It is not a secret that we are great enthusiasts of events such as the Israel Day Parade. We spent years hearing about it from our children and always hoped that one day we would be able to take part in it. Watching so many people participate either by marching or watching warms our hearts. Recently we shared a Shavuot meal with a friend who told us that her daughter after spending her gap year in Israel had decided to join Sherut Leumi. One of our other guests asked this lady if she was upset that her daughter had made this her choice indicating to her family that Aliyah is the next step. The response of our friend was ”How can we bring our children up in Zioni homes and not encourage them to make such a choice?” To lament our children moving to Israel is the antithesis of what we should want and hope for them with the dream that perhaps one day we can join them.
Blue and white are also the colors of the flag of the Province of Quebec. Ironically when we would see that flag flying in front of someone’s home or attached to their cars we would grimace. The idea that many Quebecers seek freedom from the rest of Canada caused everyone in the English community, as well as many in the French Canadian community, to worry about the possibility of what this would mean. The sovereignists believe that Quebec should secede from the rest of Canada. They are aiming for their own independence within their own country involving a separate currency, their own extremely strict language laws and their own political agenda. It has even extended to disallow members of any faith from wearing any type of garment that might exhibit their affiliation with a religious sect. As such in public places that are government funded, Jews would not be allowed to wear yarmulkas, Moslems would not be allowed to wear hijabs and head coverings and Sikh would not be allowed to wear their traditional head dress. Fortunately there are, so far, enough sane minds around that have not permitted these laws to come into effect. The killer is that these discussions never lie dormant for very long. Just when we think that things are beginning to quiet down another eruption of unpleasant discourse begins.
Is Israel not the logical choice for all of us when we have to worry about such situations as what occurs in Quebec?
The day following the parade we had the opportunity to see the movie “Woman in Gold.” By this time most of you are probably familiar with the story of Maria Altmann who 60 years after she fled Vienna decides to attempt to reclaim artwork stolen by the Nazis that had belonged to her family. In particular, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Blauer” by Gustave Klimt, a portrait of her beloved aunt that was hanging in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna. Once again being exposed to the atrocities of how the Jews of Vienna were demoralized and eventually taken and killed in Nazi concentration camps only re-emphasizes the miracle of an Israel Day Parade so many years after these terrible atrocities occurred.
It is a zchut to be a part of a nation of young people looking towards the future and realizing that their home is really across the sea in Israel. We are honored to be a part of a community where so many families are taking the plunge and making aliyah. Kol hakavod to all of them as well as to the parents of many young people whose children have chosen to live in Israel. Obviously as parents, perhaps without realizing it, they did something very right. Our wish is that one day all of us are able to join them.
By Rabbi Mordechai and Nina Glick
