Hava Nedaber Ivrit: Heroes Pass The Flame
By NIRA LEV
at the peak of the gerush of
Hungarian Jewry, she crossed the
Seepur Bree'at Ha'olam in the
g'vul into Hungary where chayalim
book of Be'reshit, starts with the
hungarim arrested her.
creation of light which is the first
She was taken to beit-
step in the process of introducing
ha'sohar in Budapest where she
order to the "tohu va'vohu" that
was tortured by the Germans who
was predominant in the world. Light,
wanted yedee'ot about the code
or, has been an important semel of
sodi of her radio and about her
chayim, tikvah, tarbut, civilization,
chaverim. Hannah lo gilta davar.
simcha and osher in many
On the 7th of November 1944,
cultures.
Hannah
was executed by a firing
In our religion, or, nerot, and
squad in belt ha'sohar. Hannah,
rows of lights in a menorah, have
who refused to be blindfolded and
always been part of our pulchan,
looked the executioners straight in
part of the religious ritual. Chag
the
eyes, became on that day one
Ha'Chanukah clearly revolves
of our most inspiring giborot, a
around these smalim atikim. The
semel of the or that can pierce the
nes of pach ha'shemen that burnt
choshech, or, as she herself wrote
for eight days in Beit Ha'mikdash,
in her famous shir, she became the
not
only
of
can be seen as a semel
"gafrur sh'hitzit lehavot" — the
this beautiful, meaningful chag, but
little match that was consumed but
of our historia.
hitzit flames, inspired others to go
Jewish history abounds in
on.
examples of serious threats to the
kee-yum of our am, when our
oyvim were out to destroy us
The story
Seepur Bree'at Ha'olam
physically and spiritually, engulfing
of
the
Creation
choshech
us symbolically with the
of the World
of gerush, sevel and helplessness.
the Book
The Book of B'reshit
Then a nes occurs, and the
of Genesis
choshech is penetrated by some
chaos
tohu va'vohu
keren or, and as small as this
light
or
keren or can be, it becomes the
symbol
lehava that carries on our kee'yum, semel
life
chayim
that ensures the hisardut and
hope
tikvah
continued existence of our am.
Many giborim in Jewish history,
some known and some almonim,
can be seen as such karnei or, the
lehavot that carried on the lapid of
Judaism from dor Ie'dor. One of
these giborim is Hannah Szenesh,
who lived in the darkest t'kufah in
Jewish history — T'kufat Ha'shoah.
Hannah, the daughter of the
sofer Bela Szenesh, nolda in 1921
in Budapest, Hungary, to a
mishpacha mitbollelet. At an early
age, Hannah revealed a remarkable
kisharon sifruti and started writing
a yoman which she kept up until
her death. She also wrote poetry,
some of which is known to every
Hebrew reader.
She became an ardent Zionist
after she met a shaliach from Eretz
Yisrael, and in 1939 Hannah alta
la'aretz, studied in Nahalal and later
became a chavera of Kibbutz Sdot
Yam, near Caesaria. In 1942, when
the Yishuv in Palestine learned
about the goral of their achim in
Europe, Hannah joined a k'vutza of
tzanchanim mitnadvim organized
by the Haganah to go to Europe in
an attempt to rescue Yehudim and
organize Jewish resistance. The
tzanchanim realized how dangerous
their tafkid was, but it did not deter
them.
Hanna tzancha over Yugoslavia
in March 1944 and she stayed
among Tito's partisans. On June 7,
Meelon - Dictionary
14
tarbut
simcha
osher
nerot
menorah
pulchan
smalim atikim
pach ha'shemen
Beit Ha'mikdash
chag
historia
kee'yum
am
oyvim
choshech
gerush
sevel
nes
keren or
lehava
hisardut
giborim
almonim
karnei or
lehavot
lapid
dor le
dor
culture
joy
happiness
candles
a lamp
ritual
ancient symbols
..the cruse of oil
The Temple
holiday
history
existence
nation
enemies
darkness
destruction
suffering
a miracle
a ray of light
a flame
survival
heroes
unknown
rays of light
flames
a torch
generation to
generation
period
t'kufah
the period of
t'kufat ha'shoah
the Holocaust
writer
sofer
was born
nolda
an
mishpacha mitbollelet
assimilated family
kisharon sifruti
a literary talent
yoman
a diary
shaliach
.. an emissary from lsrae
to the Diaspora
alta la'aretz ....immigrated to Israel
chavera a member
The Yishuv ..the Jewish community
in Palestine before
the establishment of
the State of Israel
goral
destiny
achim
brethern, brothers
k'vutza
a group
tzanchanim mitnadvim " • . volunteer
paratroopers
tafkid
tzanca
task
jumped from a plane
with a parachute
g'vul
border
chayalim hungarian
Hungarian
soldiers
beit-ha'sohar
the prison
yedee'ot
information
code sodi
secret code
lo gilta davar
did not
reveal anything
shir
poem
Ha'gafrur sh'hitzit lehavot
The
match that
ignited flames
Nira Lev is director of Hebrew
Interactive Learning Center, Agency
for Jewish Education: director of
Hebrew Department, Community
Jewish High School;
c17,