>> Torah portion Mixed Emotions zee' 7CW! We are so proud of our Dad and Grandpa, Aron Zoldan, for being selected as the speaker testae his story at the Walk for Israel. Parshat Behukotai: Leviticus: 26:3- 27:34; Jeremiah: 16:19-17:14. T he days that link Pesach to Shavuot are filled with vastly different events and emotions. On Yom HaShoah, we remember the Holocaust. We mourn Israel's fallen on Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day. But we express joy on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Each day, we count one of the 50 days between Pesach and Shavuot. This is called Sefirat haOmer, counting the Omer (a measure of barley), and is a joyful connection between the freedom from Egypt at Passover and the revelation of God at Sinai we celebrate on Shavuot. On Lag b'Omer (May 18 this year), we will cel- ebrate the life of the great sage Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai, author of the Zohar (a mystical enlightenment of the Torah), but also remember the tragic deaths of the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who died because they did not show respect to each other. This time is also the anniversary of the first crusade that took place in 1096 C.E., (and I dare not forget our synagogue dinner, June 1). It seems very strange to have so many different emotions packed into such a short period of time. But how are we expected to relate to such a wide range of emotions? When liberated from Buchenwald at age 8, Rabbi Meir Lau, today the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, recalls in his memoir Out of the Depths that he was sent, together with his brother and 500 other children, to an orphanage 50 miles from Paris. On one occasion, the house mother, herself a survivor, informed the chil- dren that an important French delega- tion would be visiting. To her surprise, the older children refused to coop- erate; they questioned where these people had been during the war while they were suffering in Buchenwald. On the day that the visitors came, they addressed the 500 children who refused to look at them. During the speeches delivered in French and translated into Yiddish and Polish, the children kept their eyes on the ground. The protest continued until the last speaker stood at the podium to speak. He was a survivor who had lost his wife and children in the Holocaust. Since the liberation, he had dedi- cated himself to the cause • of displaced children; it was explained that "these were the only children he had left:' At that moment, all the chil- dren raised their eyes to look at him, and he in turn looked into the faces of 500 hurting children. He was so taken with emotion that he was not able to say anything except "my dear children ..." At that point he broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. Rabbi Lau recalls that it was painful to hear an adult man cry into the microphone but, nevertheless, as he wept, a miracle occurred. Each one of the boys sitting there began to cry, too. These boys had not cried when they were liberated, had not cried when they received word of the fate of their parents, had not cried when they were told that they had no home left — but now they cried. Rabbi Lau was only a young child at the time, but he remembers that he had thought, before this event, that he had no emotions; he thought that he would never cry. Now that he knew that he could cry, he felt sure that one day in the future he would be able to laugh. What is striking about Rabbi Lau's story is that these hardened orphans were revived only by someone who himself understood and shared their suffering. To empathize with someone, you have to feel their pain on a very personal level, not just with lip service but with sincerity. Only by sharing someone else's misfortunes can one really appreciate their joys. We are the Nation of Israel because we share each other's experiences, suf- fering, salvation and joy. This short period of 50 days between Passover and Shavuot is jam-packed with differ- ent emotions — and, after all, that is what peoplehood is all about! ❑ Ate 0 uh, Love,, Addhece aa _Matra , Pam, ahell Stwol A)titoece, caut Zogleau, Sttak j (4_4 Coevau, 131tatcea, &1u Could Aeekneau, gRuteem guatetchektek aitzt 99 ket qua g wad/4Am, FREE DELIVERY NOW OPEN! Your NEW Neighborhood Pharmacy p Franklin Discount Pharmacy FREE MEDICATION CONSULTATION 20% 20% OFF DISCOUNT ALL CASH PRESCRIPTIONS' , Jell ALL NEW PATIENTS Oak Park. Franklin Discount Pharmacy 29113 Northwestern Hwy. 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