Facebook Post by Rabbi Perlin in the Time of Coronavirus (4/29/2020)
Wednesday Post 4.29.20: Double Double Chai
by Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D.
She was eight when I was born.
And four months later she was at war in Egypt.
I missed the War of Independence,
but it has always been a part of me, a part of my history.
She has always been there as a big sister.
Her songs were my songs,
And her struggles were my struggles.
Whether together or distant,
she is always in my heart
and on my mind.
She is a part of me, and always will be.
And like a little sister,
I know her mistakes, and have called them out.
And like a little sister,
I cherish her accomplishments and celebrate her achievements.
I can’t imagine my life without her.
I fight for her to be her best self,
and I hurt for her – through wars, and boycotts, and bombings.
She is in my prayers every night and every day,
when I lay my head on my pillow,
and when I rise up to a new news cycle of a new day.
Ahavat Yisrael, a love of Israel was woven into my being when I was a little girl.
I am a Zionist, the label of a sister who is protective and proud.
And I am an Activist, the sister with great expectations, and even greater demands.
At five, I planted trees for her Bat Mitzvah.
At almost seventeen, I stood in the streets of Jerusalem throwing candy at the tanks in celebration of her 25th.
By the time she was 36, I was a rabbi and almost a mother.
When she was 59 and through her sixties, I took so many congregants to meet her.
And for all those years, for her whole life,
I have prayed and worked and dreamed with her and for her.
And today is her birthday.
She is 72 – double double chai.
Israel, my heart, my sister, my life —
my heart is full of wishes for you today.
L’chaim – to life and well-being!
This is not your first pandemic in your long and challenged history,
just the first of your statehood.
Today and every day,
I pray for your health of body and spirit.
I pray that children will once again fill your kindergartens,
and grandmothers will once again shop in your streets.
I pray that traffic will once again fill your roads,
and that tourists will once again fill your buses.
And on this your 72nd birthday,
I pray that your tomorrows will be so much easier than your yesterdays.
I pray that you will age like fine wine, your future to be savored —
not like an arthritic hand too pained to continue to create and paint the dreams of the future.
I pray that you will know security in your borders and that you will promote safety beyond them.
And I pray, that your seventies will be known for a true embrace of pluralism and peace.
Yom Huledet Sameach, Yisrael.
Happy Birthday, Israel – my heart, my sister, my hope.