"When the country was young, a lot of things were needed. So those who understood buses made sure there were buses, those who understood houses built houses. I understood songs, so I made sure there were songs - first of all for the holidays, because there were none..."
When I was a child, this is more or less how my mother, Naomi Shemer, explained to me the reason why, to my great embarrassment, every time a holiday comes, they learn a poem in her kindergarten.
One of Mom's most successful holiday songs is the song she wrote for Sukkot - "Sholomit Bona Sukkah".
The late Naomi Shemer. "One of her most beautiful songs", photo: Flash 90
This song in my eyes is not only a beautiful song for the holiday, but a real road map - how can Shlomit, that is us, not only build a Sukkah, which is a temporary house, but a "Sukkat Shalom", whose existence is not threatened by anything.
The first stanza shows us how much of a Zionist Shlomit is: she does not wait for God alone to turn her sukkah into a sukkah of peace as in prayer, which is the source of the expression - "spread over us your sukkah of peace", but she makes an effort herself so that her sukkah is not "just a bright and green sukkah". but "Sukkat Shalom".
The grenade that replaced the etrog
But what conditions are necessary for her to succeed in the task?
These appear in the second stanza, in the form of the things she "will not forget to put".
Here the four species appear (except for the etrog, which was replaced by a pomegranate), which imply to us that Shlomit is all of us - after all, the four species are likened to the people of Israel.
The four species in the market in Bnei Brak.
The message of the song - learn to live together, photo: Koko
But precisely the etrog - the most exalted species, the one that has both taste and smell, both Torah and good deeds - does not participate in the celebration.
A pomegranate appears in its place.
Not a pomegranate that Shlomit bought at the supermarket, but a "pomegranate inside of him", one that she picked herself from the tree.
Why?
What is the etrog's sin?
The Talmud tells of the two times when Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son came out of their hiding place in the cave, where they were hiding out of fear of the Romans.
For the first time - after 12 years - they came out as etrogs: they were so high in their celibacy and Torah study that their gaze burned everything they looked at.
Immediately Bat Kol came out, ordering them to return to the cave for another year.
When they went out again, he saw a farmer making his way back to his house from the field with two bundles of satay dates in his hands.
When they asked him why two, he answered them: "One against 'remember' and one against 'zakor'".
Rashbi immediately said to his son: "You and I are enough for the world."
That is, a nation with too many etrogs cannot exist for long on its land.
A nation of farmers who grow their own "pomegranate in their own hands", and even though they have been roughed up in this worldly life, they still remember and keep the Sabbath - yes.
So it can be said, regarding the debate about the core studies in the ultra-Orthodox sector, that Shlomit and her Ramon, who replaced the etrog, are probably in favor - but on the condition that even the secular farmers have some degree of "remember and keep", and not all kinds of panicked "religion" screams, as you hear from some of them currently.
But even this is not enough for the Tabernacle of Peace to stand.
The last condition appears in the third stanza, which is literally a vision of the end times:
"And when Shlomit says, 'Look, it's over,' suddenly a wonderful thing will happen: the neighbors will come, all in crowds, and everyone will have a place..."
The condition for harmony with the neighbors depends first of all on the relationship between Shlomit and Sukkah.
When the people of Israel have a clear sense of home in the Land of Israel, there is a chance that from this strength the way will be found for the wonderful thing that will suddenly happen, "there will be a place for everyone".
But - as long as we call ourselves "occupiers" inside the small and only sukkah we have on earth, our neighbors feel that we have not yet told them wholeheartedly "look, it's over".
In doing so, we convey to them that we built here "just a sukkah", as many temporary sukkahs as human history has known, and this sense of transience encourages the drums of war around us.
Happy holiday and a bright and green Sukkah for everyone!
My mother, Naomi Shemer, wrote "Sholomit Bona Sukkah".
In my eyes, it is not only a beautiful holiday song, but a road map.
How can Shlomit build a peace tabernacle that nothing threatens its existence? Were we wrong?
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us