Dr. Scott Demsky, Cantor

At the end of this past December, my family had the pleasure of visiting Israel on an 11-day family tour. As special as any trip to Israel is, this trip was even more special because it was the first time in Israel for my wife, Yvonne, my daughter, Eva, and I. In the next few issues of the Chai Lites, I would like to share some of our experiences from this trip with you. In this first installment, I’d like to tell of some remembrances of our first days in Jerusalem.

We arrived in Israel on a Thursday afternoon and immediately drove to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, our luggage didn’t join us! So, much of Friday was spent in a mall in Jerusalem buying clothes and sundries, since we couldn’t be sure when our luggage would arrive. On Thursday night, however, we did enjoy a delicious Italian dinner in the German Colony, Emek R’faim. Eva enjoyed this so much that she asked to return to this restaurant later in the week.

Since our tour didn’t begin until Friday afternoon, we were joined on Friday by my cousin, Aaron Demsky, and his wife Roz. Aaron is a recently retired Professor of Bible from Bar Ilan University. While the girls finished their shopping, Aaron took me to the Mount of Olives to visit the graves of two of my ancestors, including my great-grandmother who Eva is named after. It was here that I was able to chant my first Eil Malei Rachamim in the land of Israel! My cousin also told me stories of how he worked to restore several of our ancestors’ graves which had been desecrated while East Jerusalem had been under Jordanian rule.

On Friday afternoon, we had the first gathering of our tour group and we met four lovely families hailing from Long Island, New Jersey, Nebraska and Australia! These people (now our friends) with whom we shared the land of Israel made our trip all the more special. As sundown approached, we walked to the Old City of Jerusalem and arrived at the Kotel (the Western Wall) in time to enjoy Friday evening services. The atmosphere was electric as young people gathered to sing and one group after another chanted the end of their Minchah prayers. Slowly but surely, I made my way toward the wall, while trying to keep my emotions in check. I eventually reached the wall and was able to daven Minchah while there was still time. Then, I finally stood right up against the wall to daven Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv, leaning my head against the wall during the Sh’ma. The feelings that coursed through my body were almost indescribable! As I touched the wall, I remember a blur of thoughts running through my head, one moment of my family from the present and recent past, another moment of ancestors of old who I never knew but who had touched the same stones that I was touching. I completed my davening and, although I didn’t want to leave this remarkable place, I made my way back to meet up with my family and our group at the appointed time. We walked back to our hotel to enjoy a lovely Shabbat dinner at our hotel where, by the way, we heard the very same tune for Shalom Aleikhem that we now chant every Friday night at Shaarei Kodesh!

I’d like to close with a story that my cousin, Aaron Demsky, taught me on that same Friday that we visited the Mount of Olives and that we first touched the Kotel. Along the southern wall of the Old City, you can see two sets of arches on either end of the wall. Although these arches are now sealed, they once served as the entrance and the exit to the Holy Temple for those Jews who made the journey to Jerusalem during the three pilgrimage festivals, Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot. However, those Jews who were in mourning for the loss of a family member were conflicted: they wanted to have the privilege of entering the Temple to present their offering, yet they did not want to show or experience great joy during their period of mourning. The tradition that evolved to solve this dilemma was for mourners to enter the Temple through the exit, against the flow of the crowd. Such Jews were then known to be mourners and were greeted by other Jews with the traditional words of comfort: Ha-makom y’nakhem etkhem b’tokh sh’ar avalei Tziyon Virushalayim (May G-d comfort you together with all other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem). These are the same words that are recited today whenever we greet a mourner, including on Friday night in shul following the chanting of L’kha Dodi. This is a reminder that wherever we are on Friday night, whether at the Kotel in Jerusalem or together with our Shaarei Kodesh family in Boca Raton, we are forever connected with the House of Israel.

Kol tuv,

Scott Demsky

Cantor, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh