8 | JUNE 16 • 2022
I
n a recent Torah portion
in the Jewish News, Rabbi
Joseph Krakoff, CEO of the
Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network, told of moving to
Michigan, being
told he had to
pick a college
sports team to
support, and
wrongly choos-
ing both the
University of
Michigan and
Michigan State as his teams.
Having had a daughter at
University of Michigan (Go
Blue!) and a son at Michigan
State (Go Green!), I understand
the dilemma. He tied it very
nicely to the week’s parshah,
where the tribes of Israel, each
under their family banner,
marched together. You knew
what tribe you belonged to, but
also knew you were part of a
bigger whole, the children of
Israel. We are all, essentially, on
Team Israel.
Obviously, being a part of
Hadassah means that you’re
on Team Israel by definition.
We are the Women’s Zionist
Organization of America. But
being on that team, like being
part of a family, doesn’t mean
ignoring or refusing to acknowl-
edge our warts and faults. Part
of belonging to a team or family
means caring enough to try to
make the whole better — and
that means recognizing flaws
and cracks and doing what you
can to help correct them.
June 1 was Jerusalem Day —
Yom Yerushalayim — a joyous
celebration to commemorate the
reunification of Jerusalem. Our
connection to Jerusalem can’t
be overstated — we pray facing
Jerusalem; we declare “next year
in Jerusalem” at every seder; it
was home to our two temples;
and is our physical and spiritual
capital. During the 1948 War
of Independence, Jordan cap-
tured and held East Jerusalem.
We were denied access to East
Jerusalem, which included the
Kotel and Hadassah Hospital
Mt. Scopus.
In the Six-Day War, June
5-10, 1967, Israel retook East
Jerusalem, and the city was
reunited. After 19 years of being
denied access to our holy sites,
Jews could once again pray
at the Kotel, and our capital
city was whole. I’m sure we all
remember the iconic photo
from 1967 of four soldiers, the
first to break through, gazing
with wonder at the Kotel. It was
and is truly a day for joyful cel-
ebration.
However, this year’s celebra-
tion in Jerusalem was marred by
dark, rabid, ugly, hatred. Young
members of two far-right reli-
gious factions used the march
through Jerusalem as an excuse
to harass, intimidate and threat-
essay
Yom Yerushalayim: Working
Together ‘Hand in Hand’ for Peace
Mandy
Garver
PURELY COMMENTARY
A
s a Jewish teen going
on the Frankel Jewish
Academy Montana
trip, I was able to learn so much
about the Cheyenne culture. I
learned about
the battles they
fought for their
land and mass
genocides of
their people, but
the Cheyenne
people are still
holding on to
each other as a powerful cul-
ture.
When we arrived, we
camped out in a football field
of a Northern Cheyenne High
School in Lame Deer for four
nights. For our time in Lame
Deer, our grade was able to go
through many once-in-a-life-
time experiences, one of which
was a sweat lodge. A sweat
lodge is a type of hut heated up
with extremely hot rocks and
boiling water, which release
steam. The Northern Cheyenne
people use this as a ceremony
but welcomed us into the sweat
lodge as a learning experience.
We were also able to see the
Deer Medicine Rocks. These
rocks are very sacred to the
Northern Cheyenne, and it was
an honor to be invited to a place
like this. After walking 2 miles
to the rocks, we were able to see
how amazing this opportunity
was. The Deer Medicine Rocks
had a series of carvings on
them that represented different
things, for example, a lizard is
said to be a young girl and a
turtle to be a young boy. There
were more carvings that in the
Cheyenne culture are believed
to be predictions of upcoming
wars and, because of these wars,
many ceremonies started hap-
pening like Sun Dances.
As Jewish people, I noticed
that we also do certain things
to remember what we lost in
wars and genocides of our
people and that we also have
places that are sacred to us, like
Jerusalem.
After staying in Lame
Deer and learning about the
Northern Cheyenne culture,
we spent one night camping
in Yellowstone, where we saw
the most beautiful scenery. We
were able to see tall mountains,
warm-colored hot springs and
geysers. One of my absolute
favorite things that I saw in
Yellowstone was the famous
Emmanuela
Arkashevsky
student’s corner
Bonding as a Class in Montana