Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, ZTz"L, Plugged the Assimilation Leak

 

NCSY National Convention 1967
That's me receiving Standards Award from Rabbi Stolper

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper passed away a few weeks ago. If you google his name, you'll find information and a number of obituaries. None of them touches on the man who was instrumental in introducing me to "Torah True Judaism" as he had called it, during my years, mid-late 1960s, in NCSY National Conference of Synagogue Youth of the OU.

Immediately upon reading an email announcing his death and planned burial in Jerusalem, I contacted a few old friends from NCSY who live here in Israel not far from me. It was clear to me that I had to attend his funeral. According to Jewish Tradition, attending the funeral honors the dead person, and a shiva visit comforts the mourners. From the announcement there wouldn't even be a shiva in Israel.

Who, you may be wondering, was Rabbi Stolper? And how close was I to him? To be perfectly honest, I'd never been invited to his home and don't remember much in actual personal conversations, except when we were preparing posters for the NCSY marchers in the 1967 Salute to Israel Parade, just after the Six Days War. Rabbi Stolper couldn't contain his joy at Israel's miraculous victory. Rabbi Stolper did attend my wedding in 1970 where he spoke about Israeli History from the vantage point of a Betari, which we had in common. See my husband's blog post about Rabbi Stolper on the Betar blog.

In 1963 when I first got involved in NCSY I was just looking for friends. We had just moved to Great Neck a few months before, and I didn't fit in at all. My family ended up joining the Great Neck Synagogue, an Orthodox shul which may not have been a good fit religiously, but the price was right. Orthodox we weren't, nor Sabbath observers nor kosher. 

Post World War Two most people considered Orthodox Jewry a dying breed. Considering the attraction of assimilation, poverty of the Great Depression, the trauma of Holocaust and the Jewish men who spent years away from home, the UOJCA, now called OU was desperate to keep Jewish teens Jewish. In the early 1950s they established NCSY. Member synagogues were encouraged to establish chapters and have activities for the youth. At that time there were few Jewish Day Schools, and not all the families could afford to send their children. Also, many member families were like mine, not at all religious. So NCSY had a dual aim:

• Keep the religious kids religious.
• Introduce Judaism to the non-observant and encourage them to follow the mitzvot

NCSY wasn't a Zionist youth movement. The term "aliyah" wasn't heard officially at all in the 1960s, though quite a few of my NCSY friends are living here in Israel now.

I'm not sure of the exact year, but sometime before my joining NCSY, Rabbi Pinchas Stolper had been appointed as National Director. He must have succeeded, because there was soon an Assistant National Director, Rabbi Chaim Wasserman. 

Rabbi Stolper was a Zionist activist and a Betari. He had been Natziv, Head of North American Betar in the very early 1950s. He and his wife tried living in Israel but went back to New York. Rabbi Stolper built an amazing youth organization with chapters, grouped by regions, all over North America. He was an amazing administrator. NCSY events went like clockwork; each session started and ended on time. Chapters hosted regional Shabbat programs. For teens like myself, this was our first introduction to Shabbat. Even those from religious homes learned to enjoy Shabbat even more than they had. We sang Jewish tunes and danced and sang and danced. I'm convinced that Torah True Judaism entered my heart and mind via my dancing feet and loud singing, not that I understood the words of the songs. The educational "sessions" were led by some brilliant people. There are things I remember to this day. 

At National Conventions, held in a large hotel, The Pine View, only Shabbat ended late. But that was the plan. Rabbi Stolper led the Havdala, and some of us girls were given lit candles to hold high. We were told that the higher the candle, the taller our future husband would be. Rabbi Stolper was most inspiring during Havdala.

The key to the success in reaching Jewish teens like myself was the tolerance of the staff of advisors. We were given time and acceptance while learning and experiencing Torah True Judaism. In those days, tzniyut modesty was rare, even religious women wore sleeveless and Orthodox synagogues hosted dances. Some OU member synagogues didn't have a mechitza separation and even had mixed seating. The OU was in a "war for Orthodox survival," and Rabbi Stolper was assigned to save Jewish youth. Yes, he and his staff worked hard stop the flood of assimilation, and they succeeded. The terms "outreach" and "baal teshuva movement" came afterwards. In the 1960s Yeshiva University Youth Bureau also had activities for teens on Shabbat and weeklong Seminars late summer and during winter vacation. It wasn't a national organization; I went to some of their events, too.

The Friday of Rabbi Stolper's funeral as one of my NCSY friends and I waited with his Israeli relatives for the bereaved children and body to arrive from the states, I wondered why there weren't mobs of people. From my perspective, Rabbi's Stolper's influence on North American Jewry was humongous, but it was half a century ago and more. Or can we say that his great success in strengthening Torah Judaism in teens has produced a generation that is incapable of fully comprehending what a miraculous success he had accomplished?

יהי זכרו ברוך

I wrote the following blog posts which also mention Rabbi Stolper and NCSY:

NCSY at 60!, Havdalah, What? I'm Not Unique?!

