My Naughty Yard-Sign Plan
I spent most of my time in the US staying in my childhood home where I grew up from the age of 3. My father has many Jewish neighbors, but on my daily walks around the neighborhood I detected not a single external sign of Jewishness or support of Israel. Not a single Israeli flag. Not a single “I Stand with Israel” sign. Not a single bumper sticker. I didn’t notice anyone wearing a star of david or a Chai or a hostage dog tag.
However I did notice many other yard signs: “Don’t Kill the Mosquitoes! Mosquito Sprays Kill Native Pollinators like Bees!” and “Save the birds! Please keep your cat INSIDE!”
One day, on a walk around the neighborhood, I got a naughty thought…I wasn’t going to be a crypto-Jew like them! I’m Orthodox! I’m Israeli!
Good Morning, Mt. Washington!
While my father was in the hospital, I was going to put up a big “I Stand with Israel!” sign in his yard. Maybe I’d even hang an Israeli flag alongside the American and Maryland flags my father always hangs outside his front door.
I got SO excited about this idea. I anyway stand out like a sore thumb in my old neighborhood with my hats and long sleeves and skirts. Y’allah, ad hasof! It made me smile to think of all the neighborhood dog-walkers staring in shock with furrowed brows at my father’s yard. And maybe, just maybe, some, after getting over the shock, would smile to see a proud fellow Jew, a proud fellow lover of Israel.
As I walked around, thinking about my naughty plan, my heart began to race with excitement. I would drive to the Orthodox community one neighborhood over (but a world away!) to see if I could find a phone number on one of the many “I Stand with Israel” signs over there.
I buzzed with excitement until I got home. But then I started getting nervous about my plan. Why draw attention to myself? There’s so much anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiment brewing. Why make myself a target?
And then I thought, it’s not Kibud Av. It’s my father’s house now, he is very pro-Israel but he would never want to draw attention to himself. I heard that having up his American flag was already controversial enough in this neighborhood.
So that decided it. No sign. No flag. My tsidkus matched only by my cowardice.
Since I got back to Israel, I’ve been thinking a lot about the blessing “Zokef Kefufim,” “Who Lifts Up the Bent to Stand Tall.”
There are many Jews in the US who stand tall. Like Rabbi Zalman and Mushka Minkowitz of the Chabad House of Chevy Chase, who hosted me for a magical Shabbos morning prayer service and kiddush when I spent a Shabbat nearby there visiting my father’s rehab center.
Rabbi Minkowitz shared that morning that after October 7th some concerned local Jews asked if they were going to take down the large menorah in their front yard.
His answer was an unequivocal “No.”
And in Israel, every Jew’s like that. Every single Jew stands tall. It’s easier to stand tall here because we stand tall together.
And that’s one of the big reasons I love living here so much. Especially now.
Chana,
You’re right, it’s so,so complex. I think the kibbud av is an important factor, since it is his house and his neighbors. Its not cowardice.