by Esther Korson
23 January 2014
“Shabbat Shalom!” That’s the refrain that you’ll hear every Friday from every nook and cranny of this little land. The Lord God of Israel gave us a wonderful gift when He said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” (see also Leviticus 23:3, Genesis 2:3, among others). So on the seventh day, which begins Friday night and ends Saturday night 30 minutes after the first three stars appear, the Lord basically told us—to do nothing? To relax? To chill out? To rest, as an order from Heaven?!?
The wonderful thing about it is that in Israel, as a nation, we celebrate Shabbat every single week. Friday is a shortened school and work day. On Friday morning, there is a noticeable buzz in the air as people are out and about to gather supplies for the Sabbath. The outdoor market, Mahaneh Yehuda, in Jerusalem is packed to the gills as are the supermarkets. The shops are brimming with freshly baked Challah, a special braided bread reserved for Shabbat. It has a wonderful taste! Supplies invariably include Challah, wine for the blessing and fresh flowers, with fresh flower stands gracing the streets everywhere. It is traditional to have a special meal on Friday nights, and usually the tables are set formally with a white table cloth. People usually dress up a bit for the Sabbath meal as well. It is a looked-forward-to time of family togetherness.
Because Shabbat is celebrated by the nation, it truly becomes a day set apart from the rest of the week. By late afternoon on Friday, the shops are closed; the busses and trains have stop running; and the Jerusalem Light Rail has returned to its terminal. As all this happens, a hush begins to fall over the city, and by the time Shabbat begins Jerusalem is bathed in quiet, (as are all the cities and villages throughout the land). You can see men and boys en route to the synagogues or to the Western Wall for Sabbath prayers. The women light the Sabbath candles before sunset, and you can see the candles burning brightly in windows all over the city. At the start of the meal, the men say the traditional prayers for the Sabbath and over the bread and the wine as family and friends have gathered at the table. There is singing followed by a leisurely meal. Even El Al, Israel’s national airline, does not fly on Shabbat and the shops in the airport close Friday afternoon. Saturday morning is so quiet that you can tell in a second that it is Shabbat morning! Soldiers are allowed off their bases to celebrate the Sabbath with their families most weekends. Because it is such a radically different day than the rest of the week, a true day of restoration, you feel ready to begin a new week on Sunday morning! In a later blog I’ll tell more including what happens on Saturday night’s after the Sabbath. But for now, I just want to wish you—Shabbat Shalom!
As I shared in a previous ‘Reflections’, last week 47 year old Filipino Rose Fostanes won the inaugural “X-Factor Israel” singing competition. It was explained, however, that she would be unable to perform in Israel because her entry visa limited her to working as a caregiver. Israel is a nation with a heart, however, and somehow people in this nation almost always find a way to work things out. There are very legalistic countries out there—some of you may live in them—where a rule is a rule is a rule, no exceptions and no changing it. Israel is not like that at all. The Israeli public, huge fans of Rose and her wonderful voice, clamoured for permission to be given for her to pursue her singing career here. As the headliner said just a few days later, “Rose Can Sing!” And we were informed that this was the decision taken by Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who announced yesterday that the X-Factor winner will indeed be allowed to pursue a singing career right here in Israel! The decision put a song in all of our hearts.
Just a bit more on Canadian Prime Minister’s historic and heartwarming visit to Israel this week. The former Israeli ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, was interviewed on the IBA English TV news. He was asked, “And to what can you attribute this love fest that’s going on between Jerusalem and Ottawa and do you expect that it will continue?” To which Baker replied, “He is an Evangelical Christian and he genuinely loves the Jewish people, he genuinely loves Israel, and he feels that Canada and Israel have a common cultural heritage and common bonds. He genuinely believes that Israel has rights to defend itself, has got rights not to be attacked, not to be discriminated against.”
“Now as Prime Minister Harper was addressing the Knesset, he said that his country admires and learns from Israel. Combining that with what you were saying about his being an Evangelical Christian, does he look at Israel as the ‘light unto the nations’?” “I think so, yes.” “Is this part of his religious upbringing? How much of it is his religious viewpoint versus his political viewpoint?” “Well, it’s a mixture. It probably started as his religious viewpoint. He grew up and he was educated to love Israel and the Jewish people. But he’s an astute politician and he’s worked very closely with rabbis in Calgary and with the Jewish community in general and of course with Israel’s ambassadors and Minister’s and visitors including regular conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu on the phone. So there is a genuine friendship here. It’s not manufactured. It’s not artificial. It really is genuine.”
“Is he a pragmatic leader or an uncompromising ideologue?” “He is a mixture I think between the two. He’ll bash his head against a brick wall in the UN and in the Francophone organization of French speaking countries if they want to condemn Israel. He’ll battle it out and he won’t allow it and so from that point of view, he’s very strong. I presume he’s also critical of Israel but he won’t go out and advertise it. He’ll talk to Netanyahu and tell him what he thinks.” While Harper was giving a press conference, of course the issue of settlements came up. But this very dear, fair friend of our nation refused to comment at all. “There are enough others who quite openly express their opinions,” was all that he would say. What a contrast he is to almost the whole rest of the political world! Perhaps by now you can understand why he was given a hero’s welcome. By unequivocally standing with us, to us—he truly is a hero!
