Shiloh, Strong Jewish Women!

Last night (and yesterday afternoon) was the Annual Tefillat Chana at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh. Yes, I live in Shiloh and have for just over thirty-three years. As I've written before, I feel that my living in Shiloh has changed me. It's hard to say and can't be proven if the changes are due to the wonderful neighbors I have here who have in their subtle ways influenced and changed me. Or is there a more spiritual immeasurable reason which stems from the holiness of the place?

Shiloh, yes, this very same Shiloh, was one of the most central/important/crucial locations in the History of the Jewish People. Our great Biblical leader, Joshua, did not have to battle/capture Shiloh before establishing it as the spiritual and administrative Capitol of the Jewish Nation after the Exodus from Egypt. The Bible clearly lists the many cities he did have to capture/liberate, but Shiloh isn't among them.

Shiloh, so geographically in the center of the Promised Land, was waiting with arms opened for Joshua to bring the Jews, the seven tribes that hadn't yet been allocated Land. In Shiloh the Mishkan, Tabernacle which had been transported during the wandering the desert was set in a semi-permanent spot where it rested/stayed in use for three hundred sixty-nine 369 years.

location of Biblical Tabernacle, Shiloh

It was Shiloh where the Jewish People came for the Pilgrimage Festivals over those centuries. And the most famous story, also depicted in the Bible, is the one of Chana who came with her husband and family to pray for a son. Chana didn't want a son for her own selfish reasons. She wanted a son who would lead the Jewish People into its next stage, a Kingdom. Chana promised G-d that if He gave her a son, she would give that son back to Him to work for Him as a leader.  And that's what happened.

Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi

At last night's event, the popular inspirational speaker Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi talked about the bravery and dedication of Jewish mothers, from the time of Sarah, whose only son Issac was bound to G-d in the miss-titled "Sacrifice of Issac." G-d didn't want Issac to be killed, He wanted Issac to work with him as successor to Abraham.

Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi spoke about the recently bereaved mothers, the mothers of the soldiers who had been killed in this summer's war, Tzuk Eitan, Protective Edge. She, who knows too well the pain of losing a child, told us how inspired she was by the mothers she had gone to comfort.











A surprise speaker was the well-known media personality, Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes aka wife of Israeli politician Sylvan Shalom. The women sitting near me was totally shocked when they found out that she was here in Shiloh with us. Judy Shalom-Nir-Mozes is still associated with the Leftist views of her family, but from what I've read, she is Right and more Jewishly traditional than most would expect from an Israeli media star.

In another generation, I have no doubt that with the leadership of strong Israeli women, we will see a much more Jewish and confident nation here in Israel.

That is the lesson of Biblical Shiloh.