Dear CBO Family,
A little over a year ago, our synagogue took a mission to Israel where we met an incredible 90-year-old man with an unimaginable story. His name is Murray Greenfield and he volunteered on a sacred mission after he served for the US in WWII. He helped man a rundown old ship to bring 1,500 Jews from across Europe to then Palestine, ruled by Britain. These were Jews who had survived the horrors of the Holocaust. Mr. Greenfield, a New York native, and those he was ferrying were arrested and detained in a refugee camp in Cyprus. Once again, the survivors sat behind barbed wire.
It was in Cyprus where Murray discovered a whole underground community with an indelible spirit to create a safe haven for Jews. It was a community effort. Jewish Americans made secret donations to purchase surplus WWII vessels and 250 American sailors had volunteered to help Jews sail to Palestine when no one else was paying attention to how they would rebuild.
Mr. Greenfield and his newfound community would not let anyone, including the British Empire, destroy their will to create a home for any Jewish person whether they were fleeing danger or choosing to move of their own volition.
But it's not only this one man who inspired our group. From those who donated money for ships and weapons, to the sailors who risked their lives, and the survivors who managed to take another step forward even though their recent past had given them no reason for hope, there are so many people to acknowledge.
For thousands of years, the force of hope led Jewish prayer, study, and action, to never give up our ability to be a free people in our homeland. As the Shabbat after Israel's Independence draws near, let us not only celebrate the Shabbat bride but those who paved the way for her to return to Israel after so many years of exile.
As we welcome her, let us imagine her taking us closer and closer to the holy city of Tsfat, the inspiring warmth of Shabbat in Jerusalem, and the beautiful shores of Tel Aviv. Though we cannot be there right now, we can flame the embers of hope that soon, when this pandemic subsides, we will reunite, not allowing any force to keep us from our homeland.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Bernstein
Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism