Page 16 - HaMizrachi Pesach 5782 USA

Corona – I had food, I had a table, I had people leaving packages outside
my door! I am thankful for everything I have. Every morning I stand by
the mezuzah, and after praying for everything that I pray for, I say thank
You for giving me strength to stand, to drink my coffee. Eliraz’s daughter
was a few months old when he was killed, and now she is going to become
a Bat Mitzvah. His son was six years old, and now he is about to join the
IDF, to serve in Golani just as his father and uncle did. Thank You, Hashem!
I also said to Hashem: “I didn’t choose Your decree, but I did choose to
grapple with it. I chose to cleave to life – please help me fill my life with
meaning and purpose!” I know the value of every minute, and pray that I
can use all my time on this earth for good. When I speak to IDF groups or
abroad, all of my lectures are on a voluntary basis – this is the minimum
I could do for my people and my country!
You also had a remarkable chapter of your life that took place in the
Sinai Desert. As we are approaching Pesach, can you tell us about
that period in your life?

When Eliezer and I got married, he was working in Sharm El Sheikh, four
hours south of Eilat. Israel controlled the Sinai Desert at that time, and
we moved there. We were the only religious family there, and we made a
shul and a beit midrash. It was regularly over 120 degrees Fahrenheit there,
so at the entrance to the shul there were not only kippot but shirts too!
In 1982, Israel decided to return the Sinai Desert to the Egyptians. I had
spent 6 years building my family there, teaching Tanach and Jewish
history in the local school, and suddenly our community was going to
be uprooted. We protested against the decision, but I learned then the
value of treating the authorities with respect. Ultimately, we respected
the decision even though it was difficult.
The last Pesach we spent in Sharm El Sheikh was a truly surreal expe-
rience. We were reading the haggadah, about how Hashem took us out
of Egypt, and here I was, about to leave my house and return it to the
Egyptians! I was also faced with a significant question. What would I
tell my children? Should I tell my children that the State of Israel has
lost its way? That we should no longer serve in the IDF? It is at moments
like this that mothers have a unique role, and that is to plant hope. This
is something I learned from Miriam in the Torah. When Bnei Yisrael left
Egypt she took a tambourine with her. Of all the things in the house, the
most important thing to take in that commotion of leaving Egypt was a
tambourine? She foresaw that there would come a moment when the
Jews would celebrate, when they would sing! We must never lose this
perspective, and that is why I told my children: “We are going to build a
new home in Eretz Yisrael,” and we moved to Givat Ze’ev in Yerushalayim.
We are a people of hope, and we know that ultimately Hashem is ן ֵתֹוּנ ַה
ַחֹ ּ כ ף ֵעָּי ַל, “The One Who gives strength to those who need it.” n

Right, from top to bottom: Peretz
family portrait; images of Uriel and
Eliraz from the Peretz Home; Miriam
and Rabbi Aron White; Miriam at a
World Mizrachi event in 2017.

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