By Nadia Matar
September 4, 2001
Posted with permission of Women in Green.
I want to tell you: despite the difficult situation, I am optimistic.
Rabbi Benny Elon said once in a demonstration: to be optimistic means knowing that the situation is extremely serious and difficult, but knowing that, with God's help, it is also possible to emerge from this, and that, with God's help, it is possible to prevail and be victorious.
I received proof this week, when I attended a very special evening that I will speak about later, an event that in its entirety expressed the verse "hazak, hazak, ve-nithazek" - "Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the cities of our God" (II Samuel 10:12).
Incidentally, this verse was distributed in thousands of copies, on cloth banners and on posters, throughout Israel. The distributors were highly successful: they succeeded in annoying the former government minister, Yuli Tamir. She was so upset that she wrote an editorial in "Ha'aretz" against the "religious-messianic" signs that cause "damage to Zionism." In my opinion, the reason that this verse so greatly bothered Yuli Tamir is that it reminded her that we are indeed strong, that we cannot be broken; we - that is, those Jews, religious and less religious - who believe in the eternal Divine link between the people and the Land. Those Jews, who, despite the terrorist attacks, despite the loss, despite the bereavement, continue to proclaim, "Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the cities of our God." Those Jews who, despite the shooting on the roads, despite the mortars on houses, remain in their settlements and do not leave, continue routine life as much as possible, continue to travel on the roads, continue to build, establish "me'achazim" [outpost settlements], settlement core groups, continue to settle, continue to smile, and yes, continue to sing as well.
The so amazing event which I saw this week was the premiere performance of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" in the Gush Etzion community center. The story began about two months ago, at the end of the school year, when a group of women from Efrat and Gush Etzion spoke together about the "situation" and the urgent need to improve people's mood and to raise the public's morale. Various ideas were raised, until
Sharon Katz, a very special woman, who is active in many areas, a resident of Efrat, suggested staging the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat." As is well known, this successful musical was staged many years ago in the United States, as an outstanding musical for the entire family.
The story of the righteous Joseph is presented to the public with drama, with humor, with feeling, and, mainly, with much singing and dancing. It was decided to stage the performance by women for women. More than a hundred women, from Efrat and from Gush Etzion - grandmothers, mothers, girls, and children - volunteered to be part of this grandiose project. Women were found with hidden talents - singers, dancers, choreographers, writers, seamstresses, artists, and more. Those women gathered for exhausting and tiring rehearsals during the entire eight weeks of the summer, at least four times a week, each time for long hours into the middle of the night. The musical was presented to the audience in its original language, English, with connecting and explanatory passages in Hebrew.
At first, the question was raised of whether to conduct rehearsals on the day on which a terrorist attack was perpetrated. It transpired that if the rehearsals had to be canceled every time there was a terrorist attack, the rehearsals would never be held. And so it was decided, intentionally, to hold all the rehearsals. The night before the premiere performance, the husband of one of the main actresses in the play was wounded. Sixteen bullets were fired by despicable Arab murderers at the car in which her husband, a Jew residing in Efrat, was traveling. The murderers attacked him not far from Beit Shemesh, on his way from Ben-Gurion Airport to Efrat. The bullets hit his hand and his leg. After it was learned that his condition in the hospital, thank God, was stable, his wife, Ann, decided not to cancel the performance, specifically in order to show the murderers that we will not stop singing.
As the director, Toby Greenwald, said in the introduction: "We women of Efrat and Gush Etzion, we are neither politicians nor members of the military. We will not begin to lecture about 'the situation.' This musical is our response to 'the situation.'" The musical was staged in memory of the victims of terror, and especially the seven victims of terror, residents of Efrat and Gush Etzion, who fell in recent months in the war for our land -- including Esther Alvan and Sarah Blaustein, may the Lord avenge them. All the proceeds are earmarked for charity, for terror victims.
Words fail me in describing how wonderful, how special, moving, fantastic, unbelievable, professional, and amazing that evening was. The organizers succeeded in elevating everyone's spirits. Women came to the premiere from Efrat and Gush Etzion, Beit Shemesh, and Jerusalem. The tickets for the next three performances went like wildfire. The breathtaking musical event succeeded in creating a bond between the women, a bond of love, a bond of a shared destiny, a bond of power and strength, a bond of faith, a bond of "Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the cities of our God."
This sisterly bond that was felt on that special evening reminded me of Rabbi Motti Elon's words in an inspirational evening in the area. The Rabbi quoted the "Keli Yakar" commentator on the Torah portion of Shelah. It is written, "Send out men for yourself [to scout the land of Canaan]" (Numbers 13:2). What does this mean, "Send out men for yourself"? Why "for yourself"? Keli Yakar explains: Moses wanted to send men, males, to be the spies who would scout out the Land, but, according to Keli Yakar, G-d specifically preferred women to scout the land. He writes: "As our Rabbis, of blessed memory, wrote: The men hated the Land and said, 'Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt' [Numbers 14:4], while the women [the daughters of Zelophehad] loved the Land and said, 'Give us a landholding' [Numbers 27:4]
G-d therefore said: According to My opinion, for I foresee the future, it would be better to send women, who love the Land, for they will not defame it; but you, according to your opinion, who think that they [the men] are fit, and you think that the Land is beloved by them, send men. This is 'Send out for yourself,' according to your opinion, men - but according to My opinion, it would be preferable to send women."
Today, women are in the front line of the war for our land. Mothers sacrifice themselves in order to defend babies from the bullets of the Arab terrorist monster. And at the same time, they continue to sing and dance. And together with our husbands and children, we all proclaim: "Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the cities of our God."
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