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Remembering Baba Sali

ציור: נעמה להב

Translation by Yehoshua Siskin

Today marks 36 years since the passing of the Baba Sali, Rav Yisrael Abuhatzeira, at the age of 94. Until today, a quarter of a million people visit his grave each year in Netivot, a city in the northern Negev. In a year of three election campaigns, it seems to me that the following words of Baba Sali are like revivifying cool water for a weary and parched soul. He mentions our mutual sense of responsibility and our guaranteed commitment to one another, not for the sake of forming a coalition, an opposition, or a unity government, but for the sake of genuine unity, in which we affirm and live by our deep connection and closeness to one another:

“All Jews come from the same source in Heaven and all of their souls are mined from the same quarry. All are equally good and all are imbued with holiness. Therefore, each Jew is responsible for every other since their belonging to each other, their closeness to each other, and their caring for each other is inborn and comes from a shared Source of Holiness. All Jews are attached to one another and all Jews naturally cleave to one another with a firm and inviolable bond. Therefore, every positive thought or good deed of any Jew reaches and influences the entire Jewish people".

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