■ LITERALLY THOUSANDS of people have been displaced from their homes over the past two and a third years. Many were evacuated from extremely vulnerable areas; others, whose residences were damaged by rockets, cluster bombs, and other missiles, were given hotel accommodation for limited periods until their homes were repaired.
More than 2,000 people from Beersheba, whose homes are not habitable, were placed in hotels for periods ranging from a few days to a few weeks. On Tuesday, the day before the Seder, several of the evacuees received notices from the Taxation Authority that their time was up and that they had to vacate the hotel and return to their homes.
In most cases, repairs had not yet begun. Windows were broken, rubble was everywhere, and furniture and other household items were in disarray. Aside from that, there was no time to prepare for the Seder.
In Shlomi, in the North, almost everything was intact. The residents were not evacuated, business carried on as usual, and homes were in good condition. This is not the case in some of the neighboring communities that had been hard hit. Realizing the difficulties that the residents of these communities were undergoing, Shlomi Mayor Gabi Naaman, together with the local council, organized a big community Seder, to which they invited residents of neighboring communities.
■ LOSS OF a loved one is always a painful experience, but more so when the loved one is a son or a daughter only three or four years out of high school. It’s painful not only for parents, siblings, and other family members, but also for anyone who thinks about a young person who has barely begun to live life as an adult.
The numerous broadcasts of the deaths, funerals, and eulogies of the four young men, ages 19-22, who fell in Lebanon early this week, were indicative of how painful their deaths were to people in the media.
Someone who took it particularly hard was Yigal Guetta on Reshet Bet, who recalled the murder by terrorists of his brother and sister-in-law many years ago. Nothing was ever the same afterward, he said. His mother never stopped mourning, and Jewish holiday gatherings were a facade because no one was happy.
“Parents should not have to bury their children,” said Guetta, who was angry that the lives of such young soldiers had been cut short after being sent to the battlefield’s frontlines.
■ JUST BECAUSE someone is your staunch friend does not mean that he has to agree with everything you say and do. German President Frank Walter Steinmeier is a long-time friend of Israel and the Jewish people, and has visited Israel many times in various roles. But he drew a sharp rebuke from Jerusalem when he declared the attack against Iran by Israel and the US to be an act of aggression in violation of international law.
The comment was made in an address to German diplomats at the German Foreign Ministry. The truth is that the leader of every country sees situations through the prism of his or her country’s national interests. In addition, each leader has been schooled differently and sees things from the perspective of his or her educational background.
Steinmeier has not suddenly become anti-Israel or anti-American. He simply disagrees with the policies and actions of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vis-à-vis Iran.
■ OCTOBER IS only six months away. For most Israelis, October means Knesset elections. For others, it is the anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In more recent history, it is the anniversary of the massacre by Hamas; and in the Netanyahu family, it will be the celebration of the prime minister’s 77th birthday.
Other than the Knesset elections, if they are held on time, what will occupy the attention of most Israelis will be the glut of books written by former hostages after their release from Hamas captivity. Some wrote of their experiences very soon after their return home to Israel. Others waited to process what they remembered and to check with one or two people who had been with them.
The books by the former hostages will find their way to the library of President Isaac Herzog, who will meet with the former hostages and their families. This week, he met with former hostage Bar Kuperstein and his family.
Kuperstein had been a deputy security officer at the Supernova music festival, where he had saved several people’s lives before he was taken captive by Hamas. He spent 738 days in captivity under the cruelest and most grueling of conditions, which are detailed in his book Unbroken. Hostages occasionally heard radio broadcasts or watched television news.
Kuperstein happened to hear a broadcast of Herzog’s address at the state Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, in which the president called for the hostages’ release and sent them a message of strength and encouragement in the name of the Jewish people.
At their meeting, Herzog drew a parallel between the story of the exodus from Egypt, saying that Kuperstein’s story is a reminder of the passage from slavery to freedom, and the capacity to move from hardship to renewal.
Kuperstein replied that he was looking forward to celebrating the Festival of Freedom both as an Israeli and a Jew.
■ ON TUESDAY, President Herzog sold all the leavened products of the President’s Residence, as is the custom to ensure that any leavened products left in a person’s home do not belong to him or her during Passover. The nation’s leaven is sold by the chief rabbi to a non-Jew, and redeemed at the conclusion of the festival.
Rabbis from various congregations and communities act as the agents of the chief rabbi and write down the name and address of each seller. Herzog sold his leaven via Jerusalem Chief Rabbi and former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Moshe Amar, whose 78th birthday in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, was on Seder night.
■ IN LAST Wednesday’s Grapevine, mention was made of a Passover benefit event attended by anti-Zionist mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani, singer David Broza, and Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, whose brother is Rabbi Benny Lau, and comedian Modi Rosenfeld, who backed out when he learned that the mayor would be attending the benefit.
The trio are native Israelis. Broza and Lau-Lavie apparently believe in dialogue. They attended as scheduled and were among the speakers,. Although many Big Apple Jews are opposed to Mamdani, he is no stranger to Jewish holy day celebrations and has attended several such events.
■ PEACE IS in the air and not just because Donald Trump has his heart set on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Among the other nominees is the Parents Circle-Family Forum, co-directed by Nadine Quomsieh, a Palestinian; and Ayelet Harel, an Israeli. The organization is composed of people from both sides who have lost close relatives in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and who want to see an end to hostility and bloodshed.
Over the years, they proved that animosity can be overcome, that humanity can be promoted, and that warm friendships and harmonious relationships can be developed. The organization, which has an active branch in the US, meets regularly to share stories.
It was nominated by peace and human rights activist Sharon Dolev, who was a member of the Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination was backed by the International Peace Bureau.
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