First person: Impressions from two rallies

By Esther Langer Issue of Jan. 16, 2009 / 20 Teves 5769 I went to the rally for Israel on 43rd and Third Avenue the other day. It was considerably better attended than the first one, despite the cold weather. I still wondered where all the Jews of New York were. Just the day before we had a discussion at the table about whether to cancel plans to attend a shiur in order to go to the rally, and the many ways one can try to help in this war. As you can imagine no conclusion was reached. After the rally I crossed town, and on 38th Street heard what sounded like another rally. I met a woman on Seventh Avenue who had just driven by the pro-Hamas rally. She told me it was one of the most important things she had done since the war began, since she now knows that she “cannot stop saying Tehillim.” She encouraged me to go take a look for myself so I walked down to Times Square where I saw a large group protesting. (NPR said there were hundreds of people.) I heard their mantra: “Free, Free Palestine.” To me they appeared angry, seething and threatening. And I felt threatened. A gloom and fear descended upon me. So many things went feverishly through my mind. I am worried and afraid for Eretz Yisrael and for us here as well. The Jewish people as an entity have a promise to survive, but no individual community, let alone individual person has such a promise. One does not have to look long at our history to confirm this. Can what happened elsewhere, in so many other places, happen here? Are the American principles of democracy powerful and enduring enough to protect us? For how long? To me, our destiny seems linked to Eretz Yisrael. Should I smell the coffee? Ultimately, are my children, my future, at greater risk here than there? (I am not even addressing the issue of whether one lives a superior Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael.) I thought of my grandparents in Germany and Holland in the ‘30s and during the war. What were they thinking? Why did one set of grandparents become trapped, the other not? My mind again circled back to the present, and what I should be doing in the immediate and foreseeable future? What is my job? What do I do? How similar are our destinies? I know that as I return to work, laundry, and regular life, day to day business and time will dull the bewilderment, worry and gloom I felt today. I know that to walk around under a cloud of fear is unproductive and, therefore, bad. And yet, am I clearing my mind so I can remain in denial, to continue my comfortable day-to-day life? So many questions and doubts; I have no certain answers. And as I read this, I realize that  my fears were distracted from Israel and its war, to the Jews of the Galus (Diaspora). For these protests are happening in many other important Jewish centers in the world. I believe that we are more dependent and umbilicaly attached to Israel than we imagine. I think of Mordechai’s word to Esther: “Do not imagine that you will be able to escape in the house of the king.” May Hashem truly walk with us and fight for us and may He give us strength to fight for ourselves and to keep our eyes on the ball. May the Oseh Shalom (Maker of peace) in His heavens make peace upon us! Esther Langer teaches 6th grade at the Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway. She and her husband and their three sons live in Long Beach.