לְ֭מַעַן אַחַ֣י וְרֵעָ֑י אֲדַבְּרָה־נָּ֖א שָׁל֣וֹם בָּֽךְ׃

An ad for a Dubai real estate app

 that we saw projected everywhere. The Hebrew and Arabic words for home are cognates

 

This Shoshana Demari song about coming home to Israel 

We and our Sam, landed at Kennedy airport last night. We were met after we exited US Customs by our son and daughter. Yes, there were both hugs and tears. Our daughter had made, and carried nearly the entire length of the A subway line a batch of Temi Saivetz's Cholesterol death kugel. We have used that kugel as an expression of love and caring in our family  for decades. We weren't hungry enough to eat that kugel in the taxi but we did eat some once we got home. If you have broken the fast of Yom Kippur at my house you have eaten some of this kugel. My cousin Bonnie made me this kugel right after I gave birth to my oldest because my mother was still in Boston and Bonnie thought that I would need to have my mother's presence in the hospital just post partum. My kids have requested this kugel after a long time away or for comfort during a difficult time.  What all five of us needed was a bit of love and comfort.

Tonight we sit at the Shabbat table together, our dinner a gift from our community. So many people have been reaching out to us and we are grateful to each and every expression of love, sympathy and concern.  We are home but the difficulties continue in Israel---and in Gaza.

A friend has just posted this list of  names of the hostages taken by Hamas.

This list does not include the ages of the hostages. A number of these names belong to babies and children.  I hope that at least some of these people are still alive and that as many as possible are returned home alive to their families.

Some of you may be interested in reading  this post by Barry Leff about the current situation.  If in most of the world there are six degrees of connection between any two people, in much of the Jewish world there are only two degrees of separation. I believe that I have met Rabbi Leff at some point but he is closely  connected to several people from various corners of my world.

Tomorrow my husband and I will be called to the Torah.After our Aliya we will will recite

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוֹב

Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness.

and our community will reply

מִי שֶׁגְמַלְךָ כֹּל טוֹב הוּא יִגְמַלְךָ כֹּל טוֹב סֶלָה

May he who rewarded you with all goodness reward you with all goodness for ever.

This call and response blessing is often recited after childbirth or after returning from a journey, especially to Israel. I have never felt the need to recite this before. Childbirth is usually no longer that risky an endeavor. Trips and even trips to Israel are usually mostly just a long time sitting on a plane and not filled with the difficulties of a pre modern voyage.

I love that this is a formula that can only be recited within a community. You can't recite this blessing on your own.  We got through our time under fire in Sam's safe room alive through the good works of the Israeli Army who protected us, because of Israeli laws that made the inclusion of shelters rooms mandatory in every apartment built after 1993, and through the generosity and kindness of W&W Steel Construction  (our son's employer) who takes the task of taking care of all of their employees seriously and got all of us evacuated to safety and back to our own homes. The Divine often works through human hands. 

We lived through two and a half days of shelling. We are pretty jangled and fragile. I think that I am OK,  and then I realize that I am talking too much and too fast or tears are just so close to the surface. This particular war isn't over even though my husband my son and I have been returned home safe. I hope that whatever the latest death toll is, is the last of it  because even just this number is too much I pray for the safety of the many people that I love in Israel both relatives and dear friends. I pray for the people that I don't know in Gaza and hope that their leaders start to care about their population.

Last week when we took the bus to Jerusalem I noticed these verses from psalm 122 inscribed over the stairwell of the central bus station.

שַׁ֭אֲלוּ שְׁל֣וֹם יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם יִ֝שְׁלָ֗יוּ אֹהֲבָֽיִךְ׃

Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem;

“May those who love you be at peace.

יְהִי־שָׁל֥וֹם בְּחֵילֵ֑ךְ שַׁ֝לְוָ֗ה בְּאַרְמְנוֹתָֽיִךְ׃

May there be well-being within your ramparts,

peace in your citadels.”

לְ֭מַעַן אַחַ֣י וְרֵעָ֑י אֲדַבְּרָה־נָּ֖א שָׁל֣וֹם בָּֽךְ׃

For the sake of my kin and friends,

לְ֭מַעַן בֵּית־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ אֲבַקְשָׁ֖ה ט֣וֹב לָֽךְ׃ {פ}

for the sake of the house of the LORD our God,

I seek your good.

And with that, Shabbat Shalom.