Page 52 - HaMizrachi Pesach 5782 USA

YOM HASHOAH

And the Bush

Was Not Consumed

Aaron Razel

any years ago, I was redeemer comes – my Savta Fanny I went closer and bent my head to
walking on Beit would say to me: hear her. She whispered to me: “Do
HaKerem Street in “You sing ‘the bush was not consumed’. you remember when I said that the
MJerusalem with my But I was one of the few who survived, bush was a little bit consumed? I have
wife Efrat. We walked by two elderly out of so many. Am I allowed to say something important to tell you. I was
women who were sitting together on a that the bush was consumed, a little wrong. I want to take it back. The bush
bench. Suddenly, I noticed something bit?”
and said to Efrat, “I need to stop for a burned, but it was not consumed!”
moment.” I walked back a few steps, I said to her, “I’m not going to argue
and saw a large number with five with you, Savta.”
digits on one of the women’s arms: At that time, my grandmother had
26801. eleven grandchildren; the great- Aaron Razel is a writer, composer and
While I wondered and stared, I grandchildren had not yet arrived. artist. His twelve albums include songs
noticed that the other woman also Eighteen years later, we celebrated her like “Ha’Sneh Bo’er” (The Burning Bush)
had a number on her arm. We turned 95th birthday. More than forty great- and “Zman Ha’Geulah” (The Time of
to them and began to talk. “Shabbat grandchildren sat at her feet, and we Redemption) that have become part of the
Shalom… we just saw, we were all were there, surrounding her. She broader cultural landscape of Israel. He lives
intrigued… would it be ok to ask?” was weak at that point, wheelchair- in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem
And then I realized that the inverted bound, but sharper than ever. She with his wife and children. This essay was
numbers on their folded arms were motioned to me with her finger to originally published in Hebrew in his book
consecutive numbers. The number on come over to her. “HaChayim k’Niggun” (Life as a Niggun).
the second woman’s arm was 26802.
It means that in Auschwitz, when they
were on the selection line, when they
got off the train – then, too, they stood
together, one behind the other. I felt
goosebumps.
How is it possible to explain the
significance of this image?
Then, two young girls, at the entrance
of a death camp, smoke. Today, a
bench in Jerusalem, Shabbat, peace.
Still together, even now.
Perhaps we saw a little bit of the bush
that burned, but was not consumed…
After I composed a song to the verse
ל ָּ כ ֻא ּוּנ ֶני ֵא ה ֶנ ְּ ס ַה ְו ׁש ֵא ָּ ב ר ֵעֹ ּ ב ה ֶנ ְּ ס ַה, “The
bush burned with fire, but the bush
was not consumed” (Shemot 3:2), the
verse which represents the eternity
of Am Yisrael but also hints to the
burning and long exile that our nation
would have to experience before the

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