The holiday of Hanukkah is approaching us with giant steps, not to say with the steps of a Greek elephant, and it is a great time to check where our relationship is with the people of Antiochus.
In recent years, many Israelis have Greekized real estate and moved the center of their activities and lives to the Greek islands. For those who have forgotten or drank too much ozo, more than two thousand years ago the Greeks ruled here and insisted on Greekizing us by force. : Who is like you in God's gods), defeated the Greeks and expelled them from the land.
The Maccabees, before moving to focus on establishing a new health fund, retook control of the Temple in Jerusalem, and when they asked to light the menorah there, they discovered that they had not yet established the electric company but that there was only one pot of oil left to light.
The amount, which was supposed to be enough for only one day, ended up being enough for eight days, and maybe they even had some left over to put some oil in the salad.
In honor of the event, which is branded as the "miracle of Hanukkah", we still eat donuts and fritters so that the true miracle of Hanukkah will be if we get through the holiday with an addition of less than ten kg to our weight.
With all due respect to the Hanukkah miracle, I feel that sometimes miracles no less happen to me as well.
For example, on the way down from Jerusalem, when my fuel gauge shows that I'm going to get stuck in a moment, I switch to neutral and I have enough fuel for another 80 km. At today's fuel prices, it's definitely a miracle of the fuel tank.
With all due respect to Maccabi, for most of us Greece means breaking a plate, dancing drunk like Zorba and eating gyros with a Greek salad (which we shamelessly add Bulgarian cheese to to annoy the Greeks).
We connect less to the cultural wealth, to the Greek philosophy, which contains Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and more to Glycaria, Polycar and Elico - one that does not count.
But nothing happens by chance.
A lot of oil has flowed in Kishon since the Greeks ganged up on us to destroy us, but since then we have not stopped taking revenge.
We showed Panathinaikos who Maccabi Tel Aviv is, we nationalized Ares San and Tryphons, and we are holding them here as prisoners until the Greeks apologize for what they did to us in the Temple. In the meantime, we shamelessly rob all their songs. We made Hebrew translations to thank you for everything you gave, To the voices of Piraeus, Eleanor, Shachnaveva, Raya, My eyes, the caravan song, Fitzrika - they are all Greek iron sheep assets that we wrote about in the "folk" credits, even though there are people behind the tunes and none of them are called Amamikos.
Also, after Aristotle we named the chain of clothing stores Aristotle Schmet, as if it was not a great philosopher but an underwear model.
Next time they will learn not to mess with us.
Their Hanukkah miracle
This week, the first lady and myself were invited to an evening of the "Restart" association, an uplifting association whose goal is to connect the wounded of the IDF to the business and technological community in Israel and the world by strengthening the sense of capability and developing innovative technological solutions to their challenges.
These guys have all kinds of impressive programs, but the evening we attended was part of the association's storytelling program, where the participants get to create a ten-minute Ted-style lecture accompanied and guided by the best lecturers in the economy.
The four stories presented before us penetrated the soul, and the audience responded with thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
The wounded who are defined as heroes carry a severe mental injury that is difficult to see, and the stories allow a glimpse into their special world.
Amit told about his severe injury that led to the amputation of his hand, about the tremendous difficulties he experienced as a kibbutz member who was used to working in the Faleh and was sent to work in accounting, and how today he fulfills his wish and plays the saxophone with the help of unique technologies invented for him.
Yanon, an amputee, talked about his dating world and how he used to lengthen or shorten his prosthetic legs to adjust to the date's height.
Today he is married and has four children.
Eli told how he grew up in an ultra-Orthodox household in Jerusalem with 12 siblings, left home at the age of 13, lived in Rehovot and then enlisted in Maglan and was wounded in the leg in Operation Tzuk Eitan.
He had no home to return to after being released from Tel Hashomer.
He continued to describe how he finally came to the Rimoni family and to us with post-trauma, and even though he could not read and write at a sufficient level, he learned math, English, swimming and driving from the friends around us, and table manners from me.
how he graduated with an average of more than 100 and an interdisciplinary degree in crawling, and how he now works and is in a happy relationship;
And how, despite the injury, he finished last week in sixth place in the Iron Man competition, which includes a winter swim in the Sea of Galilee, a grueling bike ride and a half-marathon run.
The crowd rose to their feet and cheered him.
Last came Dror, 37 years old. He served as a fighter in the Nachshon Regiment, in Hanukkah 2005 they received a warning about the intention of terrorists to carry out an attack.
During an inspection, a Palestinian taxi arrived at the checkpoint with eight passengers, one of whom committed suicide on his way to carry out an attack on one of the Hanukkah shows.
Dror and his friends were the last barrier he faced to carry out the attack.
During the inspection, the terrorist got out of the taxi, activated the explosive belt and blew himself up with 30 kg of explosives. Commander Uri Binmo was killed on the spot, Dror was seriously injured in all parts of his body, was taken to a hospital in a critical condition, was clinically dead, miraculously survived, He was on the floor for three days, and woke up on the eighth candle of Hanukkah.
This is his Hanukkah miracle and ours.
ours, because these soldiers prevented a suicide attack on Israeli territory;
And this is his miracle, because he survived the explosion of an explosive device from zero distance.
Everyone called him the hero of Israel, came to visit him in the hospital, lifted him up and strengthened him, he felt like the king of the world, everyone wanted to take a picture and thank him.
He won a lot of honor, including TLS.
But he doesn't sleep at night.
He is a hero of Israel, transparent, with an injury that no one sees.
About three years after the injury, he developed severe mental symptoms, anxiety attacks, nightmares, depression, anxiety, flashbacks.
Outwardly he smiled, looked vital and happy, played it hero and bit his lips, around him they even called him Smiley because he was constantly smiling, but inside he collapsed, felt crushed, didn't sleep and didn't function.
Everything annoyed him, everything made him jump, he's a nervous wreck.
For a long time he did not sleep, lived from night to night, woke up in a bed full of sweat and urine, felt a huge shame.
Only then did he go to a psychiatrist, who informed him that he was in trouble.
He started treatment, with pills, talks and group workshops, tried to work, tried to study, but gave up everything and shut himself up at home for ten years!
Him, the ceiling, the bed, the cigarettes and the medicine.
When he started Operation Cliff with many wounded people who arrived at hospitals, he immediately realized that now everyone around them will call them "heroes", but he understands that they are the next post-traumatics.
He decided to visit and accompany the wounded regularly, go with them to doctors and committees, give them the support of someone who has been there, who knows what post-trauma is, and for the first time he felt complete and that he had a mission, and he decided to live and deal with his post-trauma.
He reached the worlds of physical fitness and realized that it helps him physically and mentally.
He shed 130 kg and said goodbye to the pills.
He opens his own gym, helps the disabled, paralyzed, amputated, post-traumatic and traumatized, and feels that it is a privilege to help others.
Above all, he understands that being a hero is not only to prevent an attack, but first of all to overcome.
I collected my tears in my sleeve and stood up to cheer him like the whole hall.
At the end of the evening, a guy named Yair (lovely name) approached me, who told me about a podcast he makes with the IDF wounded as part of the association, in which they share with others how they restarted their lives. In each recorded session, a personal story of an IDF wounded man is revealed, in which They talk about the journey from pain to growth.
He asked me how I thought the podcast could be promoted.
I didn't have a good answer, so I'm just promoting it here myself through you.
yairn@israelhayom.co.il
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