NCSY, What We Didn't Know

'In Every Generation...' A Voice From My Past

Celebrating Fifty 50 Years in Israel, Part 1

I've chosen this photo to head my celebratory post, because it's "dreamy," and for me life in Israel, the Holy Land is definitely living a dream.     

next to the ship

                                                                                          

Some of you may have read my husband's post about our aliyah, move to Israel,  Fifty Years to Our Aliyah.   I promised friends and family my version of the story. My "version" isn't to disparage my husband's. It's just that everyone knows that we all remember things slightly, or sometimes not quite "slightly," differently. Each perspective adds to the richness and accuracy.

Neither my husband nor I come from  a Zionist family. Not only wasn't the idea of moving to Israel an ideal we were raised with, but the idea was never even mentioned. My Uncle Izzy had been one of the American volunteers on the pre-state ships defying the British bringing Holocaust survivors to the Holy Land, but he didn't talk about it at all. 

It was only after a few years of my being a member and office holder in NCSY-National Conference of Synagogue Youth and a prominent activist in SSSJ-Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry that a high school friend, Dennis Avi Lipkin, introduced me to the concept/ideology of "aliyah-moving to Israel, the Holy Land, the Land of Israel." Dennis brought me to a Betar Zionist Youth Movement meeting, and I was hooked. 

The more I had learned about American History, the more I was convinced that the United States was a Christian country. I wanted to live as a true Jew in the Jewish State. Aliyah was the perfect solution. My time during my final high school year was split between becoming more Torah Observant, campaigning to rescue Soviet Jewry from the communists and preparing myself for life in Israel. As you may well imagine, that left little time for studies. I even skipped my GNN'67 graduation, because it was interfered with NCSY National Convention. Priorities!

Betar prides itself on being welcoming to all Jewish youth, regardless of their religious observance or not. I quickly imagined that a religious Betari would be just perfect for me, although during that first year as a member, nobody seemed to fit the bill. The following summer, between high school graduation and the beginning of my studies in YU's Stern College for Women, I attended SSSJ's "Fast-In for Soviet Jewry" on the Tisha B'Av fast. That's where I met  "Winkie" who is today known officially as Yisrael Medad and is now my husband. He had just returned from a year in Israel.

Just under three years after we had met for the first time, we got married and two months later we boarded the Greek Lines Anna Maria along with over five hundred others making aliyah to Israel, the Jewish Holy Land. We were all set to live the dream.

our bon voyage party, with family

Family and friends accompanied us onto the ship for a rousing bon voyage party. We were full of smiles, though not all the family felt the same. We had made the arrangements, and even had a job lined up. It was a fait accompli for sure. Fifty years down the road we are still in Israel, as are our children and grandchildren.

We weren't the only ones traveling on the Anna Marie to begin new lives as Israelis in Israel. Over five hundred other Jews were with us. Besides friends and family wishing all of us a bon voyage, there were news crews. I was interviewed for a television news show. I remember explaining that as a Jew I needed to live in a Jewish country not a Christian one. Our families reported that they featured me and my answer on TV.

For close to two weeks we enjoyed the vacation facilities, three meals a day, movies and entertainment on the ship. They provided lots of kosher food. Not only was there a separate kosher dining room, but a sizable section of the main dining room had been roped off for kosher food only. We were assigned to a table in the main dining room which we shared with a family moving to Jerusalem. 

There were a few other newlywed couples, pre-children, like ourselves, and we enjoyed their company. Towards the end of the "cruise" there were two stops, Lisbon and Piraeus, so we got to tour a bit. Finally we docked in Haifa Port after Shabbat, September 5, 1970.

Jewish Agency and government Aliyah clerks boarded the ship to register us as "Israelis." There were also journalists excited to write write up the historical unprecedentedly large aliyah from the USA. In addition we were greeted by a young New York Betari, Barry Liben, who was on the program my husband had been on four years earlier. Barry had been entrusted with the responsibility of finding us accommodations for our first night together in Israel. He joined us on the special bus to Jerusalem and then snuck us into the dormitories of Machon Limadrechei Chutz L'Aretz, where he was studying. Barry had convinced one the of the girls to give me a bed and my husband was in his room. A few years later, Barry married my husband's cousin and built a thriving travel business. 

hanging laundry in Maon Betar

The job we had was actually in my husband's name. He was the dorm counselor/director of the Maon Betar in the Old City of Jerusalem. Residents were university students, singles and special cases... 

We were given a one bedroom apartment with minimal kitchen and furnishings. It didn't have a washing machine, and I'd fill the bathtub with laundry, which I washed by hand. Then I'd hang it on the unfinished terrace. After a few months the terrace was closed off and roofed. So my husband began hanging it on the domed roof of the building, which puzzled the Arab women who hung their wet laundry on the neighboring roof tops. 

I think this post is long enough as an "introduction" or part 1. Gd willing, I'll write more in the future about our first year in Israel as Israelis.

Politically "Homeless" Post Israeli Elections 2019

I've seen this term on the pages of a few facebook friends who, like me, had supported Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked's "The New Right" party. The New Right missed getting into the Knesset by a ridiculously small number of votes.

In response to those who suggest that we should "just return to the NRP/Jewish Home party," that's totally absurd and further proof that I've been orphaned yet again.

