Grandma's army

My second husband had 17 grandchildren. One of his sons had six children, three of whom became pilots in the IDF. What is so special is the fact that the first one in the family to do so was their daughter, Tamar Ariel, who    made history – being the first Orthodox Jewish female pilot.    Coincidentally my own grandson, Yair (of whom I wrote about in the beginning blogs), joined the pilot course on the same day and they both made it. From the original number of potential pilots who start the course only  1 0-15% succeed to the end! There was always something exceptional about Tamar. Before committing herself to the long and gruelling pilot course, she served two years in a National service programme. National Service is an alternative voluntary programme for those that cannot or do not wish to serve in the  IDF. The majority who receive an exemption from the obligatory army service are girls from the  religious Zionist s...

I have always been something of a musical snob and only interested in classical music. I therefore missed out on a great artist of our times and only discovered him after he died,  when listening to his prophetic swansong “Hineni”. Nineteen days before his own death, Leonard Cohen issued the album “You Want It Darker”, whose prophetic words were matched to music which was the deepest, darkest and slowest of his career. After my interest was awakened I discovered that Leonard Cohen”s ancestors came from a village in Lithuania called Moletai, just outside of Vilna. The list of people who trace their ancestry to this small town, those who the Nazis and Lithuanians wanted to annihilate, includes many of the greatest Jewish minds of our time. It includes Nobel Prize Laureate Bob Dylan ; Canada’s great international human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler; former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin ; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ; painter Marc Chagall ; foremost American composer Aar...

Encouraged by the government back in the late 60’s and early 70’s to settle and develop Gush Katif, the settlers’ ideology and faith gave them the momentum to make the region blossom. They were so connected to the land itself, that they simply couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. When their communities were destroyed, completely crushed and dismantled, they relied on that same ideology and strength of character to persevere, rebuild and still radiate a warmth that only those from such small towns and villages can radiate. Simcha’s youngest son, 23 year old Gilead,  has been serving in the IDF for three years and five months. Since his father had been murdered on army duty he was exempt from serving in a fighting unit and his mother had to sign a special document in order for him to do so. “From the time I was recruited, I was determined to join a “fighting”  unit but  wanted something different, something a little harder, more challenging. I was taught, from an ...

Simcha was devastated as she had to both support her five children and to create a new home in a completely unfamiliar and unstable environment, facing an uncertain future. We were not aware of the great toll it took on her physical and mental health as she put on such a brave front. It was only when we discovered that she was suffering from malnutrition (she lost 11 kilo) that steps were taken to boost her both physically and psychologically. All the children suffered traumas which have repercussions - until today. The only bright spot was the warm and unstinting support she received from her community all of whom stayed together, the strong helping the weak. The members of the moshav who had been working outside in various jobs were able to continue to support their families. The majority, who were farmers had no land to work on, even if they would have had the necessary will, stamina and ability to start all over again. Also many of them had been employed in the Gush with no ...