Under the weather

The summer is slow in staying with us. After hot Chamsin days we have unusual cold days. I now understand what the British mean when they answer to the question: “How are you” with: “I feel under the weather”. So do I feel under the weather, when my bones are creaking and I can hardly straighten my back when I get up in the morning.

The struggle of how to fill my days is on. With the approaching summer many of the regular Inter-Faith activities come to a halt and will only restart in the autumn.

For the moment the Birthright groups (student) from America are still coming to Yad Vashem. This last Friday morning there were about 200 of them in the hall and you could have heard a pin drop during my presentation. I got a standing ovation after my talk.
Quiet a few of them came up to me to say a personal thank you. That keeps me going.
Among them Jossi from Shorashim, one of the organizations that are is involved in bringing the groups to Israel, who came up to me to me and asked if I am the mother of Manja Yoel from “Chavat Eyal”, the Petting Animal Farm in Ramat Rachel, a memorial in the name of my grandson Eyal, who fell 5 years ago in action in Je’nin. Jossi told me that he often takes groups there.

The world is really small, just a global village. There often is somebody in the crowd who has heard about me, or verifies my story because he knows somebody who arrived on the same boat as I did, or was in the same unit with my grandson, or whose father was part of the delegation that visited Auschwitz a couple of years ago. Some have heard me before and were pleased to get a chance to hear me again.

Over the years I have spoken to thousands of people, but it is these personal encounters that mean a lot to me.

They give me strength and help me get away from feeling under the weather.