Why do they presume that I had a home in the Jewish Home?

I'm not of Bnai Akiva/NRP/Jewish Home. My Torah Judaism is a result of my years in NCSY, my Zionism is from Betar and it was coming to age during the 1967 Six Days War which drew me to live in Liberated Shiloh.

My Israeli political identification was more Yisrael Eldad than Menachem Begin, especially once Begin gave Egypt the Sinai and destroyed all of the Jewish communities that had been built there. As a result of the Camp David Accords, I aligned with the Techiya Party, but after about a decade, that, too failed to make the cut and enter the Knesset. Since then I find myself searching for a political party which I can trust ideologically.

One very important thing that keeps me from feeling "at home" in The Jewish Home is that I am ideologically opposed to parties based on religious observance. Here in the State of Israel we must look out for all Jews and citizens, what's best for the entire country, not just the "crocheted kippah" crowd.

The second recommended option for political affiliation is the Likud, but that, too isn't a good match for me. The Likud is too Centrist for my ideology, and I firmly believe that it is important that there be a strong Right party to pull the Likud Right.

The New Right was a good match for my requirements, and I like and respect some of the top people. I think there were two reasons they missed votes. One was in their control, and the other wasn't, though there's a connection.

1. Moshe Feiglin's mishmash/supermarket party with a conflicting/contradicting choice of ideologies, plus his past as a Right wing politician/wannabe attracted some voters who had been debating between him and New Right. Some of them refused to read the "fine print" of his platform and Knesset list; they voted for Feiglin.
2. I wasn't impressed by the campaign run by the New Right. I had been hoping that Caroline Glick would have been given free hand to produce and publicize a lot of Latma style campaign videos,which would have been more attractive and less strident. I have no doubt that the additional voters they would have attracted would easily have put the New Right into the Knesset.

Now I'm politically homeless, or more accurately orphaned. While my favorite politicians and political wannabes lick their wounds, recover, heal and plan for the future, I'll wait patiently. Really, there isn't much else for me to do. I won't be quiet. I'll blog and comment when I have something to say. That's what I do.

Gd willing Binyamin Netanyahu and his crew will build a ruling coalition that will pleasantly surprise me. Let's see if he really annexes all the yishuvim, which was his last minute campaign promise.

Gd willing next Knesset Elections results will be more to my liking.

Not enough people voted as I did, for נ The New Right
Knesset Elections 2019 Israeli Elections

שתי גדות לירדן Shtay Gadot LaYarden, From Shiloh

Last Sunday we attended a gala Betar reunion in the Jerusalem Theater, and part of the program was singing the old Betar songs. Of course, שתי גדות לירדן Shtay Gadot LaYarden, Both/Two Sides of the Jordan was included.

I always get a kick out of that song. I always wonder if there's anyone besides us whose house faces that very view. Our house faces east. That's why I can take pictures of the sunrise. East of Shiloh is the Jordan Valley, and east of that is the Jordan River. And on the other side of the Jordan River is the British invented Hashemite "Kingdom" of Jordan, which is on the eastern bank of the river.

Yes, on a clear day or night, we can see both sides of the Jordan from our house, including lights at night. Sorry for illustrating this post with a morning photo, which doesn't the eastern mountains.

Celebrating Yom Aliyah Day

Last year I celebrated Yom Aliyah Day by officially performing stand up for the first time, something I could cross of my "bucket list." This year my husband and I attended a Betar-Likud event to which immigrants/olim from all over the world were invited.

photo taken by Yisrael Medad, from Betar blog

It was in a Netanya hotel, and I found us places to sit at a table that had a sign saying "English" on it. Other tables had Spanish and French signs. We ended up sitting with some old friends from American Betar and our shlichut, youth work job in London.

We enjoyed the rendition of Betar songs by the young band that performed. And, of course, it was nice to get together with old friends. Not everyone at our table knew enough Hebrew to understand the speeches, which was a shame. There should have been some multilingual greetings to make them feel truly welcome.

Many of my closest friends here in Israel are olim, immigrants. We come from wide and varied backgrounds. Everyone contributes to the flavor of life in Israel, like the holy Biblical ketoret, which was a combination of a wide variety of "fragrances," some ingredients being very bitter on their own. But mixed in the recipe that Gd instructed, they combined into something exquisite. That is our life here in Israel, Israeli society.

We feel very privileged to be in this wonderful time, when we see the fulfilment of Gd's promises to the Jewish People. I have no doubt that things will get even better. Jews, join us for your own sake, לך לך, Come to the Holy Land to live with us.

All except one, photos by me, Batya Medad

New Plugat Hakotel Exhibit, Museum, Movie

It's hard to categorize the newest venue in Jerusalem's Old City, the Plugat Hakotel. It's called a "museum," but there aren't really any exhibits. And unlike most every other museum, there's no walking around, so it's very good for those who find standard museums difficult to handle.

The Plugat Hakotel Museum is in the building of the historic Plugat Hakotel, on Rechov Hayehudim near the corner of Plugat Hakotel Street, where the patrols that protected Jewish worshipers at the Kotel almost a hundred years ago were quartered. The street level rooms have been set up to show a very good historic reenactment movie, which tells the basic story, fictionalized of course.

