By Judy Gangel
Until last week (July 10/11, 2008), I had, and still do have, many blessings to recall and for which I was and still am thankful ...but last week brought an incredible Shehecheyanu experience/blessing unlike any other...a moment that my former rabbi might have referred to as a liminal one...I floated back and forth over the threshold of the time of my youth (I am now 65, almost 66) when I was deeply involved as a proud member and regional officer of NFTY, and the present.

The experience/blessing came upon me during the live streaming broadcast from the HUC in Israel and from Masada, where my 16 year old grandson was a part of a NFTY in Israel experience (NO, it's not just a "trip").

As I watched on the internet (in spite of slight technical glitches), Dan Nichols and his band perform under the stars for 800 Jews, 600+ being NFTYites, most decked out in bright yellow tee shirts with NFTY IN ISRAEL in bright red on them(celebrating its 50 year anniversary coupled with Israel's 60th and ARZA's 30th), and realized that, at the very moment I was sitting at my computer in Randolph, MA, my older daughter, his mother, was watching in her home in Blue Ash, OH, and my younger grandson, 14, was at the NFTY camp GUCI in Zionsville, IN, possibly also watching (Dan will be performing there next week, according to the band's itinerary posted)...well it brought me to tears with the joy of l'dor v'dor...generation to generation...an emotion that had me back at the Eisner Camp in Great Barrington, MA, (during several occasions in 1958 - 1961) under the stars, celebrating kabalat Shabbat, or Havdalah, or in a friendship circle...listening to Art Podell on his guitar, later accompanied by Paul Potash, as we sang all the NFTY favorites!

This is, to me, the essence of who I am and what is my bashert in life...using my memories to help pass on to my family (and, as a Judaica retailer for simply the love of it) to anyone else who expresses a desire to know or understand...the meaning and joy of being a Jew and also being able to feel a unique camraderie/bond in instances like the one I just described.

The fact that in this day and age, such a connection can occur simultaneously in three or four different places in the world.......
WOW... Baruch ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech haolam shehecheyanu, vkiyamanu, vehigyanu lazman hazeh! AMEN!

(This post was originally a comment on the Gardening Grandma's post A Shehecheyann Moment)

Print

Email

Comment

Comments

Post a comment