Tonight dh and I went to a dinner in honor of the tenth anniversary of Karmiel’s hesder yeshiva, Orot Karmiel.
The room was packed and I didn’t see anyone else from the charedi community there, but it was quite full so I very possibly could have missed seeing someone. We know a number of people in the garin Torani (Torani seed group), which is why we were invited, and we had a lovely time. Delicious food, lovely music, nice people and interesting speeches.
Unlike most dinners, this one had no cost – no sponsorships, no solicitations, no pressure – it was an evening celebrating ten years for this yeshiva. As one of the speakers said, ten years ago if you told someone you were living or learning in Karmiel, the response was similar to if you told them you lived in Eilat – almost as if you lived in a different country! But Karmiel is growing, and along with it all of the different religious communities in Karmiel are growing as well.
There were a number of speakers, including the chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Israel, the past head rabbi of the Israeli army, the mayor of Karmiel, the chief rabbi of Karmiel and the rosh yeshiva of the hesder yeshiva. They all spoke beautifully but my favorite was the rabbi of the army He spoke about how hard it is for him to understand those who say that there’s a contradiction between being in the army and learning Torah. On the contrary, he said, there are many fine young men are serving in the army who are learning Torah while also fulfilling the huge mitzva of protecting the Jewish people; Israel is surrounded by enemies who would happily see the entire Jewish people destroyed in a minute, and the army is critical to the protection of everyone living in this country.
Since religiously Israel is so polarized, I especially enjoy opportunities like this when I can interact with others who are outside of my immediate social group. Dh and I both liked the tone of the evening, about the value for Torah study that was evident as well as the commitment to actively supporting the community; in the local hesder yeshiva this isn’t given lip service but is actively done by the local garin Torani (who staff the yeshiva).
It was a long evening but we agreed that it was a worthwhile way to spend several hours, and I hope that the yeshiva continues to grow and thrive!
Edited to add: Thank you to the blog reader who sent a link to an article about the evening with accompanying photos. (I’m in the headline photo but fortunately my face is obscured by someone else so you’d have to know exactly where I was to figure it out!)
Avivah
That sounds like a wonderful event on many levels. I also cannot understand why army service is such a problem when there are not only hesder yeshivos but also chareidi units. Also the fact that they didn’t charge anything is incredible – in the frum community I live in the U.S. nearly every breakfast, dinner, melave malka, etc. charges a substantial fee. The few that don’t charge generally try to guilt you into paying at some point during the event. And that even goes for ladies shiurim – every one is generally at least $10 or more, so I don’t attend too many.
One question – I had thought the Karmiel community was quite unified – that chareidim have good relationships with Dati Leumi. So the fact that you didn’t see Chareidim is a bit surprising (although maybe they were on the other side of the room).
It was unusual not to charge, but I think it was a very nice approach. They gave people the opportunity to have a nice evening and learn about the hesder yeshiva, and people understand without being told that an institution doesn’t exist on air alone – for us we certainly felt a desire to financially contribute after this. They put a card on the table asking people in what way they would like to be involved with the yeshiva, but not all of the choices were financial (ie would you like to be notified about the events we organize for children?).
In response to your question, I’d say that unity isn’t the accurate way to describe Karmiel – more like mutual acceptance on both sides. Social interactions tend to be limited but not because either group doesn’t welcome the other, just because that’s the nature of things. Of the rabbis in attendance, the chief ashkenazi rabbi and the rabbi of Karmiel are both charedi and spoke very appreciatively about the hesder yeshiva.
Shalom Avivah!
My son is starting at the [hesder] yeshiva in Karmiel today, so while looking for it online, I found your blog (which seems to have better google power for the term “karmiel yeshiva” than their site!)
Looking forward to being in touch!
Hi, Gidon, welcome! How nice that your son will be studying here! Do you live in the north as well? I’m less than a five minute walk from the yeshiva, and if your son is ever in need of a Shabbos meal, we’d be glad to have him.
Thank you Aviva, we do live in the North – north of Beersheva, that is!:-) We live in Maale Hever, just ten minutes south of Kiryat Arba, in Drom Har Hevron.
I am sure our Akiva will be very focused on his learning and gar’in activities, but when we come to visit I will surely try to look you up, and until then I will follow your blog! As for me, I am mostly findable on Facebook…:-)
Thanks and God Bless, Gidon Ariel gidon.ariel@gmail.com cell 054-5665037, home 02-5354586, VoIP 845-445-1604 Israel fax 1532-5354586, USA fax 623-433-4874 Maale Hever, DN Har Hebron 90420 Israel http://www.facebook.com/gidonariel http://bit.ly/gidon-linkedin “Happy are those who have discovered that the secret of life is to be nice to others”
On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 10:16 AM, OCEANS OF JOY