Our Son's Smile

Our Son's Smile

(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

So many of us spent all night watching live newsfeed broadcast from Israel. 14 hours later my heart is still breaking, and I wonder: What does 1,941 days in the dark feel like?  How is it possible that Gilad Shalit emerged from 5 and a half years of extreme isolation with the ability to stand, to smile? And during the very holiday on which we shake a leafy surrogate for our very beings in a vulnerable exposed home? That smile... my heart won't stop trembling.

This morning, driving my child to school, I said to her, "This is a good day for Am Yisrael (the Jewish People)."  Without missing a beat, my child said, "Abbah, I don't want to sing that son right now." And I laughed. And she laughed.  That's what a child and parent are meant to experience together. Laughter. (And song.) And today is a good day for Am Yisrael. We have our boy back. 

There is scarcely a chance we'll be able to express with words what our People's collective aching and relieved heart is feeling. Upon seeing these images, these videos, reading these stories, how many remembered images from Jewish history resurface, forcing themselves into our mind's eye despite overwhelming gratitude? How can a Jew express to anyone else what seeing our emaciated 25-year old son embraced by his father means to our People's scarred and resilient soul? 

What a day, 

what a beautiful, complicated, flowing day. 

What a precious smile. 

What a holy embrace 

from a father and mother.

What a miracle, 

to have our son back.

We missed him so terribly.

And now we have him home.

Safe.

How can we possibly express the primal ache of this moment for the Jewish People?  Many recited, upon Gilad Shalit's release, a specially composed prayer by the Masorti Movement, one of whose communities in Israel is the Shalit Family's shul.  We davened these words:

...on this great and holy day, the season of our rejoicing, we raise our hearts to God in heaven in joy, happiness, trembling and thanksgiving for the great kindness that You have shown Gilad the son of Aviva and Noam Shalit that You have restored him safely from his place of capture to his family, his country and his people.

On this day, this incredible, trembling and joyous day, it's sinking in. Our son is home. Our People is unified, if but for an instant. We are a family. Some might disagree about the cost, but not about the miracle of our son's smile. 

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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Gilad is Home!

a note from Rabbi Creditor Gilad is Home! Netivot Shalom Links... CNS Website CNS Blog CNS Calendar CNS Preschool Shorashim Hebrew School Amitim Midrasha CNS Adult Education Make a donation to Netivot Shalom! 20 Tishrei, 5772 Oct. 18, 2011 Dear Chevreh, It is with many tears and a pounding heart that i write you these words.  Our son, Gilad Shalit, is home.  He is with his parents, with his family, with his People.  He is home in Israel.  I invite you to recite the prayer written by the Masorti Movement just last week for this moment.  Here is a link to the prayer (click here).   We have prayed every Shabbat and Chag for Gilad's release from Hamas for 1,941 days.  We cannot fathom what he has endured, nor can we imagine the pain his parents and family have suffered.  They worked tirelessly for his return.  May they be blessed by the words we have said for more than five years and will not need to say this Shabbat, thank God: "And the ransomed of Adonai shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."  Baruch Matir Asurim.  Blessed is the One who frees those who are bound.  May Gilad heal physically and emotionally, may he and his family be granted some privacy, and may all our children be blessed with safety and peace. Rabbi Creditor ---

Hirsh Goodman in Jpost.com: "It’s not about price"

Hirsh Goodman in Jpost.com: "It's not about price"
By HIRSH GOODMAN 
10/13/2011 http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=241646 

The Schalit deal reaffirms the sanctity of human life and the commitment of the people of Israel to those who serve in its name and to their families.

Talkbacks (78)

Usually, it is said that parents are proud of their children. If there has ever been a case where a child should be proud of his parents, it is that of Gilad Schalit.

Never have I seen a family persevere and fight with such tenacity to get their boy back home – and this without diminishing any of the heroic struggles by other parents to do so in the past.

This time, however, it was different.

For five long years, every day, every hour, they devoted all their energies to Gilad's release, traveling the world, beseeching heads of state, going to the UN, and even having to put up with Jimmy Carter's cold shoulder when they tried to get the former president to be more proactive on Gilad's behalf with his contacts in Hamas.

And then, after months of frustration and disappointments, the proclamation that few believed they would actually carry out: a vow not to leave the tent encampment they, and hundreds of volunteers, erected literally on the prime minister's doorstep until Gilad comes home.

