In a few hours, we are approaching the celebration of Shavuot, the third and last of the solemn holidays (during which people went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem) of this year marked, starting on October 7, by the horrors of terrorism and the war suffered, which has overwhelmed Israel and Jewish communities around the world. A trail of names among victims, missing persons, hostages, desperate families, wounded, soldiers, and civilian heroes known and those faceless due to silence of mission or modesty led us from the feast of Simchat Torah, in which the completion of the readings is celebrated of the Torah and, therefore, of the content of the scriptures, to the feast that establishes the delivery to the Jewish people of the Tablets of the Law and the precepts, and which this year takes on a new and profound existential dimension to the meaning of being Jewish and the bond with the earth.
The moment in which the Jewish people are summoned, purified, and gathered together—the transmission of the Torah—is also described as a moment of thunder and smoke that announces the presence of God among the people, a moment of maximum sacredness. The exact opposite happened in Simchat Torah when flames and thunder of weapons invaded Israel without anyone being prepared. The desecration of any value, human beings, and everything built and invested.
The liberation from Egypt and the end of slavery concern the physical existential dimension—the feeling of being part of a lineage-collectivity united by destiny, thanks to the commitment of its leaders. But it is only with the reception of the Torah that the people receive "instructions” to articulate structures of public, private, institutional, and administrative life of government and justice.
At that event, which occurred around the 14th century BCE (2,448 years after the creation of the world), at the foot of Mount Sinai, the souls of all future generations were also present, according to tradition. I think that every Jew expresses a connection with this intense moment in how he lives and transmits to his children and grandchildren the essence and destiny of being a Jewish person. The delivery of the Torah was not only an act that concerned the Jewish people and their "strange customs" and "fixations." It was a revolution that, in addition to the foundation of monotheism and the relationship with divinity, brought together and systematized other areas of human relations and became a system. The other monotheistic religions, in particular Christianity and Islam, would not exist without the Jewish foundations and without the Bible, which has become the heritage of all humanity.
The Book of Books. Today, the challenge, combined with pain and serious concern, is to make people recognize not only the good that Judaism has given to the whole world but also every abuse and exploitation of faith and its sources to justify the culture of death and terror. We will always respond to the culture of life. Despite the pain and persecution, we will get back on our feet and continue to make every inch of our earth sprout and flourish. 15 years ago, the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, with the objective of making the EU more democratic, efficient, and prepared to face global problems, and to make it speak with a single voice, even with the institution of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs. They are not 15 centuries of precepts and cornerstones of biblical faith, but 15 years that were supposed to strengthen what was dreamed of after the war. Today, with a new European Parliament just elected, our appeal is for the affirmation of a space of true life and freedom, including religious freedom, and for the launch of a constitutional text that can withstand existential challenges and face threats and implosions of the value system.
May it not only be the Europe of finance and economics but also know how to coexist, welcome, and integrate by accepting those fundamental principles that concern the life and dignity of men, women, and children. To reiterate and strengthen the role of international organizations in which Europe, free and capable of building, regains weight and voice to the calls for the annihilation of Israel and the Jews.
Today, the regression of these organizations is such that the texts of resolutions and initiatives breathe hatred, far from any sacredness of truth and life commanded by our shared Bible. I close this reflection with a dedication to Amiram Cooper z"l, one of the hostages whose body was recovered two weeks ago, with a courageous action by the Israeli army, together with three other hostage companions, murdered by the terrorists of the Nukhba unit of Hamas.
Among the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, in addition to being an expert and wise farmer, Cooper, who was 84 years old, was also known for his poems and his writing, which expresses a profound knowledge of the biblical language. One of his best-known songs, Shibolei Paz (The Golden Ears), is dedicated to the celebration of Shavuot, for which we provide a link to both the text and the version sung by the well-known Ghevatron choir. The poem describes how the wheat and barley are loaded and ripe for the harvest, how the season has come to go and reap what has been sown, and the bravery of the boys and girls.
This year, after the tragic horrors of October 7, the harvest in the fields and the harvest of many fruits in the strip of Jewish settlements that surrounds Gaza were possible thanks to the unparalleled commitment of thousands of volunteers, who came from all over Israel and the world to give support of spirit and hands to the tiring work. The connection with the land, breathing it as an oxygen of hope, is the affirmation of this celebration handed down not only as a memory of an event fixed in history but as an imperative of a full and fruitful life welcomed in all the realities that make up Israel and our people. I am confident that by singing this and other songs with children, the first fruits of our life as it goes forward, we will find strength and courage to face the next days and challenges in families and homes from north to south of Israel in the hope that they will soon return safely to their palm of land.
This editorial was originally published in Italian by Moked.
