Wake up and be renewed because there is hope for our future - by Dror Eydar

...Wake up and be renewed because there is hope for our future, and the rifts in our lives will give way to a loud blast of the shofar for our freedom: "Out with the old year and its curses; in with the new year and its blessings." Shanah Tovah.

Dror Eydar..
Israel Hayom..
02 October '16..

A new year doesn't start from scratch; rather it is the accumulation of its predecessors, years both good and bad.

Nor does a new beginning erase what preceded it; we begin anew with the accrued beginnings and endings of the past. Even if we didn't reach what we had hoped for, even if we didn't achieve the goals we had set for ourselves a year or two ago, we must not despair. What may seem like failure has actually created some kind of change -- our efforts have made an impression on reality, and what appears on the surface is not the same as what is happening in the depths.

We are a nation with revolutionary spiritual and moral messages, but their practical application is dependent on lengthy historical processes. There is no "quick fix." Evolution, not revolution, "the gently flowing waters of Shiloah" (Isaiah 8:6). The return to Zion also takes time. There is no need to force the matter in every way possible. And this is not just the salvation of the nation, but also salvation of the individual, the human being, his soul, his spirit and his heart. All that we haven't managed to accomplish this year, we will continue next year. Patience.

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Remembering with a smile

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
19 April '10

I entered the Central Bus station in Jerusalem to get on the bus to take me home to Shilo. It was the evening before Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day), a few hours before the sirens went off to signify the start of this most difficult of days.

I admit that I find this day very difficult, as the feelings start to set in before the sirens, before the torches, and before the start of the ceremonies. I suppose it is very hard for Jews outside to feel as we do here. This pain, this hurt, this contemplation takes everybody back in time. We go back to the stories we heard as children, then we reflect on our days of youth in the face of terrorism and wars, we remember our days in the Army, then reserves, we remember the not to distant past, the last decade, years, months and finally days. We reflect our own experiences, our own battles, and wonder.

We swell inside, sometimes smiling at the memories of our friends and families, and then fight to hold back tears because we miss them, and we know that this is not the end of the fighting.

It is a day of intense emotions, to say the least.

I looked around me in the crowded station, and as the thoughts started to cloud my feelings, I realized that I was living the dreams and prayers of so many before me.

I was looking at Israel, at who we are, and how we get there. No ceremony, no Ultra Zionist speech, no Flag waving. I was surrounded mostly in a sea of olive drab uniforms, with a rainbow of berets on their shoulders. The pins and unit ID’s on their uniforms shined proudly. They smiled, they laughed, they grabbed each other like they haven’t seen one another in years, but in reality it was only a few weeks. They are all so young.

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An Unexpected Lesson From Prison

5 Towns Jewish Times

06 August 09

The $10 donation to Shuvu sent from Jonathan Pollard via the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

As she went through the mail at the Shuvu office in New York recently, one particular envelope caught the secretary’s eye. It was an envelope from the United States Treasury. Her bewilderment grew as she opened the envelope and saw that it contained a donation check for Shuvu for $10 from the Treasury. She then noticed that the agency name listed on the check was the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, in Washington DC.

“How did Shuvu get a donation from prison?” Mrs. Schon asked herself. But then, as she read further, the answer became clear. The following lines read: 09185016, Pollard, Jonathan; charitable contribution.

Despite being incarcerated for over 20 years, Jonathan Pollard has not forgotten the importance of a Jewish education for the children in Israel—a Shuvu education—and with the limited funds he has access to, he made a donation to Shuvu.

Pollard’s donation was in response to an emergency campaign launched recently by Shuvu to save six of its schools—and their 1,366 students—on the verge of closure due to the financial crisis. (An anonymous donor has agreed to match all donations over $100, thus making each donation even more meaningful.)

What Jonathan Pollard realizes in prison, many free Yidden do not yet realize: the future of Am Yisrael lies in the education received by the children. Only an education including strong Jewish identity and values can achieve and guarantee this future. May it be a lesson for us all.

JUSTICE FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
Website: http://www.JonathanPollard.org
RSS: http://www.JonathanPollard.org/rss.htm
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