Facebook Post by Rabbi Perlin in the Time of Coronavirus (4/29/2020)

Wednesday Post 4.29.20: Double Double Chai

by Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D.

She was eight when I was born.

And four months later she was at war in Egypt.

I missed the War of Independence,

but it has always been a part of me, a part of my history.

 

She has always been there as a big sister.

Her songs were my songs,

And her struggles were my struggles.

Whether together or distant,

she is always in my heart

and on my mind.

She is a part of me, and always will be.

 

And like a little sister,

I know her mistakes, and have called them out.

And like a little sister,

I cherish her accomplishments and celebrate her achievements.

I can’t imagine my life without her.

I fight for her to be her best self,

and I hurt for her – through wars, and boycotts, and bombings.

 

She is in my prayers every night and every day,

when I lay my head on my pillow,

and when I rise up to a new news cycle of a new day.

 

Ahavat Yisrael, a love of Israel was woven into my being when I was a little girl.

I am a Zionist, the label of a sister who is protective and proud.

And I am an Activist, the sister with great expectations, and even greater demands.

 

At five, I planted trees for her Bat Mitzvah.

At almost seventeen, I stood in the streets of Jerusalem throwing candy at the tanks in celebration of her 25th.

By the time she was 36, I was a rabbi and almost a mother.

When she was 59 and through her sixties, I took so many congregants to meet her.

And for all those years, for her whole life,

I have prayed and worked and dreamed with her and for her.

 

And today is her birthday.

She is 72 – double double chai.

Israel, my heart, my sister, my life —

my heart is full of wishes for you today.

 

L’chaim – to life and well-being!

This is not your first pandemic in your long and challenged history,

just the first of your statehood.

 

Today and every day,

I pray for your health of body and spirit.

I pray that children will once again fill your kindergartens,

and grandmothers will once again shop in your streets.

I pray that traffic will once again fill your roads,

and that tourists will once again fill your buses.

 

And on this your 72nd birthday,

I pray that your tomorrows will be so much easier than your yesterdays.

I pray that you will age like fine wine, your future to be savored —

not like an arthritic hand too pained to continue to create and paint the dreams of the future.

I pray that you will know security in your borders and that you will promote safety beyond them.

And I pray, that your seventies will be known for a true embrace of pluralism and peace.

 

Yom Huledet Sameach, Yisrael.

Happy Birthday, Israel – my heart, my sister, my hope.