Yesterday I went to the Plugat Hakotel Museum with a group of friends from all over the country. It's best to call in advance to book a time slot.

We saw the English dubbed version of the movie which had Hebrew subtitles. It is very well written and acted and tells how members of the Betar Zionist youth movement, inspired by Zeev Jabotinsky worked together to not only guard Jewish worshipers but risk jail time by blowing the shofar at the end of the Yom Kippur fast. Yes, the British forbade shofar blowing.

For me this building has special meaning, because it was our first home in Israel, Maon Betar. We knew the history of it, but at that time, the Old City was undergoing major repairs to make it more habitable and modern. Just now, a half a century after being liberated from illegal Jordanian occupation has the museum been opened.

Shofar in the Plugat Hakotel Museum, Old City Jerusalem

My Story on Beit Hatfutsot, Diaspora Museum Site

As part of the Senior Citizen program in the Ofra Girls High School, I told "my story" to the "harav dori," multi-generation site of The Museum of the Jewish People, Beit Hatfutsot, formerly called The Diaspora Museum.

ממחול בניו יורק לתפילה בתל שילה From Dancing in New York to Praying in Tel Shiloh

It's in Hebrew, as you can see if you click above. I know that they also have an English version of the site, and I have to find out how to redo my story in English.

There are two basic aims to this oral history program. Besides having the stories of thousands of Jews from all over the world on their site, the museum also wanted the younger generation to hear about the lives of us older ones. That's why we were matched up with high school students, who asked us questions and typed up the stories on the computer.

Since our program began last fall, we've participated in many activities in which we "veteran Israelis" got to tell the teens about ourselves. I went from feeling that I had either no story worth telling or too many to choose from. This isn't meant to be a full biography, just one small but important aspect of my life.

When I found a couple of pictures of my marching/dancing, while holding an Israeli flag, at the 1970 Salute to Israel Parade in New York, it seemed like the perfect example of my "old life" to contrast with my present one. In the mid-late 1960s I was one of the prominent Jewish student "activists" in New York, SSSJ, NCSY, Betar and more. Today we live in Shiloh, and over a decade ago I initiated women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh.

Yesterday, as part of the program with The Museum of the Jewish People, Beit Hatfutsot, we went to the museum for a special tour. I hadn't been there since it had first opened forty years ago. They've changed it so much, not just the name.

To continue to build our connection with the students, we were told to walk around various exhibits with them and choose the items that we both felt connected to. By doing this we shared experiences and backgrounds. The students are the ages of our grandchildren, so they know very little about us. It was a very interesting exercise.

I definitely recommend visiting The Museum of the Jewish People, Beit Hatfutsot, and hope to go again, soon.

I couldn't resist a selfie next to this photo of olim chadashim, new immigrants leaving a ship, since we, too, made aliyah by boat, though about fifteen 15 years after this photo was taken.

Blog Round-Up, Lots to Read

Even though Havel Havelim no longer exists as a weekly round-up of international Jewish and Israeli blog posts, I still periodically post links to other blogs. I've changed the format somewhat and hope that readers and bloggers enjoy the posts.

Anyone on the internet can read, share and comment. Please feel free to do so. I also appreciate suggestions of new blogs, which aren't on the blogrolls of my two blogs. In order to encourage/tempt you to read different blogs, I just list the titles without identifying the blog.

Please read, comment and share thanks. Here we go:

The New World
Israel 70 Years: Past and Future
Best Wine Producer in Israel
Merlot" Great Shiloh Dairy Restaurant
Nine (9) things I wouldn't have to tell a Canadian neighbour
Wonderful Aliyah Story, "From Big Whine to Big Grapes"
New Starts and Fresh Beginnings
Miriam Peretz, Israel Prize, Yom Ha'atzmaut 5778, 2018
Chuck (Haim) Hornstein Pictures
Yaron's remember garden
Suddenly, Mahmoud Abbas' closest allies turn against him after he mouths off with more antisemitism
Obama Spokesman Blames (Who Else?) The Jooz!
New Discovery in Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh
Everyone Knows
It's A Journey Not A Destination

Shabbat Shalom Everyone

Preparing for Independence Day by Remembering...

I know that some people have a problem with the Israeli custom which schedules Memorial Day immediately before Independence Day. It's an emotional roller-coaster as we quickly veer from tears to cheers.

Davka, I consider that timing to be of the most extreme importance and significance. The State of Israel would not exist and survive if it hadn't been for the bravery of our soldiers and civilians, who've lost their lives in our defense.

We remember and mourn not just the soldiers who actively fought for for the State of Israel, but we also remember and mourn the civilians murdered by Arab terrorists.

Last night at our Book Club meeting, we discussed the issue. We are "English readers" from a number of countries, so the question was:

"What do you remember of your former Memorial Day?"

For those of us longest in Israel, we only remember Memorial Day as one for socializing and barbecues. It was a vacation day. Those who made aliyah more recently from North America consider it a major shopping day. "Memorial Day Sales" are big draws in marketing nowadays. There was nothing ideological, patriotic or "thankful" in the day to those who lost their lives in defense of the country. Just remember to bring money and have lots of food.

