I know it has been a while since I have last posted, but I promise that this post will be one full of good stuff for your enjoyment. As I have mentioned recently, the days here in Israel are getting to be very standard and nothing special happens unless their is a special occasion during the week or unless it is Shabbat. This weekend we had a special visitor who came and did sessions with all of Nativ about Conservative Judaism. Jules Gutin, who is the International Director of USY, aka my boss, came to Israel and led sessions for us about Conservative Judaism on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
These three sessions were the concluding and follow up sessions to the previous sessions we have had that were led by Rabbi Roth and Rabbi Artson. Jules took a different approach to talking about Conservative Judaism. He actually spoke about how the movement works and how it has adapted over time. I had heard him speak on this topic before but it was interesting to see the reactions that the rest of Nativ had when they heard what he had to say. It was a very informative weekend with lots of learning and discussion with Jules and an overall nice visit with him to speak about many things.
It is always interesting to listen to people talk about Judaism especially Conservative Judaism. It is interesting to hear why people consider themselves to be Conservative Jews and I can say that after we have heard from all of our speakers about Conservative Judaism my opinions haven't changed but I bet most peoples have.
After Shabbat, about 40 Nativers and myself headed to Tel Aviv for the 14th Anniversary celebration of the life of Yitzchak Rabin (z"l).Rabin was Prime Minister in two seperate occasions (1974-77 and 1992-95), he is arguably one of the most decorated politicians and generals in Israel's history.
As Prime Minister for a second term, this time in the 1990's, Rabin helped foster the Peace Process all the way through the Oslo Accords. After an event in Tel Aviv, Rabin left the stage and walked towards his security where he was shot surprisingly by Yigal Amir. Rabin was rushed to the hospital but died while in surgery.
I always remembered learning about Rabin every year in school and he was generally speaking praised by my Hebrew teachers. I was excited to be able to go and celebrate the life of a hero in the hearts of many. However, I found it slightly upsetting that the speakers who spoke at the ceremony turned this memorial of a peace seeking man into a battle of right vs. left. Politics certainly do play a large part in everything. We heard from many famous names including, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barack and President Barack Obama. President Obama actually received the greatest applause after he spoke via video recording. The evening ended with two special performances. One was by Hadag Nachash which is a famous Israeli rap group that sings a song about Israeli bumper stickers. The final perfomrance was done by Miri Aloni and she sang both Shir LeShalom and Hatikvah. Shir LaShalom was the song that Rabin was singing when he was shot and since then it has become the anthem for peace in Israel as well as the memorial song for Rabin. It was a very emotional period of the evening because everyone connects the song with Rabin and it was an amazing way to end such a important memorial ceremony.
Yitzchak Rabin z"l
May his memory be for a blessing
DBH
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