedia) I moved on to the documents from the week. Sometimes a politician takes things out of context. Sometimes interested parties do him an injustice and publish half a quote. So I went to the recording. I heard his long interview with Sharon Gal on Gali Israel, in which he tried to explain his words.
It was horrifying. You don't hear a person there shouting in a fit of passion. No. He sounded calm, calm. Just like before the listening devices were planted in the Iranian embassy. He calmly detailed his crazy assessment: It will probably start with the state channel. On the corporation's broadcasts, they will require the presenters to cover their heads, because it is a media outlet funded by the state, and then it may spread to other channels as well.
And again the questions pop into my head: Is there any substance to Ben-Barak's scaremongering? Let's say he believes in himself, does anyone believe him? Does anyone really think that when we return to power we will do something like Merav Michaeli and forcefully and predatorily control our world of values? Our language?
Calm down, Ben Barak. It will take years before we dream of behaving like you and your friends. For that to happen, we will have to immigrate to Israel again (in the second aliyah!), re-establish Nahalal, enlist in the patrol, in the Mossad, participate in secret operations, and then, after all this, we will be able to feel that the country is ours, and all those who think a little differently from us are a bunch of dark zealots who cover the heads of TV presenters with scarves and threaten the peace of democracy.
• The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva''
