This Sunday, in the heart of Hanukkah, for three days, the Light Fair will be held at the Menorah Hall. Because this is our time to shine in the heart of darkness. This is an invitation to come to a fair of civic action, of a vision that meets social innovation and pioneering, of settlement in the Negev and Galilee, of helping businesses from the western Negev and the Galilee, and of thinking and action meetings on how to build the next floor of the state together.
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It may sound strange to illuminate and not fight the darkness, in the midst of all this darkness we are in. But fighting the dark is the army's job. Our job, the citizens, is to add light. In a 1954 letter to Ben-Gurion, a boy complained about corruption in the government (yes, even then) and claimed that the state was not doing enough and that he recognized a lack of cleanliness (the boy's name was Amos Oz). Ben-Gurion replied with a detailed letter of reply.
He concluded the letter with the following wording: "The certificate of youth, as well as the certificate of every good man in the country, is to increase light. Do a little more than the state requires him, as much as possible. Do the maximum. And doing something that actually involves is positive action. Not preventing the evil of others, but doing good yourself, with the fullness of your creative ability. And the positive things that the state cannot command are mainly two: going to immigrants and going to pioneer settlements. If thousands of young men (and women) stand up and do this, they will stifle all corruption and emptiness anyway. Light banishes darkness from itself."
"The youth certificate, as well as the certificate of every good man in the country, is to increase light." Ben-Gurion planting a tree in Nahal Oz, photo: from "In the Camp"
I encounter this text four years after we decided to establish the Or movement. Our instincts become an orderly doctrine of how to enlighten man, the people, and the world. There is only one way - to choose the challenge before he chooses us. And the challenge must be unifying, from the author of the "civilian stretcher" - that's what we called him when we were discharged from the army. "Civilian Officers". We took connecting military activity to a civilian challenge. Our great test today is whether we will be able to connect even during a war that fights us. This is only possible through a huge challenge at the national level, broken down into tasks.
The most important task of all is to be a pioneer, who innovates in the making and building of the country, in all areas of life. With mutual responsibility and responsibility for every person and place in the country, by stepping out of our warm palaces - yes, it is still relevant to be a pioneer. That's the whole story. That's the decision. The Light Fair is almost a last invitation to come to your senses, to come and be. To come and stand up, and say: I am! We are! Let's connect above the important disagreements, and work together. As in the army, only with less risk and with more chance.
Fair of Light, photo: uncredited
The ability to be in the Light combines spirit and matter, vision and reality, the general and the private. It is the immediate and cheapest cure for depression, pessimism, hatred and jealousy, which are based on our deep fear of our inability to cope, which meets us in resistance to others, because we do not really trust ourselves. Light - This is a clean and pure endeavor, whose sole purpose is to help others. This is the settlement. Now is the time to establish Israel's new centers – our internal and between us, and the new physical centers in the Negev and Galilee.
The Light Fair is an invitation to leave our homes, to come and support the residents of the Negev and Galilee and their businesses. Because there is only one way to shape the future – and that is with our own hands and actions. Here. Now. All. Stabilize. Pilgrims. At the fair we will offer assistance to businesses, settlement and entrepreneurship opportunities, settlement nuclei for entrepreneurs and investors, individuals, couples and families. We will offer the opportunity to come and live, to settle, to be the pioneers of tomorrow. Don't say the day will come - let's bring the day.
The writer is the founder and CEO of Or Movement
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