It's clear to us that if Israel would, Gd forbid, separate Memorial from Independence Days, we'd have that same problem. We'd find ourselves forgetting rather than remembering on Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron.

So, I'm taking this opportunity to remember two friends from over a half a century ago, both killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. They were members of Betar Zionist Youth Movement and lived in New York. We all made aliyah in the late 1960s early 1970s. Our friends in Israel still gather together every year at the Har Herzl graves.

Chaim, Chuck Hornstein, Haran, HaYa"D, was a "lone soldier" before there were special conditions privileges for those who joined the army without a family support system. Chuck was killed in the early days of the Yom Kippur War, up north in the Golan. He lives on in the memory of close friends.

Eli Solomon, HaYa"D, was a young father of two, married to Rena, when he was killed in the Sinai, after the ceasefire with Egypt. He is survived by his widow, children, grandchildren and many friends.





When we celebrate Yom HaAtzma'ut, Israeli  Independence Day we remember the friends who are no longer with us. Actually, we remember them all the time. There are so many people we remember and mourn. Neighbors and students, children and grandchildren of those dear to us were also killed for no reason other than their being Jewish and Israeli. Some were uniformed IDF soldiers in battle gear, while others were just infants.

Our enemies don't distinguish between us. They have no mercy, nor do they value life. That is why we must remember and mourn at the same time that we celebrate our survival and the Independence of the State of Israel.

Chag Atzma'ut Sameach!

Plugat HaKotel Museum Open to The Public, Memories

I was excited to see that the ground floor area of our first home in Israel has finally been opened to the public as the Beit Plugat Hakotel, Platoon of the Wall House. This small history museum is a gem.

We had been honored with a preview of the museum just under a year ago as part of my husband's 70th birthday/retirement party by the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

The Menachem Begin Heritage Center chose the location and were able to get us in, because my husband's very first job as an Israeli, after we made aliyah in 1970, was there in that very same building. The rest of the building* had been renovated by World Betar to be used as a "student hostel." We were given an apartment in it to live in, and he was the "administrator," or אב בית. It took almost fifty years for the museum to be established/open.

The Plugat Hakotel Museum is in the building, because that is where the patrols were quartered in the dangerous time of the British Mandate. The British had been mandated to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish State, but they favored the Arabs. That is why there was a serious need for Jewish self-defense, and the Plugat Hakotel, Platoon of the Western Wall was so necessary. Besides providing Jewish security, brave, proud Jews who defied the British by blowing shofar at the Kotel came from that group.

Living in Maon Betar, we didn't have the usual olim chadashim, new immigrant experiences in Israel. Most of our friends spent their first months in a merkaz klita, immigrant hostel where they met other new immigrants and got lots of tips on how to use the system for their benefit. That's why we ended up buying an apartment on the private market in Bayit Vegan, rather then getting a better financial deal in Ramat Eshkol or Sanhedria Murchevet. We never really lived with other new immigrants. The guys in Maon Betar had mostly finished their army service and were starting their university studies. They were regular Israelis from all over the world. The connection was a Betar background.

Here I am in the early days of living in Maon Betar. This central internal patio was then open. A short while later, they roofed it, which kept out the rain and sun.

There were very few Jews living in the Old City at the time. We were certainly the only olim chadashim couple from America, though Rabbi Goldstein had already established the Diaspora Yeshiva on nearby Mount Zion.

During that special year when we were living in Maon Betar, we did feel ourselves as participating in Jewish History. Though nothing we did, not even my husband's attempts to ascend the Temple Mount, was on the level of those brave Jews who risked their lives defending Jews from Arabs while simultaneously challenging and defying the British. You'll find out more if you go to the Plugat Hakotel Museum.



*The rest of the building now serves as a dormitory for the Netiv Arye Yeshiva.

Memories of Salute to Israel Parade, NY, 1970

We've been pulling out old albums of late, and found these irreplaceable photos.

They are from the Salute to Israel Parade. Marching are members of the NCSY Dance Group which had performed in Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden that year. I was group leader. It was the first time the Israeli Folk Dance Festival had performed there.

Previously it had been in Carnegie Hall, which has, or had, an ambience all its own. But festival director, Fred Berk had been itching for a more genuine folk dance festival feeling. He hated the stage and curtains in the illustrious concert hall. When I took his Leadership and Choreography course in 1967-68, he always stressed that true folk dance required dancing onto the performance area and dancing off of it. NO CURTAINS raised and lowered.

At the 1970 festival we all sat around the performance area, getting up to dance on and off when it was our group's turn. Then at the very end of the show, all of the groups and dancers danced together in separate circles.

A couple of months later, at the parade, my dancers and I donned our costumes and danced up Fifth Avenue. We had sewn the skirts the year before for the 1969 festival, but then we added white trim on the bottom plus the "belts" in 1970. And we wore our own white blouses. For the festivals, we danced barefoot, but of course that wouldn't work on the NYC streets.

In 1970, NCSY was given a spot near the beginning of the parade, and Betar was towards the end. So, after dancing the entire way to the end, I quickly, literally ran back down Fifth Avenue to join Betar and march again. Being just a spectator was not for me.

