Walking With Israel

Each year we participate in the Walk With Israel.  It's supposedly the largest Israel-related event outside Israel.  It's the most fascinating event.  Spend a Sunday morning walking in downtown Toronto with 15,000 friends and relatives.

You arrive at Coronation Park to crowds of people.  You think you'll never find anyone you know, but then, first one, then another, then another.  You see everyone you've ever met.  Okay, not everyone, but lots of people.  The walk begins.  We immediately lose Keren.  She was last seen with a couple of friends, and so, although we're in a crowd of 15,000 people, we don't even blink.  Somehow we'll find her later.  Through the various bottlenecks along the road, Sean and I also get separated.  I walk with a friend, our kids are together, and we're following them.  Jesse wanders off one way.  Sean's somewhere else.  Yet somehow, at the end of the walk, Gavi and I find Keren, then Jesse, then, Sean.  Every time we get separated.  Every time we find each other.

Beyond this amazing happenstance the walk itself has its own quirks.  It's a great photo-op.  Politicians flock.  There aren't rest stops.  There are nosh stops.  Each year the banners increase- all the schools, political parties, organizations, camps.  This year I saw a flag from a secular camp.  It's a camp with a large Jewish population, but not a Jewish camp.  Obviously they see this as a great advertising opportunity.  The organizations sponsoring nosh stops have increased.  It's no longer UJA and the companies donating the nosh.  Synagogues, camps, and other organizations don't just walk, they sponsor.  There are also the Christian groups, complete with their own t-shirts.  This year's quoted Isaiah 40- 'Be comforted; be comforted My people,' says your God.  It's an interesting quote.  It's one I love (and a great song too), but not one I'd pick for a celebratory day.

Unfortunately there are also negatives.  At the Walk's start there is a group of Neturei Karta protesting Israel.  There are only 10 of them and 15,000 of us, but it makes me sick to my stomach to see them.  Their ideas are so warped.  It's sickening to see Jews aligning themselves with Holocaust deniers.  Towards the end of the Walk are the pro-Palestinian protesters.  One had a sign saying, "Ask your parents about the wall."  I assumed they didn't mean the Kotel.  I turned around and told Gavi and the other kids all about the security wall- how it's cut terrorism, how the Israeli courts have insisted that it be moved at times to protect the rights of those cut off by it, how no one complained when the US talked about a wall on the US/Mexico border, and the Mexicans aren't bombing LA.  There aren't many protesters- less than two dozen, but it always leads to a discussion of how sad it is when people believe what they hear without bothering to check the facts.

Still, the numbers supporting Israel are overwhelming.  15,000 estimated this year.  It's an orderly crowd, relaxed, smiling, no one in a hurry.  We're all there to support each other, and we're all out for a lovely Sunday together.

Pleasant dreams.