Grapevine December 15, 2023: The rabbi of Gaza

“I’m the Rabbi of Gaza,” quips Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg, whose actual title is Chabad Director of Rechavia and Nachlaot, Jerusalem.

In a manner of speaking, Goldberg appropriated Gaza Road, which is near his Chabad Center, several years ago. Hoping to draw attention to hourly Megillah readings on Purim, he organized many of them at venues in or around Gaza Road, where the Scroll of Esther was being read aloud.

Gaza is called Aza in Hebrew, and Goldberg called his Purim enterprise Aza Zaza, meaning Gaza on the move.

The idea caught on. Many secular people turned up at coffee shops to hear the readings and often got into discussions with religiously observant people who found Goldberg’s option more convenient than at a fixed time in a synagogue.

Goldberg is a master of the religious gimmick, and Gaza Road came into play again on Hanukkah. Almost directly opposite the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which is now also his official residence, is the  Lehaim Cultural and Information Center, which was renovated by Christian Zionists Mike and Carolyn Evans and the Jerusalem Prayer Team for the Association of Concentration Camp and Ghetto Survivors in Israel.

In nearly all the commercial establishments along Gaza Road, including many well-patronized coffee houses, there is a ‘Bring them Home’ sign. The reference, of course, is to the hostages in Gaza.

Taking this a step further, Goldberg put up the traditional Chabad Hanukkiah in the playground of the cultural center and brought in long-lasting oil candles, sound equipment, LED candles in glass containers, toys, and a huge amount of freshly made donuts – some of which had chocolate frosting on top but all of which were happily devoid of powdered sugar. The title that he gave to the event was Light Up Gaza, which in English has more than one connotation. Goldberg voiced the hope that the profusion of lights would give physical and spiritual strength to Israel in its war against Hamas in this time of darkness and that all the hostages would soon be brought home. Directing his remarks across the road, Goldberg expressed his hope that Israel will win the War of Swords quickly and decisively.

The venue was deliberately chosen in order to link Hanukkah to the Bring them Home message, in addition to the fact that one of the speakers was Rabbi Doron Peretz, the executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement.

On October 7, one of Peretz’s sons, Yonatan, a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade, answered an urgent call to go to Sderot. He fought in several gun battles along the Gaza border and was shot in the leg. Another son, Daniel, a tank commander who was fighting at Nachal Oz, is missing in action and is believed to have been abducted by Hamas.

There is no video evidence or other information to support the belief that Daniel is a hostage in Gaza, but somehow the family learned that he had been wounded. The tank in which he had been fighting was found with one dead body inside, and the fallen soldier was someone other than Daniel.

World Mizrachi Headquarters is located next door to the Chabad Center that Goldberg directs, and he and Peretz have become good friends or, as Peretz put it, “good neighbors.”

Briefly telling the story of his sons, Peretz turned to the subject of one God, one people, one faith, and one national homeland, which binds all Jews together regardless of their differences. This fusion can be seen in the myriad of spontaneous volunteer activities since October 7, he said.

MK Ohad Tal of the Religious Zionist Party, who, until entering politics a little over a year ago, was the director of World Bnei Akiva, Mizrachi’s youth movement, lit the Hanukkah candles. As in every festival of light, he said, there is much darkness preceding it. He paid tribute to Chabad for bringing light to every place where there are Jews, adding that though people try to bring strength and comfort to Peretz, it is Peretz who actually gives others strength and comfort.

Celebrating religious holidays on days of personal mourning

■ ONE OF the most emotionally difficult things to do is to celebrate a joyful religious festival that coincides with a day of personal mourning. For families who lost loved ones in the murderous Hamas attack on Simchat Torah, which this year fell on October 7, celebrating Simchat Torah next year will be an extremely painful experience. It is difficult enough when loved ones have died on a religious holiday as a result of illness or advanced age, but it is much harder when they were butchered or fell in battle. And it is particularly hard when the loved one was a child, as was the case of Nava Ruth Chen, the infant daughter of Hadassah and Yossi Chen, who succumbed to a rare illness 11 years ago, on the first day of Hanukkah.

