How It Began
Efrat: “We’ve been married for over 28 years and are parents to seven kids and grandparents to one granddaughter. Most of my life I grew up in the community of Yakir. One day a new guy arrived in neighborhood named Ariel. I saw him in shul and asked to be introduced. One version of the story gives credit for the introduction to my mother-in-law.”
A Profession for Life
Efrat: “In my mind, medicine is the best profession in the world. It’s the most diverse and fascinating and allows you to really connect to people.”
Ariel: “For over 18 years I worked in the national-religious educational system. Just before the war I decided to pursue another direction within education. I sent letters to principals in the area schools, and I was happy to begin working in a high school in Ramat Hasharon, which was very different from the religious schools I had always worked in. In addition, I also teach in a school for children with emotional challenges. These dual roles introduce me to all sorts of experiences and allow me to really impact on the students.
Up-Close Interactions
Efrat: “I am a bridal counselor with Tzohar. Essentially, Ariel and I serve together in preparing couples before their weddings. We provide these services in an apartment in Tel Aviv that Tzohar makes available for this purpose. We feel that this is a “couples project” for us and we joke with the couples that it’s only due to their getting married that we are able to go out together. But every time we are encouraged to see how this experience also brings us together. While the couples typically label themselves as secular and we as religious, we always find a lot in common. We talk a lot about Judaism, but most of all it’s about relationships.
The Great-grandmother’s Mikveh
Efrat: “My grandmother, Savta Rivka, would tell me that as a child she remembers going with her mother to the mikveh in Krakow. Apparently, my great-grandmother had no one to watch her daughter so she would bring her along. It’s moving for me to now teach brides the mitzva of family purity and going to the mikveh when I think that I am connected to a lineage of women that can be traced back to the community in Krakow. That’s a connection to something truly eternal. A few months ago, I was blessed to call my grandmother and tell her ‘Savta, I’m now also a savta.” Our granddaughter is now her great-great-grandchild.”
A Rabbi for Weddings
Ariel : “Over the past year I began to officiate weddings with Tzohar. A few weeks ago I was approached by a couple who expressed their fierce opposition to the idea of a religious wedding ceremony. I called them for an initial conversation, and as we got to talking I realized that the groom is a graduate of the school I now teach at. He was so shocked and excited that a religious rabbi even knew the school he went to and even works there. That allowed us to establish a bond and his opposition began to diminish.”
To Pray Together
Ariel: “About three years ago, together with our neighbors in Chavat Yair, Doron and Tamar Nir-Tzvi, we decided to partake in Tzohar’s program “Mitpalelim B’Yachad” that welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to come together for a joint Yom Kippur tefilla. The idea is to come together in places that we wouldn’t usually interact on a daily basis.
To Be A Bridge
Ariel: “In the first year, we were welcomed to Kibbutz Gesher. Most of the people in attendance were younger people who aren’t members of the kibbutz but live in the new neighborhood. Before reciting Yizkor, I asked if anyone knew someone who had fallen in the Yom Kippur War and wanted to tell their story. Someone who had just walked in, and looked every bit a hardened “kibbutznik” got up and recalled that he had served in the elite paratroopers brigade and had been called up into the war where he lost a good friend from the kibbutz. That year he had decided that in observance of 50 years since the war he would arrange a special memorial program but within the invitation he would also encourage people to attend our Yom Kippur tefilla. This combined invitation clearly moved people and many people attended who has resisted talking about the war for many years and opened their hearts as they told their painful stories. So via this ‘religious gathering’, we were inspired to see a very ‘Israeli interaction’ and it was extremely special and moving.
The Spirit Returns
Ariel: “On Simchat Torah, October 7th, our son and son-in-law were called up along with many other family members and of course so many from all across the country, including many soldiers from Chavat Yair led by Moti Shamir Hy”d. As a former tank company commander, I was there to support the troops.”
Giving Back
Ariel: “Seven years ago I had the honor to donate a kidney to someone I didn’t know. If someone has the chance to do good, then you just do it. The recipient was a dialysis patient who immigrated from Tripoli, but now probably finds himself loving gefilta fish because of his Ashkenazi kidney…We stay in touch and it’s amazing to see how his quality of life has so improved as a result.”