Who else was at that parade?

Remembering Friends at Mt Herzl Military Cemetery

As we've been doing since the funerals forty-four years ago, my friends and I met yesterday afternoon at the Mt Herzl Military Cemetery. It's hard to believe that so many decades have passed since our friends from the Betar Zionist Youth Movement, North America, were killed during the 1973 Yom Kippur and its aftermath. Are we really so old? 

Most of us were young parents at the time of the war. Today we're grandparents, some with grandchildren even older than the friends buried here were at the time of their deaths. 

We walked around looking at the ages written on graves, horrified anew. The war may be old on the calendar, but it's fresh in our hearts.

The IDF Israel Defense Forces always assigns a number of young soldiers to attend the Memorials. As we've been doing for many years already, we talk to the soldiers about our friends. The soldiers are always amazed that we meet every single year, and that we are friends, not siblings, cousins etc. Our friendship is stronger than most blood families at this point. We have known each other for so long and been through so much together. Our celebrations and mourning have connected not only us, but our children, too.

This year we went to three graves. Two were of "lone soldiers," but in those days, there weren't any special benefits given to those who came to Israel on their own to serve in the IDF without any family. Friends played an irreplaceable part in the lives of those new immigrants, and the loss of such soldiers hurt friends even more. Also decades ago, when my husband and one of the friends who had been killed in 1973 served in the IDF basic training, the only difference that married men with children got in their service was to have the time reduced. We had no salary for the three months he served, just a small stipend, enough to cover the cost of a chocolate bar, or two, a week, plus soft drinks.

That didn't stop us from living here. We are still here, as are our children and grandchildren, ken yirbu, may there be many, many more Gd willing.

Six Days War, Lots of Memories But No Pictures

This is how I looked when in high school. I'd wear sweatshirts from NCSY or Seminars decorated with SSSJ buttons. I was the true non-conformist. No green bookbags for me!

In my last couple of years there, in Great Neck North, I became a big Jewish activist. It began when I got involved in the synagogue's NCSY chapter, which led me to SSSJ-Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, TLS-Yeshiva University Seminars and then to the Betar Zionist Youth Movement. To put it very mildly, if I didn't fit into Great Neck society before, (we only moved there in 1962 when I was thirteen 13,) the the new Zionist and Orthodox Jew was definitely an oddball and hadn't a chance in hell to ever fit in.

If someone was writing a screenplay or coming of age novel, they'd love the timing of it all, since I graduated in 1967, which for a very involved Jew and Zionist as I had become, was the perfect time to have a major crisis or change.

As high school was finishing, most of my classmates were busy with prom plans, graduation parties etc. I was just counting the days to be out of that place.

When the threats against Israel began in May, we began fundraising. One Sunday, the kids in my NCSY chapter made a "workday," and people paid us to do all sorts of chores. The payment went to NCSY's Torah Fund to be transferred to some project in Israel.

I have memories of standing outside of some Jewish event in Manhattan, holding two corners of an Israeli Flag, while someone else had the other two, and passersby put money on the flag. I think I did that with my Betar friends. I ended up joining Betar at the beginning of my senior year in high school, when Israeli Folk Dancing just wasn't enough for my budding Jewish activist and Zionist identity. 

There was also a giant meeting in Great Neck for the Jewish Community, which had the participation of all four rabbis, Rabbi Wolf from the Orthodox Great Neck Synagogue, the Conservative rabbi from Temple Israel, and the two Reform from Temples Beth El and Emanuel. I was an usher.

During the war, our class had its Senior Class Beach Day at Jones Beach, which I was required to attend. Attendance was very strict in those days. I walked around collecting money for Israel from my classmates, the Jewish ones. One, who was dating a non-Jew at the time, got into a big fight with his girlfriend when he donated. Some told me that their parents had "donated tanks" etc. Great Neck had some very wealthy people. The nickels and dimes I managed to  collect were nothing compared to the real fundraisers.

And finally, where was I when I saw the broadcast of the IDF paratroopers crying at the Kotel, Western Wall at that first moving prayer? I was across the street from my house babysitting. I'm glad the kids were all asleep, because as I heard the soldiers crying, I cried, too.

Just over three years later, I was married and we made aliyah. I just can't imagine living anyplace else but in Israel!

Here I am getting the National Standards Award from NCSY at the 1967 National Convention, just a few weeks after the Israeli Victory in the Six Days War! My dress was bright orange.

Parshat Shavua: "Mattot" and Jabotinsky's Yahrzeit

Biblical Tribal Map

Chazal, our sages, tell us that timing is from Gd, and today at our local Shiloh Women's Shabbat class we were talking about this week's Torah Portion of the Week, Mattot.  One of the topics/events in Parshat Mattot is the request of two of the tribes, Reuben and Gad, to receive land on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. This wasn't so simple, because the conquering/liberating of the entire Land wasn't yet complete, and priority was for the western bank of the Jordean. In the end the area east of the Jordan River was divided among Reuben, Gad and half of Menashe. Yes, the Jewish People had both sides of the Jordan.

