Page 48 - HaMizrachi #33 Sukkot 2021 USA

Sivan Rahav Meir and Yedidya Meir are an Israeli power couple and among the country’s most popular media
personalities, respected across the religious-secular spectrum. Their journalism on television, radio, and in print

RUACH YISRAEL

A Gradual Redemption

Sivan Rahav Meir

again. She was good at needlework, The family didn’t plan it, but in the
and those skills saved her life during picture taken of the “birthday girl” in
the war. After the Holocaust, Savta the sukkah in Yerushalayim, just behind
made Aliyah aboard the ship named her is a hand embroidered decoration
‘Hatikvah.’ The British authorities with the section from the Talmud
caught her, and she was sent back to Yerushalmi that describes the gradual,
Europe. My father was born in Italy in a slow redemption of Am Yisrael:
DP camp, where he spent the first year
ְ
ִ
ׂ
and a half of his life. In the end, the ה ָּ ת ּ פ ַל ֲח ן ֶּב ןֹוע ְמ ׁש י ִּב ַר ְו ה ָּב ַר אָּי ִח י ִּב ַר :ה ֶש ֲע ַמ
British released families with children, ּוא ָר ְו ,ה ָת ְצי ִר ְק ִּב ל ֵּב ְר ַא ת ַע ְק ִּב א ָד ָה ְּב ןי ִכ ְּל ַה ְמ ןֹוו ֲה
ֶ
ַ
and Savta arrived in Israel precisely on ה ָּב ַר אָּי ִח י ִּב ַר ר ַמ ָא . ּ ה ָרֹוא ע ַק ָּב ׁש ר ַח ּׁ ש ַה ת ֶלֶּי ַא
ְ
ִ
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the 29th of November 1947, the day on ן ָת ָּל ֻאְּג אי ִה ך ָּכ ,י ִּבי ִר ְּב :ה ָּ ת ּ פ ַל ֲח ן ֶּב ןֹוע ְמ ׁש י ִּב ַר ְל
ְ
ֶ
ׂ
which the UN voted that the British אי ִה ּׁ ש ה ַמ ל ָּכ .ה ָא ְמ ִק ,ה ָא ְמ ִק ,ה ָּל ִח ּ ת ַּב :ל ֵא ָר ְשִי ל ׁש ֶ
Mandate would end and a Jewish state תוכרב ,ימלשורי דומלת) .ת ֶכ ֶלֹוה ְו ה ָּב ַר אי ִה ,ת ֶכ ֶלֹוה
would be formed. (א:א
“Once, Rabbi Chiya the Great and Rabbi
“My grandfather, Savta’s husband,
worked picking produce on farms, Shimon Ben Chalafta were walking in the
but he was killed in a car crash only Arbel Valley in the early morning, and
three months after they arrived in they saw the first light of dawn breaking
Israel. Savta found herself alone; A through the darkness. Rabbi Chiya said to
Holocaust survivor, a young widow, Rabbi Shimon, ‘This is how the redemption
and the mother of a small child. She of Israel will take place. It will begin slowly,
heard that someone she had known slowly, and gradually grow and strengthen
before the war had moved to Israel, and all the time.’” (Talmud Yerushalmi,
they got married and had another three Berachot 1:1)
he sukkah you see in this children together. The story of Savta Tzipporah brings
photo may be temporary, but this teaching to life!
the story behind it symbol- “All her life, Savta worked as a seam-
Tizes Jewish eternity. This is stress, and later on, she took care of  First published in Hebrew in Yediot
the story, as told to me by Yehoshua elderly people. She dedicated her life to Acharonot on October 25, 2019.
Goldring: her family. I remember as a child bring-
ing our socks with holes so she could
“Our Savta, Tzipporah Kendel, was born fix them because, for Savta, every small
on Chol Hamoed Sukkot in a small detail and job was of great significance. Sivan Rahav Meir is a media personality
village in Transylvania to a family She always told us that you never need and lecturer. She lives in Jerusalem with her
of Vishnitz Chasidim. This week on to throw anything away – everything husband, Yedidya, and their five children,
Chol Hamoed Sukkot, in the Old City can be used, recycled, or fixed. and serves as World Mizrachi’s Scholar-in-
of Yerushalayim, she celebrated her “Before I went to Poland, I spoke with Residence. She is a primetime anchor on
100th birthday, surrounded by her her. She never left the country after Channel 2 News, has a column in Israel’s
grandchildren. arriving in Israel decades ago, but she largest newspaper, Yediot Acharonot, and

“During the Holocaust, Savta was sent wanted me to go there. has a weekly radio show on Galei Tzahal
A member of (Army Radio). Sivan was included by Forbes
the Mizrachi with all of her family to Auschwitz. In “Savta has merited to marry off all magazine in their list of the 50 most
Speakers Bureau the selection, she and her older sister her grandchildren and has several influential women in Israel, and listed by
were chosen to live as slave laborers. great-grandchildren and even one
mizrachi.org/ the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most
speakers She never saw the rest of her family great-great-grandchild!” influential Jews in the world.

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