Living in ruach

I think this time of year, end of summer/beginning of fall, may be my favorite time of year in Tel Aviv. It's still hot enough to be at the beach every day, but cools off enough at night to not need air conditioning. There's a pleasant breeze, and less tourists. Tel Aviv has quieted somewhat, like now she's back to breathing as her natural self.

We recently celebrated Simchat Torah, the holiday celebrating the fact that God gave us the Torah. I joined in the traditional synagogue song and dance, but the most special part of the holiday for me was when I was sitting at a streetside cafe and a spontaneous crowd of people came singing and dancing down the street, Torah scrolls bouncing in the air among them. There was such genuine joy on everyone's faces, religious and secular alike, young and old, passing noisily down the street - everyone simply joyful for our Torah. It's not something you see in the diaspora. In the diaspora we generally limit our religious celebrations to the home and the synagogue. But here on a main street in central Tel Aviv, traffic stopped in the middle of the evening for everyone to come together and just have fun and be happy for our Torah. It was affecting.

In other news, I got to see my dear Charles Jacobs last week - which was wonderful - and a few thought-provoking comments came up in our conversation. He was explaining why he believes in God, and said no reason makes him more convinced of God's existence than the fact that the Jews are still alive. He argues there is no good reason why we should still be around - we are "politically stupid", always persecuted, outnumbered, etc etc, but 3,000 years later we're still kicking - so there must be a reason for it. There must be a God. I agree!
Charles and I also discussed the problematic birth rates in Europe - Christian Europeans on average are having 1 or 2 children per couple, while the number of Muslim births in Europe is skyrocketing. Charles attributes this to secularism - Europeans are becoming less religious. He argues that religion, or having religious beliefs, is the main motivation to have children. So without this, of course secular Europeans are choosing to spend their money on restaurants over baby toys. I think his point is interesting and probably true in many cases, but I wouldn't conclude 100% that all reproduction is motivated by some sort of religious faith. I think for the majority it's true, but some people who may not believe in God still understand that love is the most powerful force in the universe, and choose to have children to share in that love. But I've asked quite a few people here what they think, and most seem to agree with Charles. What does motivate a person to have 10 children instead of 2?

Speaking of love, I went to a wedding in southern Israel 2 nights ago, and it was magnificent. 600 people attended the wedding, which is somewhat normal in Israel. The average wedding here has about 400 guests. Anyway, just to give an example of how bad Israelis are with anything time-related, the wedding invitation called for a 6:30 start. My Israeli boyfriend insisted we didn't need to get there til 8pm which I thought was rude, and we argued practically the whole way about whether we would be early or late. Well, the wedding started at 9. That's just a small taste of how Israelis perceive time :-)

The groom was the first of many grandchildren in a large family to get married. The proud grandfather, who had probably waited his whole life for this moment, was perched in a wheelchair beside the stage that the bride and groom ascended for the ceremony. As the bride and groom walked down the long column formed by the 600 guests leading up to the chupa, the bride stopped and kissed the grandfather on the cheek before she continued on her way. The grandfather just broke down - it was like his face broke open and he was shaking crying with joy and emotion. I couldn't even look at him, it made me feel like my heart was going to rip open and I would cry and cry. Even the caretaker standing by his side couldn't hold back the tears.
And being at the wedding, I felt again why I love so much to be in Israel - the ruach. (spirit/energy). Everyone was just so joyful, so full of energy, so celebratory. The dancing didn't stop from beginning to end. The meals were served and cleared and the dance floor never once emptied. The best thing about Israelis - definitely their ruach.