Ze’ev Jabotinsky

"The goal of Zionism is: Eretz Yisrael as a single state on both sides of the Jordan River." 
In the first years of the British Mandate in Eretz Yisrael, Jabotinsky supported collaboration with Great Britain, assuming that the latter will implement the mandate it supported in Balfour’s declaration. However, when Britain backed out from its support in the Zionist stand, Jabotinsky warned of a possible betrayal by the government of the British Mandate and advocated to rebel against it. In 1923 he resigned from the Executive of the Zionist Movement, in protest against the policy of Chaim Weizmann, which he felt was moderate towards the anti-Zionist stand taken by the British Mandate Government. The support given to Jabotinsky by youth from east and central Europe was the basis for the future Revisionist Movement.

The Betari in me quickly made the connection. Jabotinsky's Yahrzeit, the anniversary of his death according to the Jewish Calendar is in the week of Parshat Mattot which introduces us to the concept of our sovereignty on both sides of the Jordan!

“Mandate for Palestine”

שתי גדות לירדן

Shtay Gaddot LaYarden

Two Sides of the Jordan

Jabotinsky in The 21st Century

Ze'ev Jabotinsky the founder of Betar and Revisionist Zionism was a great writer and speaker and multi-linguist. If he was alive today, he's probably adore the possibilities of the internet and social media. No doubt he'd blog in a multitude of languages. Jabo would also have a busy youtube account.

Jabotinsky would have been right next to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Paris urging all the Jews there to make aliyah. And Livni-Herzog and the other Leftist Israelis would be telling everyone not to listen to him, just like David Ben-Gurion said way back when...

Someone I know came back from Paris recently, horrified that the rabbis were telling their congregants "not to make aliyah to Israel, since the Jewish education in France is better." And I guess the cemeteries are prettier, too....

I guess it's time for Jabotinsky's Betar to come back to life, 21st Century style. And that is davka the plan:

BETAR

Betar is the world-wide Zionist youth movement that refuses to be silent, and as our founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky wrote: "Silence is despicable." Now, almost 100 years after its creation in 1923, Betar USA is taking our tradition of standing up and speaking out to a whole new level. Introducing Betar News!     Our students are putting together informational videos plus a weekly newscast by students and for students, but for adults as well. We will not just present news, but also promote Israel tourism and fight the Israel boycotters by promoting great Israeli products and technology you can use.     Thanks to one of our supports, Betar can borrow 80% of the equipment needed, including the professional camera, professional lights, a professional video editing computer and more. We do, however, need a few things to produce a quality newscast. While we are borrowing more than $20,000 in equipment, we need $3,856 of our own equipment to properly launch, and we will implement the improvements as money is donated. Right now we are using a drop-cloth as a backdrop, so our first need is a workable backdrop and stand. We also need, in order, good light stands so we don't trip and fall over flimsy lightweight stands with hot bulbs (a safety issue); a pair of matching wireless microphones so two people can be on the set at the same time; a microphone we can use overhead to ensure sound quality; microphone storage cases to protect the investment when not in use, two lighting wall mounts and two small lights to fill in shadows.     By our calculations, we need $3,856 to reach our goal getting us properly started, and that includes all shipping charges. If we are blessed by exceeding that goal, we will buy a desk for our news anchors to sit behind, build a better set than our starter hanging banner as a backdrop, buy our own camera and cables, plus a few other items so we can stand on our own. Right now though, we need your help to make the basic newscasts a reality. This new project is not yet tax deductible because we don't even have the money for the IRS paperwork, but we need to start somewhere. Please help restart Betar (www.Betar.org) USA. Please support our campaign here: http://www.gofundme.com/Betar

Baruch Dayan Ha'Emet, Charley Levine, Z"L

cross-posted on me-ander

Yesterday, last night, before I went to sleep I got the bad news. G-d took Charley Levine to the big PR agency in Olam Haba, the Next World. It's hard to believe that Charley's body is dead.

PR leader Charley Levine dies at 62

Charley was a Betari, lover of Israel, devoted husband and father, Zionist, promoter of Israel and friend.

It's always hard to accept that a friend has died, especially someone younger and so professionally successful and inspiring.

When I finally decided to complete my university degree at the then Jerusalem branch of Empire State College, SUNY, I was told that I could get credits for "life experience," the professional skills I had picked up while living my life during the close to twenty years I hadn't been formally studying. Since I had become the de facto public relations representative of Shiloh, I needed someone with formal training and status to vet my knowledge so that SUNY would recognize it and give me college credit. I called Charley, who then had his CLC Charley Levine Communications, and Charley gave me of his time, support and wrote such a wonderful evaluation of my professional skills, knowledge and experience that they gave me a nice amount of academic credits. At that point in the 1980's, Charley was the premier American style public relations specialist. And he and his wonderful wife Shelly were our good friends.

Charley was loyal to his friends, so when Steve Leibowitz began American Football in Israel, Charley sponsored one of the first teams. If I remember correctly, it began with touch football. Charley was also the first Public Relations head for Nefesh B'Nefesh and recognized my blogging as journalism, which got me a place on two NBN flights. Those were amazing experiences for me.

