Vacationing is hard work. Especially for Passover. Visiting with friends in a new community, we heard their stories of the food that went missing and the refrigerators and freezers that became as valuable as gold. And all the cream cheese et al that they bought in case the food never arrived! Winn Dixie came to the rescue and brought in a ton of stuff and thanks to them for that. Wish they would do that in West Palm.
When one finally gets to sit down on a vacation, one has the time to think, to muse about life. What is truly important and what is not. So, sorry, all you Nasties out there, as your rating of importance puts you way down on the list.
First comes the importance and the primary place of family. To watch the grandchildren and see how they have grown into wonderful young adults and teens and to laugh at the antics of he younger ones - it does not get any better than that. To know that a choice of vacations during the year was offered and that they chose to visit grandparents is amazing, a validation of love. Nothing better than that other than a super hug and kiss from them. They make plans for special times for Face Time or Skype wanting to share the test grades, questions about homework, proofreading a paper or essay they have written, discuss a possible career choice - and we know that we are a vital part of their lives.
And just looking at them makes us even more concerned over the path of the country and where we are going now and in the near future. Where are the leaders we need, desperately. The words of Bonnie Tyler ring out in my head. "I need a hero" she sang in her raspy voice and so we should all sing. Who amongst our leaders has the moral strength to do what is necessary, has the courage of one's convictions and one who can speak for and to the entire country and work on the divisions plaguing us. I'm a lookin' but not a findin'.
I look at Israel and at the situation of Jews all over the world and think "will it never end?" Why, time and again do we have to have airlift rescues of Jews from lands where they are persecuted and take them to safety in Israel. Why, time and time again, do we have waves of Jews from supposedly civilized lands, coming over to Israel or here, the USA, because they are clearly in danger in their original land. And what do we do with the rising incidents of anti Semitism, the physical violence that is going along with it, right here on our campuses or in our streets.
"Esaw ainy el hahorim. Ma-ayin yavoh ezri." I lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence will come my help? Ezri may-im Hashem, oseh shamayin v'eretz." Help will come from G-d, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.
So many turn to religion in this time of stress and unrest and that is okay - as long as the religion does not demand violence and hatred, persecution of others, destruction of their temples or holy places. I cringe at what is going on at the Temple Mount in Israel. From time immemorial it has been a place of holy events for the Jews, from the sacrifice of Isaac all the way to the two Temples, Batei Hamikdash. I have been up there, went there in 1969 and had to be careful where I went to make sure I stayed out of the footprint of the Holy of Holies, the place where the High Priest would go on Yom Kippur to pray and beg for His people. It was an emotional experience. Yet now the Wakf, the Moslem group, wishes to deny all Jews any and all entry to the Mount and if they get there, no praying by a Jew up there. Really? My heart breaks at that prohibition. It is wrong, so very wrong and I wonder why it is that we cannot all pray together, one here, one there, whatever, for is not prayer the first step towards peace?
I cringe at the "Jews" who see themselves as Jews only when they have something rotten to say about fellow Jews or the land of Israel. I wonder why the extremists on both sides forget that we are all Jews together and the outside does not make a distinction when push comes to shove. I wonder how J Street claims it is pro Israel when it has never met an action of Israel that it approves of!! I wonder at the kids on campus who have never lived in a time when there was no State of Israel and do not understand the implication of that fact. I just wonder at all the hate that abounds in the world.
And then I remember the circle of friends and family that surround me. I remember my faith in a G-d who will not desert us in a time of need, at least not forever.
And so goes the thinking during vacation. Now to think of lunch and time to get moving to make a date we have to swim with the dolphins. OY!!!! .
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