And there they were, every day, day after day, sometimes alone, often with sympathizers and supporters. Slowly the encampment became a transpolitical national shrine of sorts. Busloads of school children from all over the country came to pay their respects; synagogues held Friday night services there, and often laid out a long table for Friday night dinner so the Schalit's would not be alone.

Then came the massive empty chair someone placed on the pavement in an act of solidarity with the missing soldier – something soon emulated across the country – and a white sheet was tied to a fence and within days covered with thousands of names, a tablet of sorts to show Gilad when he gets back tangible proof that even in his darkest hours, even when he may have thought there was no hope, thousands, tens of thousands, thought about him every day, and had come to leave their mark.

It is fair to say that though there were those who opposed the deal, getting Gilad back home enjoyed a national consensus.

So did concerns over the price Israel had to pay, 1,000:1.

There is undeniable logic that the horrendous imbalance ostensibly sends a message of weakness to Israel's enemies, and stokes fears that it could only encourage more kidnappings.

There are serial killers among those being released, who in many other democracieswould have lost their heads a long time ago, and who will now be technically free to plan more murders.

That is all true. But this is not about price, and Israel can well manage the potential threat from people we know intimately, who have been banished to lands far from here, and who will be on the radars of every intelligence service committed to fighting international terror – even unlikely allies, like Israel and the Saudis.

What it is about is that Israel never leaves a wounded soldier in the field, that its service men and women know – even if they are kept in the darkest dungeon, deep underground, no matter where – at home no effort will be spared to get them back. No price will be too high.

The country rallied behind the Schalits because that is what the country's moms and dads, soldiers and children about to be inducted want to hear. We are with you through thick and thin. What message could be more important for both parents and children in a country where there is universal (well, almost) service for all? And what stronger message of national strength and unity could Israel send? It is a fallacy to see the exchange as weakness.

Ask Hamas. Ismail Haniyeh, its leader, said in an interview that he saw Israel's dedication to getting its soldiers back as one of the country's greatest attributes. Sometimes one has to know how to take a compliment from one's enemy.

The Schalit case is, unfortunately, not unique.

We all remember similar exchanges in the past, albeit with smaller ratios. Gilad's case, however, is a re-affirmation of the principle of the sanctity of human life, the commitment of the people of Israel to those who serve in its name and to their families, in the mostfundamental sense.

In December 2009, and I say this responsibly, an exchange was on the table that would have had Gilad back in return for the release of some 460 prisoners, some of whom would have been banished. At the last minute the prime minister pulled back, mainly because of vociferous opposition from some in the security community, notably Meir Dagan, then the head of the Mossad.

In the summer of 2011, when serious negotiations were renewed, the "price" was over 1,000, and growing.

There also was no military option. It was not a question of intelligence. Even if Israel knew exactly where Schalit was being held (and one assumes Israel did, as Gaza is a very small place) according to someone who I guarantee knows these things, there was no chance of extricating Schalit alive and without Israel sustaining serious casualties in the effort. Those who claim there was such an option, are being knowingly disingenuous. It was never seriously there. Failure was guaranteed.

This is a country where officers famously say, "After me."

If Schalit has been abandoned, more than a human life would have been thrown away. Israel's morality would have gone with it, as would the core of the military code that makes the Israel Defense Forces the fighting force it is.

Hamas could kidnap another Israeli soldier with or without Schalit incarcerated. The border with Sinai, which is a tunnel away from Gaza, is porous, and we all see soldiers waiting for lifts on the roads.

The price is not the problem.

The problem is with people like Moshe Ya'alon, a former paratrooper, head of military intelligence, chief-of-staff and now minister for strategic affairs, one of only three cabinet ministers who voted against the exchange.

What example, I ask, is he sending to young soldiers, or those about to be inducted, or their parents, or those he sent into battle on Israel's behalf? And this is the minister responsible for the long-term security of Israel.

Somehow I'm more worried about that, than not having to feed 1,000 terrorists three times a day.

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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Wonderful
(C) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

With every laugh,
every twinkle of her eye,
every leap from slide to sand,
it becomes clear that time is
on the march.

The effort of pausing to store each instant
is a distraction from the next.

This excruciating combination of
wonder at every leap and
heartache for every lived (and lost) moment
might be rife with mourning,
but it is also wonderful.

from the Masorti Movement: Shalit Release Prayer

May we merit reciting this in the coming days!!!  (it is online here: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/readings-prayers/prayer-for-gilad-shalit.pdf)

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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Bringing Gilad Home!

a note from Rabbi Creditor Bringing Gilad Home! 13 Tishrei, 5772 Oct. 11, 2011 Dear Chevreh,   If you haven't already heard, Prime Minister  Noam Shalit,  Gilad's father, standing in front of a banner depicting his son of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu went on Israeli television just hours ago to announce an agreement concerning the planned release of Gilad Shalit.  We have been praying and calling as a community for Gilad's release for five years. This is not a political event - it is the return of our son, our brother, 5 years after he was kidnapped by Hamas.  He is now only 25.  An entire People has been yearning for the improbable moment that now seems possibly true. Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "If all goes according to plan, Gilad will be returning to Israel in the coming days." As we all know, the phrase "if all goes according to plan" is at best, a precarious condition. I ask you to pray today, tomorrow, and every day until Gilad is safe in his mother's and father's arms for his safety and for his return. The text of the Misheberach we recite in shul for Gilad is here:  English Hebrew As we pray every Shabbat and Chag for Gilad,  may the Tanach's words come to pass: "And the ransomed of Adonai shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."  May our brother and son Gilad be safe home very, very soon. Rabbi Creditor

The Eyes Have It

The Eyes Have It

© 2011, Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Beyond the physical process of observation there is the experience of 'seeing.'

This thing called seeing includes, among many things, perceiving, knowing, understanding, and interpreting. Stephen Covey's teaching is therefore essential: 'Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It's not logical; it's psychological.'

One thing can be seen in as many ways as there are observers. Not only must we ask how can "the truth" of any experience be communicated to someone who wasn't there; we must pause to consider whether fellow observers can communicate even with each other, given their inherently different impressions of the shared happening? And it is urgent that the world considers these questions, as politicians and political forces increasingly claim clarity, and castigate "others" who don't see the "obvious truth." As Paul McCartney and John Lennon put it in 1968:

"Try to see it my way / Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong. / While you see it your way, there's a chance that we might fall apart before too long."

"Before too long" feels frighteningly soon. There is a difference between varying visions of the world and power-seeking human beings with competing absolute-truth-claims. The former is akin to the ancient rabbinic teaching that at Mount Sinai everyone heard a different voice of God, and the latter is a tragic misperception of the universe, one which easily gives way to physical violence.

We must try to imagine the world through someone else's eyes. But is that even a possibility?

The first step towards sharing varying experiences of the world is the acknowledgement that your eyes are different from everyone else's. The truth as you experience it is no less true that someone else's. Some label this approach relativism, typically used as a discrediting term. But even "relativism" means many things, including the helpful concept that truth is always relative to some frame of reference. My very make-up, both physical (my eyes) and meta-physical (my heritage), determines what and how I see.

But looking straight into someone's eyes transcends particular frames of reference.  Eyes are beyond language, beyond culture.  As Emanuel Levinas wrote: "..those eyes, which are absolutely without protection, the most naked part of the human body, none the less offer an absolute resistance to possession…" It is precisely the eye's nakedness that causes meeting another's gaze to be such an intense and inescapable moment of communication, beyond what even the best-chosen words can communicate. As Norma Desmond, the silent-film star in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Sunset Boulevard" pours out:

"No words can tell the stories my eyes tell / Watch me when I frown, you can't write that down / You know I'm right, it's there in black and white / When I look your way, you'll hear what I say."

We glimpse, through the eyes of another human being, their soul. And we are forced to stop. For in catching a glimpse of another's soul one ultimately recognizes not their own soul, but rather an inherently kindred (yet, vitally, differentiated) reflection of the Divine Image. I see not myself in your eyes, not even you, but rather the possibility – the reminder! – that I and you are only two fragments of the Truth. When I am exposed to the Raw Source of It All, how can I but see that there is more to the universe than my sense of rightness?

I am so afraid when someone looks into my eyes. They see me. The only way to protect my vulnerable self is to hide from the world the Divine within me by closing my eyes. But I'd rather take the chance of seeing and sharing with someone else something beautiful, something unpredictable and grander than what I can imagine with my eyes closed.

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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