Lea Odelia
Our dear principal informed me that I was not going anywhere, that the administration needed a secretary who knew English, and that the work was more interesting and better paid. “Nooo…” I said, though not as sharply as the first time.
I said, “My English is rusty ;-)” “You’ll remember it!” I said, “I’m not very good with computers…” “Don’t worry, you’ll get help! Just go for an interview with the rabbi, and everything will be fine!” “Ha-ha!”
“You just need to understand,” the principal said, “that working with religious people has its nuances… You may have to learn a little Hebrew…” “Very funny!” I replied. But he went on… “Perhaps you should look into religion a little?”
“And what did I ever do to you?” I smirked.
September 1… A mountain of translation work landed on me, the computer was not working properly (though I really did get help), the school was being renovated, and Israelis dressed in black and white were walking around :).
Then, bam—September 7 (I think)—Rosh Hashanah. Great! A couple of days off! Those were my plans… But not His… On the eve of the holiday, my immediate supervisor called and said he would be “looking for me at the synagogue.” Aaaaah!!! What was I supposed to do? He was my boss! I couldn’t disobey him… So I went to the synagogue. And it was all rather “surreal”… So many people… Strange people… They were swaying with prayer books in their hands, singing something, whispering something… I found a seat, and a hand reached out from somewhere in the crowd and gave me a siddur. Then a finger pointed to a spot in the prayer. I meekly accepted the siddur and began to read… I read and read, and time went by.
Then I realized that I felt good! I felt very good! In this unfamiliar place, among these strange people, with this book that was new to me! I felt light and uplifted. Nothing else mattered! No one needed to invite me for Yom Kippur… I came on my own.
Do you think the miracle happened all at once? Nooo… We are a stiff-necked people, after all :-)
Then He took the next step. He sent me to the Jewish Agency to learn Hebrew! How? Here’s how! The secretary I worked with said she wanted to study the language and that a good teacher was putting a group together. So I went and joked, “Sign me up too” (I had previously told her how I had ended up in this job, and that Hebrew, like religious observance, was not for me). But she did not realize I was joking (thank you for that!) and signed me up.
I was angry. But not for long. She managed to persuade me to come for 1 lesson; otherwise, it would have been rather awkward. After all, she had asked on my behalf! I went, and it was interesting! Though the people in the group were strange, too.
Most of them were planning to move to Israel! Why couldn’t they just stay put?
Everything was different there, and there were explosions all around. Well, never mind, I was quietly learning Hebrew, and also attending classes on “Jewish identity”—they said those were compulsory for anyone studying at the Jewish Agency. Meanwhile, the school renovations kept dragging on, and we were given a corner in the hall where classes on Jewish tradition were held. Well? How do you like that? I’m writing this now and marveling at it myself! Whether I wanted to or not, I had to listen. Well, I’m a thinking person, so I had questions. I asked them, and I got answers.
The information kept accumulating until quantity began to turn into quality. I began reading books, and when the students left the school “synagogue” after prayers, I would slip inside and read the Amidah from a transliteration in the silence. An impulse of the soul…
Yes, about Israel… While I was studying at the Jewish Agency, a teenager from our group visited Israel on the Taglit program. When he returned, he brought us a pile of photographs, enthusiasm, and inspiration!!! And although the airplane had made the biggest impression on him, I thought, “Why not me?!” The next planned Taglit trip was a month and a half away. But, as you have realized, things never work out simply for me. It turned out that this group was from the Open University, and to go on the trip, I had to enroll there. Done! They informed me that I would be studying the Oral Torah, gave me textbooks, and told me to study :). So I studied… Only later did I learn that there were other departments, but no one had told me! I went…. It was incredible…
On the one hand, I felt as though I had stepped into a fairy tale; on the other, as though I had come home.
When I returned… I did not really return. That is, I returned, but not all of me. Part of me remained in the Promised Land, and I desperately wanted to come back here for good! This is how I expressed my feelings then:
Wearied by long centuries, My golden Jerusalem, You stand in boundless glory…
As a sign of pure and holy faith, I weep for you in silence, As I did there, by the Western Wall, Afraid to leave you.
Your sons and daughters, Jerusalem, warm them In the menorah’s warm light.
Ve’anashim kol yom omrim Hashem Echad and G-d is One, And He is with you, but you alone Are responsible for the whole world.
So may you be blessed, And upon the stones of drooping walls May a new Temple rise.
And through a smile and a tear, Jerusalem, I will whisper, Hashem Echad and Baruch Hu, And the world will grow kinder.
Though wounded by wars, Through the ages you sing, Jerusalem, G-d exists to rule the world.
And I pray with your star, With the lyre’s weeping string, As I did there, by the Western Wall, Afraid to leave you.
I wept silently because the situation made leaving “out of the question.” My father, of blessed memory, was in the hospital after surgery...
to be continued