23 January 2014
“Shabbat Shalom!” That’s the refrain that you’ll hear every Friday from every nook and cranny of this little land. The Lord God of Israel gave us a wonderful gift when He said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” (see also Leviticus 23:3, Genesis 2:3, among others). So on the seventh day, which begins Friday night and ends Saturday night 30 minutes after the first three stars appear, the Lord basically told us—to do nothing? To relax? To chill out? To rest, as an order from Heaven?!?
The wonderful thing about it is that in Israel, as a nation, we celebrate Shabbat every single week. Friday is a shortened school and work day. On Friday morning, there is a noticeable buzz in the air as people are out and about to gather supplies for the Sabbath. The outdoor market, Mahaneh Yehuda, in Jerusalem is packed to the gills as are the supermarkets. The shops are brimming with freshly baked Challah, a special braided bread reserved for Shabbat. It has a wonderful taste! Supplies invariably include Challah, wine for the blessing and fresh flowers, with fresh flower stands gracing the streets everywhere. It is traditional to have a special meal on Friday nights, and usually the tables are set formally with a white table cloth. People usually dress up a bit for the Sabbath meal as well. It is a looked-forward-to time of family togetherness.
Because Shabbat is celebrated by the nation, it truly becomes a day set apart from the rest of the week. By late afternoon on Friday, the shops are closed; the busses and trains have stop running; and the Jerusalem Light Rail has returned to its terminal. As all this happens, a hush begins to fall over the city, and by the time Shabbat begins Jerusalem is bathed in quiet, (as are all the cities and villages throughout the land). You can see men and boys en route to the synagogues or to the Western Wall for Sabbath prayers. The women light the Sabbath candles before sunset, and you can see the candles burning brightly in windows all over the city. At the start of the meal, the men say the traditional prayers for the Sabbath and over the bread and the wine as family and friends have gathered at the table. There is singing followed by a leisurely meal. Even El Al, Israel’s national airline, does not fly on Shabbat and the shops in the airport close Friday afternoon. Saturday morning is so quiet that you can tell in a second that it is Shabbat morning! Soldiers are allowed off their bases to celebrate the Sabbath with their families most weekends. Because it is such a radically different day than the rest of the week, a true day of restoration, you feel ready to begin a new week on Sunday morning! In a later blog I’ll tell more including what happens on Saturday night’s after the Sabbath. But for now, I just want to wish you—Shabbat Shalom!
As I shared in a previous ‘Reflections’, last week 47 year old Filipino Rose Fostanes won the inaugural “X-Factor Israel” singing competition. It was explained, however, that she would be unable to perform in Israel because her entry visa limited her to working as a caregiver. Israel is a nation with a heart, however, and somehow people in this nation almost always find a way to work things out. There are very legalistic countries out there—some of you may live in them—where a rule is a rule is a rule, no exceptions and no changing it. Israel is not like that at all. The Israeli public, huge fans of Rose and her wonderful voice, clamoured for permission to be given for her to pursue her singing career here. As the headliner said just a few days later, “Rose Can Sing!” And we were informed that this was the decision taken by Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who announced yesterday that the X-Factor winner will indeed be allowed to pursue a singing career right here in Israel! The decision put a song in all of our hearts.
Just a bit more on Canadian Prime Minister’s historic and heartwarming visit to Israel this week. The former Israeli ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, was interviewed on the IBA English TV news. He was asked, “And to what can you attribute this love fest that’s going on between Jerusalem and Ottawa and do you expect that it will continue?” To which Baker replied, “He is an Evangelical Christian and he genuinely loves the Jewish people, he genuinely loves Israel, and he feels that Canada and Israel have a common cultural heritage and common bonds. He genuinely believes that Israel has rights to defend itself, has got rights not to be attacked, not to be discriminated against.”
“Now as Prime Minister Harper was addressing the Knesset, he said that his country admires and learns from Israel. Combining that with what you were saying about his being an Evangelical Christian, does he look at Israel as the ‘light unto the nations’?” “I think so, yes.” “Is this part of his religious upbringing? How much of it is his religious viewpoint versus his political viewpoint?” “Well, it’s a mixture. It probably started as his religious viewpoint. He grew up and he was educated to love Israel and the Jewish people. But he’s an astute politician and he’s worked very closely with rabbis in Calgary and with the Jewish community in general and of course with Israel’s ambassadors and Minister’s and visitors including regular conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu on the phone. So there is a genuine friendship here. It’s not manufactured. It’s not artificial. It really is genuine.”
“Is he a pragmatic leader or an uncompromising ideologue?” “He is a mixture I think between the two. He’ll bash his head against a brick wall in the UN and in the Francophone organization of French speaking countries if they want to condemn Israel. He’ll battle it out and he won’t allow it and so from that point of view, he’s very strong. I presume he’s also critical of Israel but he won’t go out and advertise it. He’ll talk to Netanyahu and tell him what he thinks.” While Harper was giving a press conference, of course the issue of settlements came up. But this very dear, fair friend of our nation refused to comment at all. “There are enough others who quite openly express their opinions,” was all that he would say. What a contrast he is to almost the whole rest of the political world! Perhaps by now you can understand why he was given a hero’s welcome. By unequivocally standing with us, to us—he truly is a hero!
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