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What a perfect answer to yesterday’s slaughter of eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem.
Jewish lives tragically end, and a new one begins, which is one reason why, Jews believe, the Jewish people never will be extinguished.
In a few hours, Yehoshua Dalin, 26 years old, of Venice, will board an eastward flight that eventually will carry him to Jerusalem in time for breakfast on Wednesday morning. If it is possible for one Jew to compensate, in heaven’s eyes, for the loss of eight Jewish peers, Mr. Dalin brings unassailable credentials to the Land of His Fathers to fill the unfillable gap.
[img]91|left|Yehoshua Dalin||no_popup[/img] In the language of his Jewish tradition, he is making aliyah (ah-lee-uh), that is, he is going up to Jerusalem, where he plans to spend the rest of his life.
The oldest of four, Mr. Dalin’s three siblings — Dov, Ben and Zahava — already are established in Israel, having left home during their high school years.
In the Beginning
Thirty winters ago, after a spell of dryness in the unlikely bohemian enclave of quirky Venice, traditional Jewish life was revived, and today it flourishes as one of the main centers of Orthodox learning in Los Angeles.
The final surviving synagogue on the sands of sunny Venice Beach was resuscitated by two enterprising, universally ambitious and imaginative young men who since have fashioned national reputations, a South African rabbi, Daniel Lapin, and the syndicated talk show host Michael Medved.
Between them, they planted and lovingly nurtured a flower-filled religious garden of traditional learning that became an internationally renowned magnet for attracting wandering young Jewish men and women. Many had strayed from their Judaism, but they were open to exploring a path back. Not by accident, the single young men fell in love with the single young women, leading to annual bouquets of traditional Jewish marriages.
One of the second-generation treasures of those dream-like early days of the Pacific Jewish Center is Yehoshua Dalin, the son of Gary and Marsha Dalin, who raised their children to be knowledgeable, proud Jews and Zionists. Mr. Dalin’s parents hope to join their children in Israel within the next few years.
Undoubted Clarity
As for Yehoshua Dalin, he is quite clear about his motivation and intentions. “I am making aliyah because Israel is the only place for a Jew to be,” he said yesterday in the living room of the family home on a quiet residential street.
(The Dalin home occupies a special place in the hearts — and soles — of Jewish foot soldiers from the Pacific Jewish Center because it is reputed to be the greatest distance from the synagogue, a noteworthy fact since traditional Jews do not drive on the Shabbat.)
Non-religious Jews and many Gentiles — but not evangelicals — often are puzzled and confused as to why religious Jews would willingly move into one of the more dangerous neighborhoods on the planet. “As a Jew,” said Mr. Dalin, “I believe God made everyone with a purpose and a place in life. God made non-Jews with a purpose and Jews with a purpose. Part of the purpose of being a Jew is to be a light unto the world. We can only do that, not in exile, where we are not supposed to be, but in Israel.
An Eternal Question
“Otherwise, the world looks at Jews, and they don’t see God. How can you look at the Jewish people when they are in exile, when they don’t have a state, when they are not sovereign, and say ‘These are God’s people’?
“How can we have any influence on the world? We only can have an influence on the world, as a moral force, as a light to the nations, if we are our own nation, following God’s laws. Then people will say, ‘These are God’s people. Look at the miracles God has done for them ¬— in 1948, in 1956, in 1967, in 1973. All throughout its whole (60-year) existence, the State of Israel is a miracle itself.
“Israel has brought together Jews from all over the world. There is the sprouting of the land that once, not that long ago, was completely barren. This has not happened under any ruler since the Bar Kochba Revolt (in the year 135).
“The land was barren from the time the Jews were exiled (65 years before the Bar Kochba Revolt) until the Jews came back. That is a miracle.”
Significance of Clarity
For a religious Jew to transfer his life and his soul 9,000 miles away to Jerusalem, it does not in any way compare to shlepping across the country to Kalamazoo or Harrisburg. A huge portion of Mr. Dalin’s costs will be covered, including the six months he will spend perfecting his grasp of Hebrew, which already is strong.
Mr. Dalin’s precise destination in Israel never was in doubt. “Jerusalem is the holiest city in the world,” he says.
How will his life be transformed, from Venice to Israel. “It means there will be Jews everywhere,” he says. “Socially, it means all of my friends will be Jewish. I will be able to learn Torah, Jewish studies, any time I want to because there are Jewish study halls all over. I can pray whenever I want to.”
And then the serious — single — young man finally broke into a smile. “I will be able to find a bride a lot more easily.”
Another Light in His Life
Next to Judaism, politics is a passion of Mr. Dalin’s life.
Intensely immersed and widely read, he is anxious to participate in the political Jewish Leadership movement, the largest faction in the conservative Likud Party, as soon as he establishes himself in his new home.
“The goal of Jewish Leadership,” he explains, “is to change the goals of the State of Israel from being the state of the Jews to a Jewish state. In other words, instead of being a nation like all others, we believe Israel should be a state that embodies Jewish ethos instead of what they are doing now, rejecting Jewish ethos and trying to become Israeli.”
Words worth pondering far longer than it takes to merely read them.
It is not likely that any of the yeshiva students who were blasted into the world to come yesterday by still another Arab maniac could have explained their mission with more luminous eloquence than Mr. Dalin.
