The 70 faces Of Israel

People gather in Tel Aviv. (Bezalel Ben-Chaim/CC BY 2.0)

Our tradition asserts that the Torah has 70 faces, meaning that the Bible is open to all sorts of interpretations, all of them applicable and true. This deeply valuable insight helps Judaism remain vibrant and varied. Having the privilege of being in Israel during our homeland’s 70th birthday has helped make me aware that the principle of 70 faces applies to the Jewish state, as much as the Torah.

In celebration of Israel’s 70 years, here, in no particular order, are 70 faces of Israel I have encountered in recent weeks.

1 A successful Israeli high-tech exec who tired of business and became the senior rabbi of one of Israel’s biggest Reform synagogues.

2 The six-year-old haredi who asked me if I have an iPhone and, after my positive answer, told me it is forbidden.

3-7 An ultra-Orthodox oleh from the United States who travels an hour each way by bus to work, while his wife, an olah from South Africa, works as an executive assistant to support their three kids.

8 A kibbutznik from Hashomer Hatzair who became a rabbi despite her parents’ objections.

9-10 South African olim who have been here for decades. They run a pet store north of Tel Aviv and enjoy their Shabbat dinners at an Italian restaurant with a group of friends.

11 A Sabra who plays chess on Friday nights with the pet store owner and gathers Israeli songs and poems as a cultural commentary on the book of Genesis.

12-17 South African olim who arrived only three weeks ago and are trying to help their four kids adjust, learn to speak Hebrew and find a shul that feels like home.

18 An IDF officer who was on duty at the Gaza border on Passover and says that soldiers don’t have the luxury of feelings and that everything went fine.

19 His sister-in-law, who hopes her kids will not have to serve and who hopes Israel can be strong and assertive, without being aggressive.

20 A former IDF commander-in-chief who reminds his nephew that it is his bubbe’s yahrzeit this week, while at the egalitarian section of the Kotel.

21-23 A tour guide and a child-protection lawyer whose middle son, now an IDF soldier, went to Jewish summer camp in Ontario.

24 A lawyer who argues to protect civil rights in Israel’s High Court of Justice.

25 A poet from Beersheba who expresses her pain and hope through images of wrestling with the tapestry of tradition.

26 A preschool educator, entrepreneur and young mother who moved to the Negev, where she runs a parenting centre and works in an absorption centre with new olim.

27-28 A couple in their early 20s. He is from Jerusalem and was recently released from his service as an IDF armoured corps officer. She is a teacher from Gush Etzion, who announced the expected arrival of their second child on the night of the seder.

29 A student for the Reform rabbinate who grew up ultra-Orthodox and now teaches at a government-recognized Reform day school.

30 A PhD in the history of Zionism who has decided to go on to become a Reform rabbi.

31 A modern Orthodox school teacher who is building his family home on an a religious moshav where he voted against hiring a rabbi to lead the community.

32 The past executive director of Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance and Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow, who now runs the Israel Religious Action Centre.

33-34 An Italian-born olah who met her Israeli husband abroad, converted to Judaism and enjoys Torah study on Shabbat mornings.

35-36 An oleh from Uruguay who met and fell in love with an American olah and is now moving with her to the U.S.

37 A 68-year-old partially sighted grandmother from Washington, D.C., who left her family and made aliyah.

38-42 A marketing consultant who lives in Tel Aviv, where he and his husband are raising their two daughters and one son.

43 A young man who helps young adults create community in Jerusalem and Beersheba, and teaches freestyle dance movement.

41-45 A couple from Bulgaria who made aliyah – one works in an office and the other teaches tennis.

46 A teacher in the disadvantaged Dalet neighbourhood of Beersheba, who is proudly secular and who helped set up a bus to make trips to the beach on Shabbat available to those who cannot afford cars.

47 An archeologist who is helping to start a new Reform congregation in Beersheba, so her children will feel part of a community and a people.

48 An older kibbutznik who lives not far from Gaza and runs a courier service.

49 A younger kibbutznik who lives right near Gaza and started a craft brewery.

50 A modern Orthodox sabra who runs a Reform pre-army leadership program that mixes volunteering with learning about tradition.

51 A retired electrical engineer turned poet who made aliyah after the Second World War, had his bar mitzvah in Jaffa and helped found Moshav Shilat.

52 A young professor at Ben Gurion University who is petitioning the local government to support a classroom that also teaches modern, egalitarian, environmental values.

53 A graduate of Ben Gurion University who grew up in Tel Aviv but settled in Beersheba.

54-58 An American olah and business writer who met her husband while working on programs in Israel for North American teens. Their three daughters all study dance and the oldest is hoping for a combat posting in the IDF next year.

59 A community activist and rabbinic student who moved from Haifa to Beersheba and then to Tel Aviv.

60-62 A high school civics teacher and a librarian who regularly open their home on Shabbat and holidays, while supporting their adult son who has some developmental challenges.

63-64 A schoolteacher who came from Argentina and her husband, whose family comes from Iraq, who celebrated their son’s bar mitzvah with Jewish guests from every continent but Antarctica.

65 A resident of Moshav Shilat who works two jobs, one printing an Israeli newspaper and the other helping the Israel Reform movement partner with the government in the areas of housing and integrating special-needs adults.

66-69 A teacher in her mid 20s who is raising her three children, while her husband serves as an IDF officer.

70 The great grandmother of a bar mitzvah boy, who recalls how they didn’t know what the future would be during the War of Independence and how she has now seen four generations here (and hopes to see five).

This Yom ha-Atzmaut, let’s celebrate by finding ways to connect to Israel and Israelis. Let’s go beyond political articles and analysis, so that we in Canada and our brothers and sisters in Israel might enrich one another over the next 70 years and beyond.

Rabbi Michael Dolgin is the spiritual leader of Toronto’s Temple Sinai congregation.