MY SAY: ISRAEL AT 63

Ruth King

In 1950, my brother and my parents and I went to Israel for the first time. To be perfectly honest my brother and I were bored, annoyed at the endless conversations among my parents and their surviving friends who had not seen each other since my parents left Europe for Bolivia in 1931. We preferred the beach in Herzlyah to the endless walks and lectures by our didactic father on Jabotinsky.

On the way to Beersheba in the scorching sun our car broke down. As my father and the driver made efforts to resuscitate the heap, we heard a loud whir overhead. A group of planes that looked as if they had been put together with chewing gum and rubber bands was flying in formation with the Star of David on the underwings. My kid brother started to yell…”look, look Jewish planes!!!”….and that was our epiphany. Suddenly we were Zionists aflame with pride and understanding the renewal and redemption that Israel afforded our traumatized people.

I have always reflected on that visit. My lovely and elegant mother always traveled with a cosmetics kit. When we were back at the hotel, she invited her friends for the afternoon. Instead of going to the beach she and I gave them all manicures. What a sight it was to see hands with tattoos from concentration camps waving their pink and red nails in the air. These women who had walked in the corridors of hell were laughing and enjoying the afternoon. Again, renewal and redemption.

Zionism has been a lifelong love and one I shared with my husband on our trips to Israel. We worried that our progeny would not understand. These children born of plenty and security might abandon Zionism and Israel.Oh sure they admire and defend Israel but is the fire there?

Last summer, our granddaughter, a high school senior bound for Dartmouth College this September spent her time in Israel including boot camp with the IDF. She plans to study Hebrew and return to Israel.

You see it is that unbroken chain which started in Hebron. The Hittites, the Hellenists, the Mesopotamians, the Roman Empire are all gone. But, in spite of dislocation and genocide We are still here.
The thought is daunting and inspiring and awesome. Thank God for Israel.