So its been 4 days and quite a lot has happened. Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut passed as well as another shabbat. To start off - Yom Hazikaron. On Tuesday night there was a siren and our Madricha told us about her friend who was killed in the second Lebanon War. The kibbutz set up a table of all the soldiers from Sde Eliyahu who were killed over the last 60 years with photos and a short bio for each. Then a tekes - ceremony - with speeches singing and reading names of the soldiers from the kibbutz. Though I didnt understand some of the speeches, it was still a very moving ceremony. Hearing stories from family members and friends - and seeing the pictures - is very different from just reading about it. The somber feeling throughout the kibbutz is incredibly strong. I also realized that it was the first time I have sung Hatikvah in a room that is actually Israeli. Its a different feeling. You can sense the meaning of the words a lot more -if that makes any sense. During the day of Yom Hazikaron there was another siren - almost two minutes long. Its amazing to see an entire kitchen just stop work and stand there while a loud blast goes off.
As for Yom Ha'atzmaut - we spent the night at the kibbutz watching another tekes - with singing and dancing - and then listening to a band play songs and everyone singing. The transformation is great.The switch from mourning to excitement happens within minutes - and the whole atmosphere changes. Even Hatikvah sounds different. Its not the sad longing song - its much more hopeful. For the day we went to a large natural spring and then went to Kibbutz Lavi to visit friends from JDS and have a barbecue. It was very relaxing.
Lastly - a interesting story. So in my last post I made reference to a comment made by one of the Americans living here. He managed to find my post - somehow using google - and came to apologize to me for upsetting me. I told him that his comment about making aliyah didnt offend me - but its just one in a long string of comments made by people who have made aliyah. We spent the next 45 minutes discussing his own story of aliyah and different opinions of making aliyah. It was very interesting and I'm glad he came to find me. Living on kibbutz - even for only 2 weeks - has showed me so many more perspectives on Israeli life and American Jewish life. So thank you Benny for talking with me.
So for now we have 4 more days on kibbutz - I will try to write again before we return to Muss.
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1 comment:
Did you notice how Israelis sing Hatikva differently? There are two words where they stretch different syllables from what I'd heard in america - one of them is "beyartzeynu" where they sing the extra notes over the "ey" and we would sing it over the "bey".
Ezra
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