What Message Would You Hang Over the Ayalon Highway?

During these tense times in Israel, here is an open question for anyone reading this: “You have been offered the opportunity to hang a huge sign along the Ayalon, the main highway in Tel Aviv, that will remain there for a month. What message would you write on your sign?”

This question was posed by media personality Kobi Arieli to his followers on Facebook this week. I encourage you to stop for a second and think about what your sign would say.

The hundreds of responses posted included political messages on behalf of the left or right, messages of unity and strength during wartime, and also some humorous responses, such as, “Car for Sale,” or “Looking for Babysitter.”

If I were allocated a budget for producing huge signs that would grab the public’s attention, I would post the verses of the weekly haftarah. Each week, after the Torah reading, we read the haftarah, an excerpt from the Navi. During the seven weeks following Tisha B’Av, we read seven haftarot of nechama, consolation. Week after week, we read beautiful words that speak of hope and redemption and that overflow with optimism for the future.

Our ancestors read these very same words 800 years ago in Morocco and in Poland and did not give in to despair. Even during the Holocaust, these words filled the Jewish people with hope. It’s ironic that precisely in our generation, in which we have seen so many of these prophecies come true, we are not as familiar with these powerful words.

These are the words I would have posted over the Ayalon Highway this week:

“Arise, shine, for your light has dawned, the presence of God has shone upon you…Raise your eyes and look about: They have all gathered and come to you, your sons shall be brought from afar…In place of your having been forsaken and hated, with none passing through, I will make you an eternal pride, a joy for each succeeding generation.”

Israel will be the source of light, Jews from around the world will return to the Land, and the humiliation and hatred Israel once suffered will be replaced with universal admiration.

And these words were also recited in shuls around the world: “The cry, ‘Violence! —Hamas—shall no more be heard in your land, nor ‘Wrack and ruin!’ within your borders, and you shall name your walls ‘Salvation’ and your gates ‘Praise.’

In other words, the balagan—chaos— we are experiencing now will come to an end. Our borders will be quiet and peaceful. Our walls and gates will be called ‘Salvation’ and ‘Praise,’ because Israel will be known for its peace and prosperity. Yeshayah the prophet articulated these words thousands of years ago and they have sustained us throughout all of our suffering and exile.

If we can’t post these words on a huge sign over the main highway, at least let us learn and remember them here.

Why Ishay Ribo’s Concert in New York
Was Much More Than a Concert

Even during these turbulent times, Ishay Ribo’s concert tour in the U.S. is an important news story. Here is a note I received from a teacher in New York that convinced me of the monumental impact of this tour:

“Ishay Ribo performed at Madison Square Garden in front of an audience of tens of thousands of people. In fact, the arena was completely sold out! This was not merely entertainment but a significant spiritual event. The compass of American Jewry is starting to point in the proper direction.

“People are always complaining that Jewish identity in America is depressing— formed in the shadow of the Holocaust and viewed as something ancient from a bygone generation. This perception has led to the high rate of assimilation among young Jews today. Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg and more are considered prototypes of the successful American Jew. But there is a better way to achieve success— by taking pride in your Jewish identity and traditions.

“Judaism does not belong only to our grandparents; it belongs to us—their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It’s vibrant, exciting. and forward-looking and should be expressed with pride. After a year in which Israel has been associated with tragedies, funerals, and bereavement, this concert reminded us that what unites us, first and foremost, is all the good we have in common—the songs, the prayers, and, above all, the feeling of togetherness.”

The day after his show at Madison Square Garden, Ishay Ribo performed at a smaller, but perhaps more important venue: Yale University.

Rabbi Elchanan Poupko sent this report of that event:

“The same hall where Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones once performed was transformed into a place where people were reciting Selichot and Tehillim on behalf of our hostages, our soldiers, and for the entire Jewish people. After a year of double standards and antisemitism at Yale, after all the protests and demonstrations, this event might turn out to be the most important demonstration of all. We weren’t demonstrating against them but for us.”

Meanwhile, Back in Israel …

By now, everyone has seen the pictures of the pager attacks in Lebanon, but what most don’t realize is that while that operation was in full swing, the accompanying pictures were taken at Kibbutz Ortal in the northern Golan Heights near the border. While thousands of pagers and terrorists were exploding in Lebanon, in yet another mysterious and historic operation, members of Kibbutz Ortal were busy planting a new kiwi orchard.

It’s important to recognize that the incredible operation in Lebanon was not the goal itself, but a vital and necessary step in order to achieve the real and lasting goal— of the Jewish people being able to live in peace in our homeland, safe and secure, and of returning home — both to the Torah and to the Land of Israel. When this goal will be fully realized, the entire world will be blessed.

We thank you, Kibbutz Ortal, for completing your “operation” successfully too!

* Translated by Yehoshua Siskin, Janine Muller Sherr

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