Shlomi D. works for an Israeli aircraft industries company and comes to this area to visit a Boeing contractor. When it falls over a weekend he likes to spend Shabbat with us. Here’s what he shared with us at Shabbat Lunch:
The big news now in Israel is the planned evacuation of a West Bank settlement called Amona, near Ofra.
My grandparents were early settlers in Israel and prided themselves on building up communities nearly from scratch – places like Tel Aviv and Rishon LTzion etc. Today these are well-established bustling cities. But just 70-80 years ago it was a very different picture.
Two generations later, we too want to be pioneers and builders. We want to build from scratch, to make the most out of nothing. Its a great Israeli dream to make a desert bloom.
Amona is home to 60 families, a preschool, synagogue and institutions. Those families moved there and built their homes and raised children there with government sanction and support. It has been contested since by the Palestinians and much turmoil over the years. A recent Israeli Supreme Court decision sided with the Palestinians and therefore an order of evacuation and demolition is now in effect.
There is much emotion in Israel on all this with passion on all sides. The bitter memories of the forced evacuation of beautiful Gush Katif (where my family vacationed) and its subsequent takeover by terrorist Hamas. It was done for the sake of peace but only made matters worse.
My brother’s tank was hit in Gaza. Most of the crew – his friends and buddies – were killed. He survived and now speaks all over Israel about keeping faith even in the most trying circumstances.
Amona hits home for my family. We also live in a West Bank settlement, a small but beautiful community named for one of the gemstones in the High Priests breastplate. We are surrounded by Arab villages, some friendly to Israel, some less so. Not long ago my wife was driving to work when Arab youth hurled a heavy rock at her car smashing a window. But we are somehow not afraid. Our kids play outdoors, go off on their own with friends, and are quite independent. But the same thing happening to Amona could happen to us. We could lose our communities and homes in one day.
Imagine if one day you got notice that your whole neighborhood will be bulldozed and razed to the ground! Imagine telling your children to say goodbye to their bedrooms and playgrounds. And all this in the name of a very unlikely peace, and probably worse. Thats why (leading up to and on) this Shabbat, possibly the last Shabbat in Amona, thousands from all over Israel have streamed there in solidarity.
As we eat lunch here in Albany, Shabbat is over in Amona. I don’t know when the forced evacuation and bulldozing begins but its tension hangs heavy in the air even as I am here thousands of miles away.
And speaking of Jewish communities I’d like to share one more thing I witness here at the Shabbos House in Albany. Back in my village in Israel, Shabbat is usually a relaxing time with your own family. Visiting here I see all the more how Shabbat is a unifying community-building Jewish force, as you all come together from different backgrounds and levels of observance and connect beautifully with G-d, the Torah and the Jewish people.
Obviously there are many sides and opinions about the situation in Amona. But strip aside the big picture politics, no matter your opinion on these important issues, we wanted Shlomi to share his personal sentiments, a glimpse into the perspective of a large number of Israelis.