This past summer I had the privilege to spend 6 weeks in Israel, 2 of them as a participant in the Yad Vashem Educators Seminar – which was a small selected group of 25 Holocaust educators from around the world, including a few non-Jewish educators. Each day, from 8:30am until 5pm, we studied with world reknown Holocaust scholars, as well as professors of history, literature, poetry, music and art, and individuals from Yad Vashem who have the responsibility of creating various exhibits, authenticating various documents, items and objects that are brought to Yad Vashem. While it was an extreme honor to sit and learn with these great minds, each day was extremely draining, mentally and emotionally. Yet there were several ironic moments that were part of this larger experience.
Our Seminar met in the International School, behind the Museum and down the hill. In addition to our Seminar, each day groups of IDF soldiers, Israeli teachers, foreign dignitaries and various youth groups and birthright groups came to the School to begin their Yad Vashem experience. Each group seemed to have their individual reasons for being there, each group coming from different life experiences. But during the lunch hour, after each group received their lunch, many of us ate outside the school, taking in the beautiful view of the Jerusalem hills to the north. And in addition to this, it was Arab workers who supervised our lunch program, clearly being respectful of many participants who seemed so caught up in their Holocaust studies that often they took their lunch, without noticing these Arabs who might have appeared invisible to them. Yet I watched these workers, who looked with awe and respect towards these educators, so entranced by their studies. Not wanting to eat the delicious bread that was part of our various sandwiches, I would wait until everyone in our Seminar took their lunch, and then I scrape the insides off the bread of the remaining lunches. One day one of these Arab workers came to me, looked puzzled, asked in broken English if something was wrong, why was I not enjoying the bread, that he told me was healthy! I simply answered, it's ok, I just can't eat the bread. From that day on until the end of the Seminar, he would save sandwiches for me, give me a paper plate and a fork and was ready to help me. CNN would never report on this.
I was also entranced by watching the young Israeli soldiers, with their young officers. My own daughter, Elana, will be voluntarily entering the Israeli Army next month, so I kept trying to picture her among such a group. At times my eyes would well up with tears, thinking about the irony of the having such strong defenders here, where we memorialize what happened to our people 65 years ago without an Army – and how things would have been different if. . .
This summer on Israeli TV is the 7th season of Kochav Nolad, the Israeli version of American Idol. Over 50,000 young people auditioned, and we were thrilled to learn that the son of our friends, the owners of Ora Gifts of Jerusalem on Ben Yehuda Street, Elchai Refuah, was one of the final 15 participants. The first 3 weeks of the summer we watched him perform – texted our votes for him, held our breath until we heard at the end of the show that he would return the following week. Being very close with the family, his mom, Deganit, insisted that I had to go with her to the next live broadcast of the show – and that she would pick me up from Yad Vashem and drive to the studio in Herzilya. That day there was no time to decompress from the heavy lecture I just came from, got in the car with Deganit and her other two children, and listed to Elchai's DVD the entire ride to Herziliya. When we arrived, we were mobbed by hundreds of teeny boppers – because they thought Deganit's other son who was with us was Elchai – since they look so similar! I had a short taste of what it might have been like to be with the Beatles! We got there early enough before the final rehearsal and I got a quick hug from Elchai. Just before the live broadcast the show began, instructions were given about not walking in or out of the studio, and to keep screaming to a minimum at different times. It's time for the broadcast to begin, lights camera action – and my family back in Jerusalem is texting me that they just caught a glimpse of me sitting in the family section. Elchai is the 3rd performer, sings a new version of the Haggadah song, "Yehi She'amdah" – the Seder song we sings that says, Bchol Dor Vdor – in each generation we are required to view ourselves as if we actually left Egypt. He finishes, the audience goes wild, and I, of course, have my eyes welling up with tears – tyring to put it all together – spending the day at Yad Vashem, studying what happened to our defenseless people, rubbing shoulders with young IDF soldiers who clearly are there to defend all Jews everywhere in the world (remember Raid on Entebbe – July 4 1976?) and that there are teenagers screaming at him like a rock star for his rendition of a Pesach song! At the commercial break, a few soldiers were allowed in the studio and sat behind us – their sister and cousin was one of the finalists and they got some time off from their base to watch her and sit with their family – and I'm sitting there – trying to merge all these different emotions and experiences within one short day. Elchai went on to perform for another few weeks and was recently eliminated as the 8th finalist – however in his parting speech on air, when asked if he wanted to say a few words, he said, I want to thank those who voted for me, my family, my Ema who always is behind me and most of all HaKodesh Baruch Hu for all his blessings – I don't remember hearing this on American Idol!
So this summer was a very full experience mixed with modern Israel, new insights into the Holocaust, the Israel version of American Idol (Kochav Nolad) and wonderful memories spent with my children, grandchildren, aunts & uncles, cousins, and friends. It was an experience of education, professional and personal growth and ongoing love for the Jewish people and the Land of Israel!
