THE SPIRIT OF SHAVUOT

Shavuot is one of the 'Shalosh Regalim' mentioned in Torah (Exodus 23:14) when male Israelites were to appear before the L-rd at His designated place. During the time of the Temple, the ordinance was observed by going up on foot to Jerusalem.
Worshippers start their pilgrimage through the streets of Jerusalem to the Kotel long before sunrise the first day of Shavuot. The heart seems to beat along with the clippity-clop of thousands of shoes beating against the stones of the narrow pathways of the Jewish Quarter, and one's neshama is whisked upward and onward with excitement, spiritually elevated, mixed with the atmosphere which is filled with the voices of yeshiva students studying within the Old City walls. The streets are dark, lit only by the mellow light gently flowing out from the open windows of study houses.
It's of the utmost necessity to be at the Wall when the sun's first morning rays burst over the Eastern horizon. That's the mystical moments when everyone waits in anticipation for the sounds! The sounds of many voices singing and rejoicing! Jubilant songs are heard rising up in the streets of Jerusalem! Songs of the bridegroom, a song of the bride! Suddenly the words of the prophets come alive and are active!
Hundreds of Yeshiva students appear on the steps descending to the Wall, arm n'arm, dancing and rejoicing after their night of studying led by rabbis holding the Torah scrolls! Thousands rise up to join them as they approach the Wall and all are released into the freedom of the spirit as Israel the bride is united as one with Hashem the groom under the chuppah, the shadow of the Wall.
Yet, it's all a practice run for the real thing that is to come!


FROM MEGILLAT RUTH
The ancient Hebrews were forbidden to intermarry with Moabites because the Moabites failed to have mercy on the Hebrews when they made their exodus from Mitzrayim. Therefore, the question arises as to how Ruth, the Moabitess, could have any inheritance in Israel. Why did Boaz pursue securing her family inheritance only for her to become part of the lineage of King David & the Messiah? Was Ruth really a convert? If so, why is she continued to be referred to as "Ruth, the Moabitess" which is a derogatory reference?
In my study on Shavuot, the Hebrew text seems to clarify who this remarkable woman was in the eyes of man and Hashem. See if you can find the ONE Hebrew letter that changes the meaning of the Moabitess:
Moab – מואב (mo ahv) – the nation
Moabite – מואבי (mo ah vi) – a male citizen of Moab
Moabite – מואבית (mo ah vit) – a female citizen of Moab
Ruth the Moabitess – רות המואביה (root ha mo ah vi yah) – Ruth the Moabitess of Adonai
This form of the word Moabitess, מואביה (moavi yah) in Hebrew, is only found in reference to Ruth in the Tenach.
In many cases, a yud-heh added to the end of a Biblical name means something or someone is a possession of Hashem.

Yom Yerushaliim 2009

On your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen!

This is the original radio transmitted message by the Israeli Defense Forces as they entered the Old City of Jerusalem through Lion's Gate, to the Temple Mount and finally the Wailing Wall during the Six Day War in 1967. After severe battles with numerous casualties and fallen comrades, Israeli forces conquered the Jordanian West Bank and the City of Jerusalem, ending Gentile dominance over Israel and Jerusalem after nearly 2,000 years. To hear the message is very moving as the voices of men are choked up overwhelmed with emotion until they eventually shout with victorious exuberance and the shofar is blown at the ancient wall. I finally managed to obtain a translation from Hebrew into English. Let your imagination take you to that time when Israeli soldiers entered the sealed walls of Jerusalem for the first time in modern history!

"The Temple Mount is in our hands!
"The Temple Mount is in our hands!
"All forces stop firing!
"The time is 10:20, the 7th of June.
"At this moment we are passing through Lion's Gate.
"I am at present under the shadow of the gate.
"And again we are going out to the sunny street.
"Lion's Gate!
"We are in the Old City!
"We are in the Old City!
"The soldiers are standing very close to the walls.
"We are marching now on the Via Delarosa.
"Do you understand this?!
"…the Old City!
"We are again in the Old City!
"Al Aksa Mosque.
"Under the ruling of the mandate we could not enter here.
"One moment!
"Straight ahead is the Wailing Wall!
"HURRAH! HURRAH! HURRAH! HURRAH!
"It is hard to express in words our feelings!"
(…the shofar is heard.)

Cause for Celebration!
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
For Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet
Til her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
Her salvation as a blazing torch!
(Isaiah 62 vs. 1)

From Yom Yerushaliim 2009

The Watchmen, our next generation, lift up the banner of freedom and dance through the streets of Jerusalem. They are bussed in from all over the country for the celebration of independence. After hours of rejoicing, they march to the Kotel, the Wailing Wall, at sundown and continue their celebration up into the wee hours of the morning.
Yet security does not allow the Israeli flag to be unfurled when entering the Jaffa Gate since it offends the Arabs. So, the male youth wraps the flag around their shoulders as a tallit, while the females wrap it around as a skirt, or tie it on the head as a covering, or around the shoulders as a sign of modesty. When they reach the Jewish Quarter, hundreds, if not thousands of flags are unfurled.

From Yom Yerushaliim 2009

The Highway Corridor: Latrun to Jerusalem

From 090428-9 CORRIDOR

I still haven't figured out why I have such an austere feeling deep within every time I travel through the corridor of the major highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It's as though I am entering a holy place that deserves, and even demands reverence and respect, a place which has been sanctified by the blood of many martyrs.
Rusted armored vehicles, once strewn along the side of the road, are now mounted and painted as a well-deserving memorial. Although empty and abandoned, they are evidence of others' sacrifice, making it difficult to forget a nation's modern historical events. Instead of headstones, the old shells of the vehicles are all that remain, reminding us of the heroes and heroines who forged ahead against unbeatable odds in the face of death. I, personally, can't help but wonder if I would have had the courage to face the same surmountable obstacles. What motivated these young people to come from among the nations, leave the safety of their homes and families, to persevere for a land and a people who were not their own? Not all Jews by any means, they were from many nations, hell-bent on securing a free nation for the Jewish People after the Nazi Holocaust.
The highway corridor was a strategic location. It was the only pass through the mountains surrounding Jerusalem from the coastal area of Tel Aviv. Armored vehicles tried to get through with supplies for the starving Jews in Jerusalem who were cut off after the rebirth of the nation of Israel. From Latrun, the border of the new nation, to Jerusalem was under Jordanian control from 1948 when the British pulled out until its liberation in 1967. At that time, Jordan and the rest of the Arab nations refused to accept Israel's independence.
They cut off any assistance to the Jews in Jerusalem who were destitute and in dire need of food and medical supplies. They were dying in the streets of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, desperate victims of harassment, discrimination, random murder, starvation and disease. The Jews were unable to escape.
They were totally dependent upon any supplies smuggled into them from the outside by those who risked their lives to provide the most meager means possible to live. If the supplies made it through the corridor, they were often smuggled in to the victims through the city's sewage pipes or by way of the cable car in which dead bodies were shipped out of the Old City.

From 090428-9 CORRIDOR

But, the corridor became impassable as vehicles tried to maneuver through the harsh terrain and Arabs lay in wait to descend upon the caravans which often had to continue at a snail's pace. The volunteers were slaughtered, butchered, and robbed. The marauders left nothing behind but dead bodies and ransacked vehicles.
FOR these martyrs, and BECAUSE OF them, and many more, Israel is able to celebrate Yom Haatzmaut every year. Their memories beckon to us not to forget the price of freedom. We are indebted to them! Yet, I wonder if leaders in high places who "love the praises of men more than the praises of Hashem" will allow us to continue our freedom?