“Nes*”, Please!
By Abraham Azoulai editor of the French weekly newsletter “Le Petit hebdo”.
This article below was the main editor’s article after Azoulai participated in the Shdema affixing ceremony
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After the Golan Telecom revolution came “Coffix”, with its offer of coffee or a sandwich for only 5 shekels. The Minister of the Economy, Naftali Bennet, stopped campaigning for two hours in order to check out the information for himself.
As of this writing, we have still not been able to reach him in order to find out if the “nes” met his expectations… However, we did manage to join the deputy minister of religion, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, as he was affixing a mezuzah at the dedication of a totally different kind of building, the Cultural Center of Shedema, which is on the way between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion. So while they were waiting in line in Tel Aviv for said coffee (it should arrive, without the evil eye), in Shedema there was great excitement about the two hundred people who came to be moved by the revitalized spirit of pioneering Zionism.
What a blazing flame, what power, and what heat! The ardor of a group of women imbued with an ideal changed a hill in the desert into a vibrant center of life and culture where every Friday one can take part in fascinating lectures about the deep significance of our presence in the Land of Israel. Here, there is no ego and no business: it is an idealistic struggle every moment, above the usual political scene. The women won, they know how to see beyond the present moment, as was so well expressed by MK Shuli Mualem’s clear words and and Geula Cohen’s rhyming lines.
Nadia Matar’s and Judith Katsover’s activism can always light the idealistic spark hidden deep in all of our hearts. The choice is ours whether to ignore the aggressive declarations of the oppressors throughout the world and to act to ensure Israel’s victory forever. The “Women in Green” continue to actualize the instructions from above, which our father Abraham received and handed down to us: the well known “Go Forth”, go for yourself, to make it better for you, to this Land from where one sees farther and more clearly.
Everything that happens in our country happens by a miracle. We must promote it in the materialistic domain as well as the spiritual. What if we had sent an invitation to Avi Katz, the founder of “Coffix”, to open another branch in Shedema, would the way have been paved faster then?
It was 40 years ago, but as if it happened only yesterday! On the 6th of October, 1973, the Yom Kippur War broke out. It is imperative for us, in the name of the fallen in Israel’s wars, who were killed defending our country, to remember the moral lesson from the war: to go forward, with faith and determination, for the future of our people on our Land.
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Translator’s note:
* The word “Nes” has several meanings, three of which are relevant to this article. One meaning for “nes” is a shortened form of “Nescafe”, which, to Israelis, is synonymous with “instant coffee”. Two additional relevant meanings for the word “nes” are “miracle” and “flag”.