Dear Into Israel Readers,
I had so much fun, delightfully, giggly fun, watching all the You Tube high school musicals of Fiddler on the Roof to find one I wanted to post the song Miracle of Miracles for you. It’s one of those songs that gets stuck in your head, but that’s not a bad thing, to have your head spinning with Miracles.
Yesterday, I defected, and I did it with such ease. Ulpan Mitchell was having our Chanukah Party, and our Aleph class, was presenting a Dreidel song new to us. We had broken into four groups, English, French, Spanish and Russian. Each group was to sing the song in their native language, and then we were to sing it together in Hebrew. In the class before I had practiced, naturally, with the English group.
The Spanish group consisted of five people from Spain, Peru and Rivkah from Brazil, who also knows Spanish in addition to her native Portuguese, but on the day of the party, three were not there. Batya had already left to go see her family in Spain. Across the room, Yoav, the chosen leader, beckoned for me to join them. “Barbara, please come over here,” he said in Spanish, since he speaks no English.
I couldn’t let them down, especially since the English group had plenty of people. I only speak Spanish in the present tense, as I never could get past all the other tense conjugations, but this was a simple song with just a few lines, and I knew I could do it.
The narrow auditorium with a stage was packed with the classes that go all the way up through Vav. In our practice session, the four Russian women were really good, the French pretty good, and well, the English group, not so much. Yoav had us practicing till the moment we went on stage.
It didn’t hurt that I was in the good-looking group, too. Yoav, from Peru, is dark and debonair and Aliza, who made Aliyah from Miami, is blond and striking and was decked out in a royal blue silk dress.
We went after the French, and we Rocked! We were the smallest group, but we got the most applause! Why? The Russians were more in tune, the French more melodic, and the English had more people, but we had rhythm. We may have been outnumbered, but we had Soul.
As you light your Chanukiah this Chanukah, let the lights illuminate a path for you to your Soul. Be still, it is there, but often it is hidden. This year, 5770, record a list of the Miracles in your life. They are present everyday, and pray, never stop praying, for prayer is your broadband connection to Miracles.
Chag Sameach,
Barbara
