Caracal cat
For the past 39 years Yom
Kippur has acquired an additional significance.
Alongside the solemn
occasion of our Day of Atonement we commemorate the anniversary of the Yom
Kippur War. This year and every year since 1973 it is a soul searching occasion.
The memoirs of aging generals, new revelations from our own and foreign sources,
shed more light on the battle narratives and all aspects of the war. The
critics have spared none. .Our intelligence community, the commanders in the
field, as well as Golda Meir’s kitchen cabinet’s decisions and vacillations are
all mercilessly scrutinised . All this self-flagellation has had
a cathartic effect on the IDF’s military intelligence, in fact on everyone..
It has galvanised a new
approach to the importance of obtaining accurate real-time information from
anywhere, no matter how distant..
This year recently opened
archive material has spurred considerable speculation regarding the military
intelligence findings and their interpretation.
The disclosure that a late
intelligence report was not relayed in time to then Prime Minister Golda Meir
momentarily shocked military observers; however most of them agreed that the
communiqué came too late to have brought about any kind of preemptive action.
The whole ordeal will be
repeated next week on the day the war broke out according to the Gregorian
calendar, referred to by Anwar Sadat as the “October War.”
This year and every year I
check our religious observance gauge regarding Yom Kippur. Earlier this
week a Ynet-Gesher
poll revealed that, as in previous years, the majority of the public plans to
fast on the Day of Atonement and many will also visit their local synagogue.
The survey conducted among 502 respondents over the age of 18 – a
representative sample of the adult Jewish population in the State of Israel.
Asked, "Do you plan to fast this year on Yom Kippur?" about
64% said yes and 32% said no. The rest said they had yet to decide.
An analysis of these results shows that a majority of Israelis who won't
fast was found only among the secular respondents (59%), while most of the
ultra-Orthodox/religious Jews (100%) and traditional Jews (86%) planned to
fast.
Forty-six percent said they would visit the synagogue (including 25% who
plan to take part in all prayers and 21% who plan to participate in some), 36%
would devote the quiet day to some "quality time" with themselves or
their family, 10% would spend the day watching films, 3.5% would visit friends
or family, 0.5% said they planned to travel, and 4% did not pick any of the
options.
An analysis of these findings reveals that haredim (100%), religious
Jews (96%) and traditional Jews (60%) favour the synagogue, while secular Jews
(53.5%) prefer to stay at home – either alone or with their family.
The maximum sampling error for the survey was 4.3%.
Journalist Ben Sales the Times of Israel described what Tel
Aviv’s secular Jews do on Yom Kippur. “While the Orthodox may spend Yom Kippur
praying in synagogues, secular Jews are more likely to spend the Day of Atonement
watching videos and biking through the city’s empty streets.
Options are opening up across the city and the country for non-Orthodox
Jews seeking a meaningful way to observe the holiest day on the Jewish
calendar.
Secular Israelis who attend synagogue usually go for the ‘Kol Nidre’
prayer on Yom Kippur eve or the ‘Ne’ila’ prayer during the holiday’s closing
service. Quoting the director of ‘Bina’ a secular Tel Aviv yeshiva, he said, “Services
are rarely meaningful to Jews who hardly ever enter a synagogue during the rest
of the year. Most young people usually don’t feel connected, don’t know how to
pray,” he said. “They usually have some alienation to what’s going on.”
“Bina has been countering that alienation since it was founded in 1996. It does this by crafting a Judaism with prayers, texts and
values that secular Jews can appreciate. On Yom Kippur eve this year, the
yeshiva will host study sessions, discussions and a rooftop service planned to
attract 400 people.
The service will feature some classic selections from the prayer book,
such as the Kol Nidre prayer. But the service cum study session also will
include contemporary texts, such as
poems by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai or American Jewish musician Leonard
Cohen’s song “Who by Fire,” which is inspired by U’netaneh Tokef, a High
Holidays prayer that describes the process and consequences of divine judgment.
Religiously observant Jews
have eagerly accepted technological solutions to old religious problems. The
Institute for Science and Halacha, based in Israel has published a number of
studies and recommendations to aid religious Jews to meticulously “keep the
faith” in the modern age.
However, ultra Orthodox
leaders are strongly opposed to other technological devices they claim are
undermining their chosen lifestyle. Before the advent of the Internet, members of
ultra-Orthodox communities derived the majority of their information and
knowledge from the rabbinic leadership, since mainstream/secular newspapers,
television, radio, and libraries were forbidden. Now this segment of the
population is facing a far more pernicious threat.
Rabbi Shmuel (HaLevi )
Wosner warned his community, "He
who stumbles into the Internet loses his eyes, heart and feelings toward all
that is holy.. Users have no place in the next world.”
“Access to Smartphones is creating a ‘spiritual holocaust’”, according
to Rabbi Lior Glazer and the Eda Haredit communal organisation, which recently
held a ritual iPhone-smashing ceremony and banned the use of Smartphones
entirely.
Prof. Yedidya Stern, director of the Israel Democracy Institute’s
project on Religion and State pointed out that although many ultra-Orthodox Jews live in self-imposed
ghettos Smartphones offer a gateway to
the outside world through which they can
access all manner of uncensored information which might influence their
identity.
Yet another clash last week
along Israel's border with Egypt
in the Har Harif area resulted in the killing of Corporal Netanel Yahalomi. An
Islamic terrorist group attacked a small
IDF unit after it intercepted African infiltrators The terrorist group attacked
while the Israeli soldiers were providing water to the infiltrators.
Fortunately a unit of the Caracal battalion was patrolling nearby and was quick
to engage the terrorists. The Caracal patrol killed three of the terrorists
before the rest of the terrorists fled the scene of the attack.
The patrol’s response to
the attack marked a turning point in the battalion’s history.
Prior to 2000 women were
barred from combat units. That year the
Caracal battalion was formed as a way to gradually include women soldiers in
combat units. The battalion is the IDF’s
only mixed female and male combat unit. The efficient deployment of the Caracal
unit last Friday won it long overdue recognition. Other markedly male “Macho”
IDF units have often derided the Caracal battalion which is made up of 70%
women. In the past it had to face skepticism and was often the butt of jokes.
On Sunday the Israeli news media
was full of glowing reports on the hitherto little known battalion. They
nicknamed it the co-ed battalion, however its name and emblem is derived from
the Caracal cat.
One of the women serving in
the battalion, Corporal Eleanor Joseph is an anomaly in an anomalous IDF unit.
Eleanor a Christian Arab volunteered to serve in the IDF and the Caracal
battalion. Fighting in a combat unit requires a mandatory extra year of army
service. Eleanor’s home is near Haifa’s
Waadi Nisnas Arab neighbourhood.. Recently
she requested permission to wear civilian clothes when she returns home on
leave. “I feel uncomfortable every time I go home. My Arab neighbours point at
me every time I appear in uniform.”
Immediately after Yom
Kippur we prepare for Succot. This year the kibbutz has built an impressive
Succah on the central lawn by the
dinning room. Although most people build their family Succah by their homes the
main ceremony will be held on the lawn.
Have a good weekend.
Beni
27th of
September, 2012.
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