A Slice of Watermelon

Recently, in his weekly article on the portion of the week Rabbi Nachman Kahana, of the Young Israel Synagogue of the Old City of Jerusalem reported a conversation with a passerby who asked if the Rabbi was Jewish. The Rabbi replied that he was not! To the astonishment of the inquirer he added, “I am a total, absolute Jew—I am not Jewish.” 

In this one brief encounter the Rabbi poignantly stated a remarkable principle that if accepted by all would bind us together in unity. Being Jewish is an adjective not too different from saying “I am green”, “I am skinny”, “I am rich”, etc., etc. It is a descriptive word. By responding “I am a total, absolute Jew,” the Rabbi defined the essence of who he is and of who we are. It was a response that suggests that everything we do, everything we see, everything we handle, everything we experience (whether we deem them good or bad) has to be seen through a set of lenses that filter out all that is extraneous and defines all that we see as related to our essence –  “I am a Jew.” That in turn suggests a remarkable understanding: each Jew has the potential for a unique, personal, intimate relationship with G-d. What an incredible opportunity we have all been given.

A very clear example of what I am referring to is reflected in a question asked by R. Shalom Gold, teacher par excellence in the Orthodox Union Center in Jerusalem and Rabbi of Kehilat Zichron Yoseph in Har Nof, also in Jerusalem. The Rabbi asked, “When you come to Israel and want to pray to G-d, where do you go?” Of course the answer is that you go to the Western Wall, the Kotel. But if you come to Israel and you want to see the hand of G-d where do you go? You go to Machane Yehuda, the famous outdoor market in the heart of Jerusalem. There with the proper lenses you see the most beautiful, tasteful, luscious fruits and vegetables. But those lenses allow you to see much, much more. If you choose to you can see the Hand of G-d and the blessings he sends to us. In a land that once was as barren and desolate as one can imagine, with the help of G-d we now see in Machane Yehuda G-d’s blessing: the abundance H-e has bestowed upon H-s land and H-s people that allow this small little country to export our agricultural products and, more importantly, to export our agricultural technology to impoverished, developing nations around the globe. Our know-how, if adopted, has the potential to eliminate hunger in the world.

I wrote the two paragraphs above 2 weeks ago and since then while I suggested that the two paragraphs were related I have struggled to put those thoughts together. Added to the difficulty was that one of our sons was visiting from America, and my wife and I were occupied with escorting him to various and sundry parts of our country. Upon returning home after taking him to Ben Gurion Airport yesterday afternoon I found myself parched and hungry. As I sat at our dining room table enjoying the most delicious piece of watermelon I have ever tasted (purchased in Machane Yehuda) I had an epiphany: I was having a religious experience eating a piece of watermelon.

Our country is blessed with wonderful produce yet this blessing is only because of the blessing of rain sent to us directly by Hashem each year, in answer to our daily requests (and if not directly through the rain then certainly through the technology H-e inspired in engineers to develop desalination plants). That water was essential to the growth and development of that watermelon and now I was ingesting it to bring sustenance to my body. But, far more importantly, my thought that it was a gift from G-d to the Land of Israel and to the People of Israel meant that it was bringing spiritual sustenance to my soul. Because that connection can only be actualized in Israel it became sustenance to the essence of who I am- I am a Jew.

Living in Israel gives us the opportunity to directly experience the hand of G-d on a daily basis and in so doing the essence of who we are gets experienced in very special ways. With wonderful teachers like Rabbi Brody, Rabbi Gold, and Rabbi Kahane, we can all share in the experience of eating a piece of watermelon and having a religious experience at the same time. May we all then be encouraged to take the opportunity to live in the land given to us by G-d as our home, blessed by G-d, watched over by G-d and loved by G-d.