1.
When Rabbi Yonatan Bilt comes to visit the Shaarei Chesed neighborhood in Jerusalem, he takes it back to its ancient glory. Well, the truth is that the ancient glory of the mythological neighborhood is in the air all the time. Ancient glory is not something that passes so quickly.
But when Billet, who grew up here as a child, comes to visit, he relives the wonderful characters who lived and worked in the small, humble neighborhood, decades before it became an especially expensive real estate area in Jerusalem, the dream of wealthy Jews from around the world.
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""Here, in this alley, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach would walk on his way to synagogue every day," "Here was Moshe's grocery store, here you could find yourself as a child who came to buy a round of chewing gum standing in line next to Rabbi Zundel Kreuzer, one of the geniuses of the generation, who greets everyone and buys half a loaf of bread and a bag of olives," "We stood on these steps as children on Shabbat, because our mother told us that from here we could see Rabbi Shalom Shevdron returning from the famous sermon on Shabbat." In Billet's stories, everything is so vivid and juicy, very moving and very funny, with ingenious imitations, both of the great rabbis and of the little students. He even knows how to imitate people who came to the rabbis with idle questions. And then he also imitates the patience with which the rabbis answered those nags.
Last Saturday I found myself arriving for Shabbat dinner about half an hour late. The family was waiting, and even the angels were starting to show signs of impatience, but one story led to another, and within the story that led was another story, which also led to a story that led to a heartbreaking imitation (of five genres of Jerusalemites sneezing from tobacco on Shabbat night!). And all through the eyes of a clever Jerusalemite boy who studied the world of the great ones. Of the great ones. Honestly, I could write an entire column just from the stories he told me in this conversation about Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
2.
But with all due respect to all the cozy stories of the past, one sentence that Jonathan Bilt told me about the present hasn't left me since. "These days," he said, "the song 'Humble, humble, the time for your redemption has come' keeps playing in my head. Did you notice what it says at the end of the song?""
Of course I noticed. The song 'Anvim' is not the kind of song where you don't notice what is said in it: "When the Messiah the King comes, stands on the roof of the Temple and proclaims to Israel and says: 'Meek, the time of your redemption has come. And if you do not believe, see my light that shines.'" Yes, Billet tells me, but not long ago I went to the source in the book Pesikta Rabbiti, and I saw that there was one little word that for some reason did not make it into Yossi Green's wonderful melody: "Aleichem.".
I look at him with a puzzled look, running the lyrics of the song over in my head again, and Billet seems to complete me: "And if you don't believe, see my light shining - on you! Do you understand? It's not just that there is a special light shining in the world towards redemption, but where can you see this divine light? On you. On the people of Israel. On your faces.".
Billet sits in his wheelchair, his eyes shining: "Since the terrible Simchat Torah, everywhere I go I see the light that shines on us, on the people of Israel. Divine light. Precisely in the midst of the pain. I see this light on the soldiers. I see this light on the families, on the pioneers of the Gaza Strip, on the volunteers, on the rescue workers. I see this light at funerals on Mount Herzl. I have been to many funerals, unfortunately, what eulogies, what burning faith. I see it on the comforters. On everyone who does what they can. Everyone is illuminated by a special light. See my light shining on you.".
Since Shabbat night, as I said, I've been walking around with this look that Billet gave me. With "see my light shining upon you" glasses. I recommend it to you too. It puts order in reality, and it's mostly comforting.
3.
And sometimes I take off my glasses to wipe away the tears. This happens mainly after watching videos, and I see quite a few of them. God forbid, not horror videos. These will be seen by people from around the world – and unfortunately also from Israel – who still think there is someone to make peace with. Let them see and be shocked. I don't need that. But I do watch videos of encouragement.
For example, in the national comforter, Miriam Peretz, who came to Edi Marciano, the mother of Noa Yad, who was murdered in Hamas captivity. I'm sure this video made a big noise in the sky. Where does this strength come from, to enter house after house after house like this. To relive the initial pain every time. To embrace this pain, and at the same time know how to say such strengthening words.
When she enters the family living room in Modi'in, the mother cries: "I never wanted you to come to me!" Well, obviously, who wants Miriam Peretz to come to comfort him? Perhaps the standard verse that concludes the obituaries should be updated: "And death will be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and Miriam Peretz will not come to comfort in the houses. Amen.".
