For so many years We’ve been out of step!
Lee Diamond – Left-Right Left-Right
For so many years We’ve been out of step!
Marching to a different beat
But it was part of who we were.
While so many were marching in step to the beat of the drummer
We marched to the beat of a different drummer
We never wore ties
A tie was ridiculed as a “dag maluach (a herring)”
We were known for this!
We shunned the artificial, the accepted, the facade.
We were building something so special that all of our thoughts, our very
Being was dedicated to being out of step.
We were building a better society, a society built on “re Jew vi Nation.”
Our traditional values re-adjusted to the new Jewish reality.
Every day saw a reconstruction
A new/old language
An old / new city
A different economics
“All for one and one for all”
A contemporary vision of the Prophets of Israel
We agreed to wait
For that telephone
For that TV
For the luxuries of life
A nation that had waited for too many centuries
For a Messiah
Agreed to create this nation and personal dream
With our own hands. Not with phrases of “and even if he tarry I will wait”
But by self redemption daily.
Before we were “start up” nation, we were a nation that never stopped, starting.
But most of all we set out to build a society without ties (a dag Maluach) but one founded
On the underpinnings, the piles of a rich culture of ancient values reconstructed
Into a new Jew. A new person. A Western, an Eastern, a North African, an Ethiopian Jew forged into an :
ISRAELI
And then
And then
This grand experiment
Started to Deconstruct
The ties returned to buttoned collars
Chalutz became a derogatory term.
Zionist suddenly became a taunt!
Socialism became a thing of the past
Privatization: the new idol —and we danced around this idol casting our values aside
“All for me” –and self aggrandizement –replaced the commitment to building a new Jew and
New Jewish nation
The dreamer now a fool
The Self sacrificer a “FRIER”
The search for our Neshama was replaced by marching in step!
Our painful roots became passé
But I know as well as you
That no one can extinguish the flame of the Jewish soul
Not a person, not an enemy , and not even those of us bent on suicide
This is not mysticism but base reality …….
The Jewish soul burns brighter than time –than style and even ties!l
And it will never extinguish
The energy feeding this flame is Eternal
I for one will fan the flame
Until the struggle again consumes our being
To remove the tie
And to rediscover
The Energy within us!
To those who would mourn for us or our future:
Remember that
‘Netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker”
The Eternity of Israel Shall not Falter
Left Right Left Right: let’s get out of step again
And fan our mutual flame together.
So pleased to have Rav. Diamond share his thoughts at Israel Seen.
Rabbi Lee Diamond, is based in Israel and began his unique rabbinate as an Israel Educator for the Diaspora. Rabbi Diamond has served as director of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, and Associate Director of the Israel office of the UJR and NFTY Israel programs. He has dedicated his life to sharing the Israel he loves and creating an educational experiences for everyone visiting Israel. Rabbi Diamond’s philosophy: Israel is the stage on which I want to act out the drama of the Jewish people, its creative survival, and to affect people’s lives. When we see each other our discussion always seems to find its way to the ever changing political situation in Israel. In the end of course we come around to what is dear to the hearts of both of us: the importance of emphasizing Jewish values and ethics in our society.
Lee Diamond, rabbi
Lee Diamond – Left-Right Left-Right
