Lag Ba'Omer

The following article was written by Tal Gilad two years ago and translated into English by Bat-Zion Susskind - Sacks

In recent years, an acceptable social custom has been spreading, to discredit Bar Kochba (in Hebrew it means the “son of stars”). It kind of looks wise and realistic, we will all become an Ilana Dayan of the Jewish history, especially if we add that Chazal, likewise, treated him skeptically and called him “Bar Koziba (false messiah).”

Ben Kusba was his official name on his driver’s license., so the most one could do with it is play with one letter. So, perhaps, his name was written differently because of pronunciation. However, Chazal’s main doubt stemmed from the fact that some of them were hoping that he was the Mashiach and it turned out that he was not. It is not even certain that Bar Kochba regarded himself as such. It is merely hinted in one folklore tale which is not based on a true event. In all references, he addresses himself as Shimon Bar Kusba, the president of Israel, not a mashiach and not even Bar Kochva.

Alas, a nation’s history is not composed merely of victories and successes.
As a matter of fact, most rebellions in the world failed, naturally. An uprising is generally attempted by the weak against those who are stronger, but all those failed rebellions turned to be a symbol of national pride which awards them with adrenaline to keep on going.

The Slovaks proudly point out and built museums and monuments to commemorate their uprising against the Nazis in 1944 which ended in an excruciating defeat. Bridges, streets and squares are named after it. The Poles share the same sentiments regarding their revolt in that same year which ended in a destruction of Warsaw with 250,000 dead. A quarter of a million(!) and no one is yelling “Why did we even bother.” The why is clear, they were fighting a conqueror.

The Hungarian revolt against the Austrians in 1848 ended up in their rout and the execution of its commanders. Yet, that does not prevent from the Hungarians to mark their Independence Day on the 15^th of March, the date of the outbreak of the revolt, each year. In Madagascar, the uprising against the French, in which at least 30,000 locals were killed, is proudly celebrated each year. There are plenty of other examples.

Even the American National anthem, the “Star Spangled Banner,” which Americans sing fervently with a hand on their heart was written during the war of 1812, which, itself, was not a glorious success, to say the least. The anthem originated in the battle at Fort McHenry in which the Americans were not even able to respond as the British bombarded them incessantly with long range canons and the writer simply got excited at the sight of the banner that continued to fly despite the shelling.

From the little that is known about Bar Kochba’s rebellion, it shows that it was well planned, realistic, devoid of religious hysteria, attributes that differentiated it from the previous revolt. The rebels prepared for it secretly and even dug a tunnel system in the style of the Vietcong Cauchi Tunnels. The command was central and organized, unlike in the previous one, and the number of fighters was much greater.

The Romans had difficulties crushing the uprising. One legion was destroyed entirely. Others absorbed great losses. At one stage, the Romans were able to concentrate, in Judea, one third of the army of the great empire. Finally, Julius Severos, a Roman Senator, stationed in Britain was sent to Judea. He is the one who was finally able to overcome the Jews through isolation and a siege while slowly approaching Beitar. In the eyes of the Romans, it was regarded as a great victory against a bitter enemy.

The outcome of the revolt was indeed devastating. And I deliberately use the term “the outcome of the revolt’ and not the “revolt caused,” because the revolt did not cause, the Romans did. The resistance of the raped did not cause the beating of the rapist.  She cannot be guilty for trying to resist. The revolt resulted in hundreds of thousands of dead, the dwindling down of the Jewish settlement, exile and gradual emigration following edicts that were issued. And worst of all -the horrible name Palestine – the curse of Adrian. Despite all of that, there has always been continuous Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisraelsrael and the Bar Kochba revolt was not the last one. How many of us heard of the revolt of Gallus in 351? Yes, another Jewish uprising against Rome, headed by a man whose name is not so pleasant to the ear, Patricious, who was also considered a messiah until he, too, failed. Another revolt took place in the seventh century against Byzantine. It lasted four years and ended with a settlement which was revoked through Christian incitement and led, as usual, to the slaughter of Jews.

These revolts are hardly mentioned in our history perhaps because they were small and perhaps because it was in violation of the three oaths which gained much more validity after the Bar Kochba revolt – no to rebelling against the gentiles, no to climbing the wall and lastly, the need to wait patiently, when the wise Jewish elders said: Leave national honour aside, it is more important to secure the people at any cost. Don’t resist, first remain alive, the rest will be taken care of later.

“He should have known.” The same words would have been said about Judah the Maccabee, if the Revolt he had led had failed, about Ben Gurion, if, G-d forbid, we would have lost in 1948. One can say that about almost any revolt in the history of mankind. Revolt is a combination of a moral right and a calculated risk. Generally, the rebels know that their odds are few, but they know that they have to fight for their freedom, to send a clear message: We shall not surrender, a message that is addressed to the conqueror and future generations.