And by the way, it's not just Miriam Peretz. I hear stories about so many bereaved parents who these days go from one house to the next to give strength and support. Hagit Rein, the mother of her sons, has already been to about two hundred mourning houses. Two hundred! When I asked her this week where the strength comes from, she answered simply: "From God. Every morning I wake up and ask Him to continue to give me strength. Give it to me and you will give it to others... This is the agreement I made with him from the night his son was killed, I spoke to him in detail. I said: Lord of the universe, I gave you the most precious thing, now give me the strength to cope... Give it to me and you will give it to others. Thank God, this agreement has been working ever since, and it is not at all self-evident.".
4.
And sometimes the tears come in an unexpected place. That's what's been happening to me lately in front of Kobi Peretz's videos. I guess you won't be surprised if I tell you that he's not exactly my playlist. I'm less into Kobi Peretz's performance videos, more into R' Zanvil Weinberger and the Malchut Choir. But what do you say? No one stays in the same place after the October shiva...
These days I'm really looking for documentation of Kobi Peretz's performances for IDF soldiers (organized by Shai Graucher's "Together We Will Win" association since the outbreak of the war). Listen, these aren't performances, these are powerful reinforcements on the scale of Rabbi Elbaz's slichot at the Or Chaim Yeshiva. He stands on stage, draped in the Israeli flag, or in the flag of the brigade he's performing for, a beret covering his oxidized hair, and between songs he hands out tsitzit and even pairs of tefillin (!) that he brought with him.
""Who needs tefillin, my friends?" he asks, soldiers raise their hands and Peretz walks behind the keyboard. "Please give me, give me," he says to his producer (or is it his cashier?) who brings more and more pairs of tefillin from behind the scenes. "Who needs tefillin? Come on, my dear, here, take it. Really, really, really fancy tefillin. From now on, you put them on every day, okay?""
Then he begins to sing deliberately, at first slowly, then rhythmically, while distributing more and more pairs of tefillin: "Do not fear, Israel, do not fear, for you are a lion's whelp, and if a lion roars, who will not fear? Who will not fear?" Wow, how accurate is this song now with the image of the people of Israel as a lion. After all, how does Rashi interpret the verse that says about the people of Israel, "They are like a lion rising up and a lion rising up"? "When they rise from their morning sleep, they overcome like a lion and a lion to seize the commandments, to wear a tallit, to recite the Shema and to put on tefillin.".
The verse continues: "He will not lie down until he eats prey and drinks the blood of the slain," and Rashi interprets: "He will not lie down at night on his bed until he eats and destroys every harmful thing that comes to his prey. How? He recites Shema on his bed and entrusts his spirit to the hand of the place, a camp and a company come to harm them - the Blessed One protects them and fights their battles and brings down slain among them." Amen.
5.
But Kobi Peretz's rally of encouragement and awakening didn't end there, because out of nowhere, a Torah scroll also appeared on stage. I don't know to this moment whether it was a Torah scroll from the military rabbinate at the base where the performance took place, or whether the production transports amplification, lighting, and a Torah scroll with it to every performance. In any case, the soldiers line up to kiss the scroll with reverence. In order not to touch the Torah scroll with their heads uncovered, they take their friend's kippah, or put the tzitzit they just received on their heads.
I watched it in a loop. I tried to understand the energies, the sentiment, as they like to say today. At first I thought it was simply fear of the war. After all, it is known that there are no infidels in the trenches. When your life is in danger, you try to hold on to your faith. And these are guys who are entering Gaza tomorrow or today. But no, I tell you, the feeling there is not one of fear, but much more of joy, of connection, of love.
Well, what am I looking for words: holiness. That's the word. These soldiers will still miss these exalted moments.
""Thank you very much, God, for the love you give to our soldiers!" Kobi suddenly shouts to the sky. And he begins to sing, to shout, while holding up bundles of tzitzits in his hand: "So how much, how much love?" And the soldiers jump, to snatch the tzitzits, to snatch the mitzvot, and answer him together: "There is in the soul!"'
And I look at the video and cry. And I don't care what he sings those words about to this day. For me, it's a song that was written exactly about those days. A song about the Jewish soul that is now awakening in itself like this. And it is so beautiful. Even when it cries.
