A Story About My Father
What’s the connection between the state of Israel and a kid who fought back in South America in the 1950s?
On Yom Hazikaron in Israel, a somber day to remember fallen soldiers and victims of terror, and in the evening is Yom Ha’atzmaut. A joyous celebration of Israel’s independence day.
You could get a whiplash in such a shift from low to high, but these are actually two faces of the same blessing, and despite the challenges, we thank God that Jews once again have a nation in the holy land.
We didn’t for nearly 2000 years, and even though God kept his promise to make us an eternal people, we got hit hard in so many times and places, culminating the Holocaust.
It became normal for Jews to keep their heads down and do anything to avoid trouble. Brains over fists. With many humiliating retreat.
My father was born in Santiago, Chile. Like my grandfather before him, my great-grandfather came from Ukraine. But unlike them, my father grew up in a world that included the state of Israel, and he has told me many times how much that meant to him.
Even in a small Spanish-speaking country across the globe from the Holy Land. Even in those years immediately following the Holocaust, there were shameless, loud, Jew-haters in Chile, including the kids in his school where he was the only Jew.
My Dad did not keep his down nor cross the road to avoid trouble. He got some black eyes, but he doled out better than he got, and eventually he played rugby for the University of Chile. And he gave credits for the brave men and women of Israel who fought for our right to live in the eternal home of the Jewish people, with giving him the strength to hold his chin up as a proud Jew in the 20th century.
To all of the people who fell in that struggle, thank you. And may your memories always be for a blessing. Thank you God for the state of Israel. Thank you Israeli soldiers. Thank you Israelis, and let us say, Am Yisroel Chai.
🤗 Sign up for our free weekly newsletter!
❤️ Support our work!
📱 NEW! ‘Accidental Talmudist’ App now available for Apple and Android!