OF MILK AND HONEY…

“In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles”- David Ben Gurion

I signed up for Taglit-Summer, 2009 with a very spirited mind fueled with inquiries and enthusiasm. No other nation has experienced a past like ours. In the 4000 years from Abraham to the present day (three quarters of the world history of civilized humanity!), we have wandered the world, seeking our fortunes. And with only a few happy hours intervening amidst long periods of suffering- powerless, despised and persecuted, the Jewish people have nevertheless enriched the nations of the world morally, religiously and spiritually.

Today, post-Taglit, I’m much more proud to be a Jew because I learnt of our people’s passionate faith in freedom, holding that each of us is a moral agent, and that in this lies our unique dignity as human beings; and because I learnt that Judaism never left its ideals at the level of lofty aspirations, but instead translated them into deeds, that we call mitzvot , and a way, which we call halachah , and thus brought heaven down to earth- a place called Israel.

As we learnt about the wonder of the State of Israel both from our visit at the National Hall of Independence and President Shimon Peres’ talk, I was also proud to be a part of an age in which my people, ravaged by the worst crime ever to be committed against a people, responded by reviving a land, recovering their sovereignty, rebuilding Jerusalem and providing themselves to be as courageous in the pursuit of peace as in defending themselves in war.

I was wondering how we can believe in God after Auschwitz. The thought, whether the Holocaust killed belief or not, would have been thought about by every Jew. The visit to Yad-Vashem and meeting a Holocaust survivor changed my thoughts forever. This question now begs another reply, “After Auschwitz, can we believe in anything else?” Perhaps, this is the essence behind Hatikvah- Hope.

Besides hope, what I carried back to India were a bunch of friends- Israeli and Indian, a lot of stories to be told and shared- of people who, though scarred and traumatized, never lost their humor or faith, their ability to laugh at present troubles and still believed in ultimate redemption; who saw human history as a journey, and never stopped traveling and searching.

As I went around Israel with my camera, I pondered- If only life could be like that sometimes, just blurred at the edges, slightly out of focus, a tiny bit fogged and those women at the Western Wall in my frame caught looking harmless, like sketched characters. There were surprises I couldn’t see when I snapped the shutter— how the sun glows softly on Massada, and shadows spread like coffee over the hills of Porriya, with all life’s multitude of grays shimmering like silk scarves and dancing in summer’s breeze. Along the way, a moment shimmers into being, frames itself to an image where I am... I see it in an instant, finding that the beauty of Israel can’t be captured in frames. To best expose the secrets unfolding in Israel in clearest hues of light and shadow, you have to experience it. L'shanah haba'ah b’yerushalayim- Next year may we be in Jerusalem!