So, without any doubt – he was a hero, he called for freedom, albeit for a short time, but let us give him the honour that the man, who carried out one of the most difficult revolts against the Roman Empire, deserves.

A Vanished World

Yesterday, I posted a video of a rare footage that captured Jewish life and culture in the Shtetl before WWII. I am a product of that culture. I am grateful that I am.

Now, I cannot expect everyone to share my sentiments on this. However, I am dumbfounded at some of the reactions that somehow projected a negative attitude and somewhat contempt towards that chapter in our Jewish history. Yes, there were pogroms, yes there was persecution and yes, there was poverty. But is that all that people see and remember of it?

How sad!

 Life in the Shtetl was very hard and often dangerous, no doubt about that. It was particularly true during the end of 19^th and early 20th centuries when persecution, economic restrictions and outbreaks of violence pressed increasingly on the socioeconomic foundations of the shtetl.

But it was the culture that helped overcome some of those difficulties, I believe, 
 create a wonderful resilient Jewish spirit. 

I personally was always captivated by the stories that I heard about the shtetl. I was enchanted particularly by the values of Yiddishkeit (Jewishness) and Menshlikhkeyt (humanness) around which the shtetl's life revolved. The traditional ideals of piety, learning and scholarship, communal justice, and charity were integrated in the warm and intimate life style of the shtetl.

As a child, I would always want to hear more about the life that had become a graveyard.

"Bobe, dartziel mir a maise fun amolike yorn (Grandma, tell me a story from the old days)," I would constantly beg of my grandmother in Yiddish. 

Those were some of the happiest moments in my childhood. The stories told by my grandmother mirrored a life of substance and meaning that could not and would never be duplicated. They had a hidden glow about them, always threaded with humour, wisdom and wit.

One person asked, after watching that video, “Where were the women in that video?” “They were at home,” answered another. I will tell you where the women were. They, the Yiddishe Momas, were at home raising some of the finest Jewish kids, giving them all the love and warmth that no nanny or living in maid could ever.  The home was the basic unit in the culture and life of the shtetl; it was founded on a patriarchal and closely- knit structure on traditional lines. The Jewish mother oversaw the Home. And thank G-d for that.

If you really wish to know what the women did, let me invite you to read the lyrics of "My Yiddishe Mommee." It will tell you where women were in that video. I know what it means, I had such one “woman” as mother. Mine was not only at home, she was also out working hard helping my father create a fine Jewish Home. She was one who is described in these few lines:
"How few were her pleasures, she never cared for fashion's style 

Her jewels and treasures she found them in her baby's smile 

Oh I know that I owe what I am today 

To that dear little lady to old and gray 

To that wonderful Yiddishe Momme of mine."

http://lyricsplayground.com/.../m/myyiddishemomme.shtml

The synagogue, Beit Hamidrash, was the house of prayer, the house of study and the house of assembly combined. It was the place that preserved the Great Spirit of the Jewish people in its purest form. It was the compassionate, old, loving and loyal mother who, in her graciousness gathered the tears of her lost sons and daughters constantly sheltering and consoling yet at the same time granting them the iron will for an eternal spiritual survival. 

Has anyone ever read Bialik?

Bialik, the greatest Jewish poet, in my humble view, was a product of that culture. His poetry mirrored the suffering, but it also reflected the Jewish Spirit that this culture produced and preserved. He was the bridge between that culture and our modern Jewish state. So were Sha”i Agnon, Natan Alterman and many others who were  reared in that culture. I cannot brush it off as insignificant, dear readers.

The hardest blow, however, came in the form of a private message from a person who shall remain nameless. That person could not understand how I felt the way I did about this chapter in our history. That nameless person went on to suggest that those Jews of the shtetle, my people were “whimps and went like a lamb to the slaughterhouse.”

To that nameless person and all those other nameless who feel “machoisticly” superior to the millions who died in the Shoah, let me say this.

What did you expect of 1.5 million children that were mercilessly murdered in the Shoah, resistance? How about the frail elderly, women, and disabled ones? Had you been in their place, would you have believed then that the human mind could have conceived of putting people in ovens??? Would you not have jumped into a shower after several days of being in a cattle train surrounded by the smell death, urine and facies? Would you, yes YOU, have thought that instead of water, you would be showered with Zyklon B?

Those who could resist, did resist.

My father was one of them. He had a choice. He escaped and joined the partisans. That is how he earned 71% disability from the Nazis.

That culture cradled, developed and shaped others like him. It also produced Jabotinsky, Ben Gurion, Begin and many other giants, lest you forget. Those ended up being the leaders of our Great Home, Medinat Yisrael.

That is how I prefer to remember that Vanished world. That is the way, I always will.