Laying Back

   This Holiday of Sukkos is our favorite time. In prayer, we call it the time of Joy, and it is just that. We have such a great laid back time, no running around. I don't get ANY calls to fix things for people, no emergencies (yet) to retrieve children from broken bathroom doors, no overflowing...
         Last night, we went to our friend's Open Sukkah cum Birthday celebration. They have a beautiful house, and back Patio, and the sukkah is full of great vibes. There's no pretense, just great varied conversation, and great  food. One of the great things about our choice to move to Efrat, just south of Jerusalem, is the diverse body of people, with different backgrounds, and professions, who have a whole lot of things to say, and are  who are also fun.  Thirty four years ago I decided to stay in Israel, gave up going to Law school in America  and became a member of a yeshiva Kollel, receiving some sort of ordination along the way. More on that another time. BUT....I love learning Torah in most ways, and the people I associated with also were  so inclined .In fact, you couldn't speak about anything to them UNLESS it was Torah, a highly commendable dynamic. However, there came a time when , after a lengthy session was over, there was nothing to SAY. There was an uncomfortable  juncture , empty of sound.."so now what do I say..." like being on a first date, and realizing that you ran out of subjects , and  you really want to "get out." ( That never happened with my wife--at 3 a.m. when I walked her back to her dorm,each night, the neighbors were a bit peeved by our constant blab).
      Last night, as with all our occasions there, THAT never happened. Adult conversation and good feelings, the "Clouds of Honor" from Hashem's commandment to build a sukkah, guiding us in a positive way, and leaving us with the feeling that if we could bottle this, it would be priceless.
       Which is not reciprocated by the rest of the world, EVEN, during this joyous time, because joy and goodness is unacceptable. We are everyone's killjoy because we hold Eretz Yisrael dear. No one reads history fact as such, they all refuse to read, read the history of the Jewish people, and take only the side of the Arabs. Settlements are the source of Arab grievances, but when , in 1929, the Arabs massacred Jews, including my relative, a boy learning in yeshiva, no one recalls that this occurred 38 years before the capture of Arab occupied Jewish lands in the 1967 6-day war. Obama, Ban ki-Moon, Sarkozy..anyone else...all blame Israel for the future Arab walkout from Peace Talks. Oh spare me.
      Joy and goodness?! All you liberal Left leaning Jewish women who want to support Arab grievances? Did you know that Hamas  forbids laughing in public? Holding hands with your sweetie? Music is forbidden. No iPods, ladies.  In two days we will be celebrating Simchat Torah, the receiving of the Torah, for the Jewish people, and for 24 hours (48 outside Israel), we SING and Dance. Nope, Hamas , the whole Islamist fascist world doesn't allow that.
        Just recently, talk about celebrations, a bar mitzvah party, in Israel,  was shocked to a standstill because , from a nearby village, an arab wedding included SHOOTING their guns for "joy." Several bullets narrowly missed the party goers from the bar mitzvah party. Oh joy, they have to shoot their guns?! What are they doing with guns ?! Oh,now , you'll say, you go to any celebration in iIsrael, and see soldiers and "settlers" !!..packing heat. And what are they doing with them? They are sheathed, and NEVER removed, let alone used. Revelers actually SING and Dance, in celebration. Firing their guns in the air? WTH?!! Someone wrote to one of the news sources about this, and castigated the Arab celebrants to the point saying "can't they shoot upwards?!" Noooooooo.....How about not at all. Nooo...the bullets shot upwards have greater acceleration downward, and the hospital wards here are full of Arabs injured from their own "celebrations."Dummies.
      So, we Jews, take our children to celebrations, like Simchas Torah, sing with them , dance with them, and tell them adages from our sages, from the Torah, the Talmud, relating to them Homilies and stories , showing the sources of our celebrations, and holding the land of Israel, and the Torah dear, and you have to watch the kids drink up words, of wisdom, and knowledge. But...the world only sees the words "Jewish Settlers.." and they would rather see us annihilated . They see the word Jew and love us when we are dead. WE hold our children dear, and bring the same Torah that was given to us 3,800 years ago,  and LIVE it.