Sderot: Unbroken, Inspired

The little grey pre-fab huts stuck out like soars all over the city.

Our initial survey was that the former landscape of green spaces and Jerusalem stone had been disrupted by these little concrete structures. We felt a mixture of safety and danger because of the rocket shelters. On one hand, we were surrounded by lifeshields. On the other, thousands of rockets have made their target Sderot since the 2005 disengagement of Gaza.

“Welcome to the real world,” Teddy said.

Other marks of the conflict caught our eye as we made our way from the bomb-proof bus stop to our destination at the Hesder Yeshiva of Sderot. Small pock marks dotted the cities main streets, artifacts from rocket attacks recently and from years ago.

In spite of the constant threat of attack, life proceeds as usual in Sderot. At the Yeshiva we found the same warmness and hospitality that the wandering Jew could find at any Yeshiva in Israel. They remembered our names almost immediately.

We received a dvar torah (bibilical comment) by the Rosh Yehsiva, Rabbi Dovid E. Fendel, personalized to our experience as Americans studying in Israel. These people’s experiences; their passion driven by their lives in conflict; really brought to us the importance and beauty of Torah learning.

In fact, students and faculty went out of their way to welcome us in to their intimate Torah traditions. It seemed as if people wanted so badly to prove that their proximity to Hamas in Gaza didn’t faze them. These guys seemed to love their service in the army; their learning at the Yeshiva. To the student-soldiers, it was an honor to study and an honor to serve.

The pride of the Sephardic tradition really came out to us in their prayer. Every song and chant was put into the context of community and proximity. It seemed as if there was no end to the opportunities for us to learn about the customs of other Jews in this world. We were blessed with the simcha (joy) of seeing the first reading of their new torah scrolls. Their pride and satisfaction regarding their new Torah was inspiring. It was a real testament to the function of Torah as a beacon of hope in otherwise dire straights.

Sderot, and its yeshiva are places of contrast. War with peace, ignorance with learning, disruption with routine. The greatest contrast though was in Shabbat. In weeks marked by destruction and death, they rejoiced in the simcha of Shabbat; in the special routine of the Sabbath Day.