I'm still in shock that Charley has passed away. I had been looking forward to the se'udat hodayah, the festive meal to celebrate his recovery. When we visited him in the hospital it seemed so certain that he would be fine. But I guess that G-d had other plans for the talented, dedicated and loyal Zionist Charley Levine, Z"L.

Here's Charley:

Days (and Nights) of Action, Can't Keep a Good Jewish Activist Down

Last week we attended an amazing book launch at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.  For forty 40 plus years the Jewish activists of Herut/Likud Great Britain haven't given up.  According to the calendars, they maybe forty years older, but I couldn't see any signs of age, besides greyer hair on some.

We became privileged to know them, when my husband was chosen to be the first shaliach sent to work with their Betar Zionist youth movement from 1975-77.  We lived in London during that time.  And since our return to Israel, some of them have made aliyah, and we've remained very close friends.

During the time we were in London, we joined their efforts to free Soviet Jewry, especially Natan Sharansky who had been jailed by the Soviets.  His wife Avital became a frequent visitor to London and they were both at the book launch to thank the late George Evnine, Eric Graus and others for all of the help they gave during that long, painful struggle to free Sharansky and see him safe and sound in Israel.

Natan and Avital Sharansky with Rosaly Evnine

Eric Graus, autographing a book, with Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky autographing a book.

There was a massive crowd of people in attendance. 

Joe, on the left (of the picture)

The event and book, of over six hundred pages, jam-packed with photos, articles and programs and more, was a labor labour of love done by Joe Gellert who has worked with Eric Graus for decades running Herut-Likud, Great Britain.




Other speakers, besides Natan Sharansky, were, Minister Without Portfolio Benny Begin, former MK and Minister Moshe Arens, Eric Graus, Joe Gellert and Steve Rockman.

This was an amazing reunion attended by many British immigrants, who had been members of Herut/Likud and Betar, in addition to some still living in England who came to Israel specially to attend the event.  There were also children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ever dedicated selfless activists.

Back In The News: Ehud Olmert

Yes, Israel's disgraced Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert is back in the news.  Mr. Teflon has been caught, indicted for multiple fraud and corruption.  Basically, all the international news articles say the same thing.

I must admit that I was one of the many who used to respect him and anxiously awaited his term as Prime Minister.  Yes, that was when he was Mayor of Jerusalem and touting Jewish Rights to the Land of Israel.  That's when we saw him as a proud Israeli of Betar Revisionist background and ideology.

Foolishly I had no doubts that he'd be the Prime Minister the country truly needed, and still needs.

Olmert conned us, tricked us.  All the while he spoke as a patriot, he had already adopted his wife's rabid, extreme, loony Left policies.  He was a "sleeper," just waiting for his chance to reveal his true self.

In the end, OK we're not yet finished or even started with the trial.  Ironically, it wasn't his Left wing policies, Disengagement and badly run wars which brought him down.  It was the selfish, addictive corruption which snared Olmert.

Now, it's up to Israel's Judicial to make Ehud Olmert pay for his crimes in this world, Olam HaZeh, while the True Judge, G-d will work out his account in Olam HaBa, the World to Come.

No surprise that this has happened in the Jewish Month of Elul, the month we're supposed to reflect and repent, do Tshuva.

Our First Lawyer

For those of us in 1960's New York Betar, there was one name we all thought of when "lawyer" was mentioned. That was Yitz Heimowitz.

Yitz's legal skills were legendary to those who had protested at the Syrian UN Mission in the fall of 1966, simply because he got them out of jail, even though US Ambassador to the UN, Arthur Goldberg was ready to have them executed, without even knowing any details of the case. I was then, just getting acquainted with Betar and was totally awed by the daring of all involved.

Yitz, his wife Phyllis and their baby son, made aliyah just before we did. Over the years, we've kept in touch. Even though they are a bit older than we are, our daughters are about the same age. Their elder daughter was even in Bar Ilan Law School with our second one, and their younger one and our third received "Rector Prizes," as top students at the same Bar Ilan University ceremony.

A few years ago, Yitz celebrated his Seventieth Birthday at a joyous party and we heard some amazing stories. I'm glad to say that he has written his memoirs, "Memories of a Lawyer's Life," and it's a great book. Yitz was extremely involved in legal issues concerning dual citizenship, Israeli-American and was one of the leaders of AACI, Americans and Canadians in Israel.

Following is a story we remember, which isn't in the book:

When we were about to buy our first home in Israel, we called Yitz to check out the contract. We had found a nice new apartment under construction in Bayit V'Gan, Jerusalem. We sent him a copy of the purchase contract and made an appointment with the contractor. The three of us arrived together, and Yitz explained some problems he saw with the contract. We trusted him completely.

The contractor looked at us strangely and asked:

"Who is that man?"

"He's our lawyer."

"Why do you need a lawyer? I have a lawyer."

"But your lawyer is your lawyer and ours is ours."

"I don't understand. My lawyer is good enough for all of us."

The conversation continued rather fruitlessly on the same track until we looked at each other and realized that it was time to leave. As soon as the three of us left the building, we all bust into hysterical laughter. Later on we bought a different apartment.

You can see that humanity in the stories Yitz included in his book. It's privately published.