Nava Ruth’s brief presence in this world left a strong and abiding light, according to her mother, who is well known to listeners of Arutz Sheva for her program “Real Talk.” She also writes a column for The Jerusalem Post Magazine. When the Chens were informed that their daughter’s illness was terminal, they decided that no matter what, they would put on a happy face to give their baby as much happiness as possible in the time she had left. After she died, the family was enveloped in terrible darkness, but the parents quickly realized that they could not cloak the lives of their other children in misery. They also knew that there were other families experiencing the same pain and anxiety. So, in Nava Ruth’s memory, they established a foundation to help needy families with sick children. They also host a big Hanukkah celebration on the night of the first candle, with people of different backgrounds and walks of life among their guests. 

Hadassah Chen was born and raised in a Chabad family in Milan, where she still has relatives and many friends. Here in Israel, she is friendly with Italian Ambassador Sergio Barbanti, whom she invited to join her and her guests at this year’s party. They gave him the red carpet treatment, engaged him in conversation, told him anecdotes about Hanukkah, and showed him  an antique Italian Hanukkiah dating back to the Renaissance period, which substantiated the fact that Jews have lived in Italy for centuries.

Barbanti showed obvious interest and spoke of how much he loves Jerusalem, which he visits frequently, and how pleased he is to be Israel’s ambassador in the Holy Land. He was also appreciative of having been invited to join in the Hanukkah celebration because it indicated the brotherhood of man and the significance of light.

Shedding light on Israel's economy

■ AMONG OTHER public figures, Uriel Lynn, president of the Federation of the Israeli Chambers of Commerce (FICC), among other public figures, took the opportunity to shed a little light on the current economic situation during an economic briefing for foreign ambassadors and commercial attachés in Israel. At the event at ZOA House in Tel Aviv, Lynn presented his geopolitical perspective on business activities in Israel throughout the ongoing conflict. Regretfully conceding that the war with Hamas would not result in the return of all the hostages who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, Lynn said, “Israel has demonstrated in the past its ability to cope with national crises parallel to a strong economy. The government is currently returning part of the tax revenues to the business sector to assist the public and the economy in overcoming the crisis.”

Andrew Abir, deputy governor of the Bank of Israel, highlighted the bank’s swift intervention to strengthen the shekel in the early days of the conflict. “In the last decade, Israel has outgrown most developed countries,” he underscored. “The country entered the war with a robust economy that recovered excellently from the COVID-19 crisis. The government has the economic breathing space to overcome the war; our test will be the long-term economic outlook. Israel’s advantage lies in its service exports. We are more optimistic about investments in hi-tech than we were six months ago. An important indicator of economic recovery is the credit card expenditures of the public, which have returned to 90% of pre-war levels. A full recovery is expected during the second half of 2024.”

Major General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin, president and founder of non-profit MIND Israel, reminded his audience of the “unprecedented atrocities” perpetrated by Hamas. “After the Holocaust, we vowed ‘never again,’ and here we are saying it again. If we do not defeat Hamas, it will be a victory for Russia and China in the global struggle. Israel post-October 7 is not the same Israel. We have removed the gloves until we defeat Hamas,” he vowed.

FICC Vice President Amir Shani addressed the challenge of maintaining the supply chain and the logistics of import and export activities in Israel amidst the crisis. “All five ports in Israel are operational,” he emphasized. “There may be shifts, such as goods being redirected to Haifa Port instead of Ashdod Port, but it’s important to know that they are all functioning, including Eilat Port. The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is not an Israeli crisis but a global one. It is crucial to remember that Egypt is the country suffering the most from the crisis in Suez; ships are not entering through the Suez Canal, causing significant economic losses to the Egyptian economy.”

Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin, chairperson of the Israel Export Institute, commented that she had not previously seen such mobilization of the business sector in a national crisis. She also noted “the immense support from the global business community,” adding: “The Israeli business sector proves that it can proceed to thrive with full strength. We fight this war so that no other Western country will have to.”

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