Leah’s Blog Parashat Pikudey
Leah’s Blog Parashat Pikudey – 2022
The red poppies carpeting the cold wet grass of early spring about to come remind me always of beauty as the backdrop of pain. The clown faces of Adar with Purim marking the time turn my heart round and around- for the people of Itamar it is a time of bereavement; a time a family was brutally murdered in their home, including a three month old baby. The world continued to turn, flowers continued to bloom and adorn and Purim banquets in the goofiness and even foolishness of drunken galas continued on. Moshe and I were whisked to the USA for a mega speaking event even before the blood was cleaned up. Much needed funding for securing Itamar and its large land mass was needed immediately. This is a work in progress and basically the reason for setting up our nonprofit Friends of Itamar in the first place. We needed everything from helmets to boots, for post trauma treatments for tens if not hundreds of us here. The list was and is long. On this particular speaking tour, I had the privilege of meeting so many people that were spirited by this tragic event. The flip side of it was that I came to speak to speak on behalf of Eretz Yisrael. I came to share my eye witness about the Land coming back to life, about the restoration happening before our eyes. At Yeshiva University after a crowded hall sat pin drop silence listening to my account of how this is the time of geulah and how Hashem has a stop watch and sticks to His hour, several young students came over to me and said “Are you scared?”, I told them “You can’t run away from your destiny.”. It was an interesting juxtapose to things said to me in more liberal arenas like, “Will you leave for peace’s sake?” Em, “Do you mean there will be peace if Jews abandon the heart of Israel?” I smiled back, “You can’t run away from your destiny.”. Ludicrous things were displayed before me on that specific trip. We spoke till we lost our voices in over seventy events in the ten days we were there. But the gas lighting of who Jewish settlers of the heart of Israel are was the most startling.
The west has been asleep. Israel doesn’t have the luxury to.
From our house, here on Itamar you can see the mountains of the Blessings and the Curses, the site of the covenant given to our nation with Joshua as we claimed Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. You can see the place of Yosef and how it rests right between the borders of the territories of efrayim and Menashe. You can see the tombs of Itamar Elazar Pinchas, the Priests of Israel. You can look east to Jordan. Every facet of the vista is laced with our history, from this mountain. Someone sold kool aid to too many people in telling them to abandon our home. Enough integrity damage has been done. We have been lame in guarding our precious legacy. Why is saying this is our Land so controversial. Our birthright brought us here. Why has the word enforcement been so not politically correct in all countries? Why has nationalism been so attacked? Why has been identity become so open to interpretation. Why does the patriotism of Ukrainians startle the world? Did they not know evil people have tanks missiles and fighter jets? Did they not remember they have the bomb?
There is a war going on in the world today. The application of a secure boundary is a basic right for every country. Why take it away from Israel. The border runs through its heart. Now is a bitter hour for Ukraine. They left their guard down. A nuclear plant is captured. There is evil in the world. Leave Egypt now. The shackles placed over our eyes must unlock. As Putin’s heart hardens like Pharoh’s, as the moments fly by and fire consumes all the good of this world as we know it, you too can make a difference. Bring G-d pleasure not pain. Stand on the right side. The world has a chance to rectify before it is too late, before the matzoh burns. Israel is here to stay, the question is- what will we do? We can’t run away from our destiny.
Shabbat Shalom Chodesh TOV, Leah
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