–Helen Fielding
We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.
–Winston Churchill
A good few years ago, a relative travelled to Israel from the Old Country to spend a summer volunteering on a Kibbutz. During that summer, they decided to stay in the HolyLand and attend classes at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Having packed for only a summer, my relative needed to buy a few supplies for the upcoming Jerusalem winter. One of the things they bought was a blanket. It gets cold in Jerusalem.
My relative eventually returned to the Old Country and brought some of the things they had bought for that winter with them, including the blanket. At that time, I was still young and very impressionable, and my youthful Zionism was fired at the sight of the 'Product of Israel' tag on the blanket. While this relative never actually gifted the blanket to me, they didn't seem to notice that I had totally appropriated said Israeli artifact.
At that time, I actually had a Hudson Bay Blanket on my bed, and didn't need the wispy DIB (a nickname commonly used by non-Israelis for anything Israeli, usually people, the initials meaning 'Dear Israeli Brother' cough cough) blanket at all, but I kept it for years in my room as I plotted my own escape from the Old Country winters. The 'Product of Israel' tag called to me.
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| For comparison only |
And indeed, a few years later, knowing that I would also be attending an Israeli university, I packed the blanket in a box with other essentials (toothpaste, baby powder, and Zest soap) and shipped it to my new lodgings in a dormitory in the Holy City of Ramat Gan.
The blanket didn't keep me that warm and I had to buy another one, but I held on to it and always considered it my 'Israeli' blanket.
Years passed, and the blanket travelled with me to several dorm rooms, an apartment in Jerusalem, and many different abodes in the wilds of the northern Negev. Over the years, because it really is a rather thin blanket and because upon my eventual and official Aliyah, I was given a thick pink duvet by the Jewish Agency and because I inherited my then roommate's Jewish Agency's Aliyah duvet (hers was much nicer than mine) when she needed to leave the country quickly (a story for another time) and then received a third Jewish Agency Aliyah duvet upon marriage (it came with the groom), my Product of Israel blanket became relegated to being a second or even third blanket on really cold nights. It also became slightly raggedy around the edges.
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| Thanks to the Jewish Agency |
More time passed, and today I am the proud owner of at least seventeen different blankets of all sizes, fabrics, and colours. They don't all reside with me in my house. Many have been appropriated by various children, which seems appropriate.
My three sons were all called up to reserve duty on October 7th. On his first visit home, one son asked if he could take a blanket back with him. The army was short of sleeping bags, and depended almost entirely on donations, which had not yet reached all the units. I offered him a thick warm duvet or a double flannel blanket. He refused them saying that whatever he took with him might not come back. Looking through a stack of blankets, he held up my slightly raggedy and obviously-seen-better-days Product of Israel blanket.
"This one ok?" he asked.
I hesitated for less than a second, "Of course you can have it, but it's not very warm", I warned him,
"I'll be fine", he assured me.
He and the blanket served on the northern border throughout the winter. The blanket added another address to its already impressive list.
A few days ago, finishing up his second round of reserve duty, my son returned the blanket to me. "I'm sorry it's a bit dirty. I didn't get a sleeping bag for a while. But the weather is much warmer now and it's not raining, and I won't need it when I go back." He fully expects to be called up again before summer sets in completely.
After a long, cold, horrible, grief-filled winter, my Israeli blanket, like all Israelis, is a bit more raggedy, a bit more worn.
But we are Products of Israel, and we are made to last and here to stay.
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| A Product of Israel |
He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob — may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand
guard over our land and the cities of our God, from the border of the Lebanon
to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah,
on the land, in the air, and on the sea.
May the Almighty cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down
before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighters
from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He
send blessing and success in their every endeavor.
May He lead our enemies under our soldiers’ sway and may He grant them
salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the
verse: For it is the Lord your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies
for you to save you.
And a prayer for the quick and safe return of all our hostages:
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלִּפְנֵי אָבִינוּ
שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם
אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיא אֶת עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִתַּחַת סִבְלוֹת מִצְרַיִם
הוּא יְבָרֵךְ וְיִנְצֹר אֶת אַחֵינוּ וְאַחְיוֹתֵינוּ
הַחֲטוּפִים הָאֲסוּרִים בְּכַבְלֵי בַּרְזֶל,
יְחַזֵּק נַפְשָׁם וֶאֱמוּנָתָם,
יִשְׁמְרֵם מִכָּל נֶגַע וּמַחֲלָה,
יַחְמֹל עַל בָּנָיו וּבְנוֹתָיו הַמְּצַפִּים לִישׁוּעָתוֹ,
יְבַטֵּל מֵעֲלֵיהֶם כָּל גְּזֵרוֹת אַכְזָרִיּוֹת.
בְּחַסְדּוֹ
הַגָּדוֹל יָחִישׁ פְּדוּתָם וְיֵצְאוּ מְהֵרָה מֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹרָה
וּמִבּוֹר הַשְּׁבִי לְחֵרוּת עוֹלָם וְיָשׁוּבוּ לְשָׁלוֹם אֶל
מִשְׁפְּחוֹתֵיהֶם וְאֶל בָּתֵּיהֶם
אָנָּא,
נֶטַע אַחֲוָה שָׁלוֹם וְרֵעוּת בְּלֵב כֻּלָּם,
הָסֵר קִנְאָה וְשִׂנְאַת חִנָּם וּפְרֹס עָלֵינוּ סֻכַּת
שְׁלוֹמֶךָ
וְנִזְכֶּה בְּקָרוֹב לוֹמַר לְפָנֶיךָ שִׁירָה חֲדָשָׁה.
2 comments:
Hit it on the nail as usual Rees.
2 boys are going back in next week🇮🇱
a profound message wrapped up in an old comforter
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