Like many surprising and strange moments in my life, I find myself in these moments writing a summary article for "Shishvat" magazine of "Israel Today".
I'm sure many of the readers are raising an eyebrow.
What about Mendel Rata, the son of a conservative Rebbe, the great-grandson of the founder of the Mea Shearim Hassidic dynasties, and "Israel Today"?
Last week, an article was published here about me, in which I spoke with Hanani Bleich about the love song I released two months ago, at the expense of the ticking I use, and about the "riots" I am used to causing in ultra-Orthodox society with statements she is not accustomed to.
Anyone who has read the article understands, then, that writing an article for an Israeli newspaper that speaks to the entire Jewish people is a pretty natural thing for a soul like me.
A soul sitting on the side of the road, attentive to the various melodies in Israeli society and trying to draw a statement that draws its spirit from the mosaic of melodies.
I sit in the ultra-Orthodox district of Ashdod, and my heart goes out to the entire Israeli society, to the entire Jewish people living in Zion.
I was born into a rebbe family, with the apparent destiny to one day be another rebbe in a Hassidic dynasty. But as a teenager in the yeshiva I realized I wanted something different. To be connected to something much bigger. Institutions for excellent students. He wanted to talk to the Jewish people. So he preferred to go on a journey across towns and villages, hug people, pinch the cheeks of pure children and say to them: "Beautiful people, how much I love you.
What fun to meet you. "He just wanted to love. To be connected in his soul to all the people of Israel.
Last Friday, when the newspaper came out, I walked from the Haredi district in Ashdod (District 7), where I live, to the nearby District VI.
One kiosk salesman told me that was where I could sneak my newspaper.
On the way I asked one guy about 17, non-religious, where to get the paper, and he replied, "Come on, I'm going in that direction, you can go with me."
So we went and talked, maybe seven minutes.
I do not know how to describe it to you, but this scene was so beautiful and touching.
I said to myself, the truth?
Every day I want it that way.
To meet another Jewish soul living in a cultural space different from me and to create an encounter between worlds.
I have an old dream to one day do the entire Israel Trail on foot, just for that.
Because I have long felt that our wholeness is only the connection between the worlds.
I came from a world that has a lot of Torah study, and I meet around me a world that has a lot of color, beauty, love, culture and art.
The signs on the Haredi street herald Torah lessons, and the signs on the secular street tell a different story, which fascinates me no less.
I would definitely like to go every week to art and singing performances, or to festivals that have an expression for mind, body and spirit.
I once told an ultra-Orthodox friend that the Torah is like water, but for water you also need a good cup.
The Torah is for the soul, but in order to receive it correctly you need a healthy tool.
A healthy soul in a healthy body.
And what happens when the water does not sit inside the vessel?
The water misses the vessel, and the vessel the water.
In the beit midrash from which I come, we learn a lot of Torah, but this Torah misses space, a healthy vessel, a healthy soul that will receive it.
There is water, but there is no healthy enough vessel for this water.
And the one who can give the Torah of Israel this healthy space and tool is in my eyes precisely this public, which may not have grown in yeshivas but built the country in its body and created a rich and healthy Israeli Jewish culture, in its soul and spirit.
Has the time been prepared to reconnect all parts of the nation and create such a rich Jewish statement?
Quite a few young ultra-Orthodox friends whisper in my ear that yes, it's time.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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