When Lubavitch emmisaries undertook the mission to distribute the donuts to Israeli troops, the Meretz party, joined by members of the Israeli Labour party, objected in a petition to the Supreme Court, claiming that Lubavitch, by virtue of their stand during last year's Israeli election campaign, were no longer a religious movement, but a political one. You see, Meretz, for all its desire to be considered a major party in Israeli politics, still cannot reconcile itself to the idea that, in Israel, religion is, and should be, part of the national political culture. Lubavitch's political stands are the logical conclusion of the religious beliefs their members hold.
Meretz Chairman Yossi Sarid, however, refused a donut when offered one at the Knesset by one of the emissaries. He claimed that just as Lubavitch had spread poison during the election campaign, which killed the left-wing's election victory, how could he be sure that some of the poison did not spill over into the donuts.
Unfortunately, though, the only thing foreign, and even Israeli, observers saw in relation to this story was the controversy surrounding it which was touched off by some politicians whom I can only describe in this regard as sore losers. What was not seen by most people was the tremendous effort and the fantastic effect that campaigns such as this have had on the people they touch.
I recently paid a visit to Kfar Chabad, the Lubavitch base in Israel. Kfar Chabad is a small settlement in the shadow of Ben Gurion International Airport. It is the heart of Lubavitch's activities in Israel. While I was there, I was given a glimpse of some of the activities undertaken at, or from, Kfar Chabad.
Perhaps their proudest achievement to date has been the Children of Chernobyl project. Perhaps the most serious victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 are the children who lived in that area at the time. After a few years of preparatory groundwork, and following the disappearance of Soviet rule over the area, Chabad Lubavitch began airlifting children from the region to Israel, where they can receive proper medical care and the benefit of a caring population in whose midst they can live their lives to their fullest potential.
The first airlift of 196 children took place in August 1990, and since then there have been at least nine more, with a total of over one thousand children now living in Israel. Lubavitch around the world raises the necessary money to charter flights for these children, and Kfar Chabad is their first home in Israel, through which they can then be absorbed into the greater society of Israel.
Kfar Chabad provides these children, many of whom come without their parents, with food, clothing, lodging, education, activities, and a social atmosphere where they can interact with other children from the same communities. Thousands of dollars are spent on each child. Medical care is provided in facilities specially equipped to handle these specific cases. The most serious cases are treated at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. Lubavitch, and specifically Kfar Chabad, is engaged daily in literally saving the lives of over one thousand Jewish children.
Another activity undertaken by Kfar Chabad is a holiday gathering for widows and children of Israel Defense Forces personnel. On Chanuka, for instance, these widows come with their children to Kfar Chabad for an entire day. Chabad volunteers care for the children, providing them with activities, arts and crafts, nutritious meals, and fun, while their mothers enjoy a day on their own where they attend seminars on nutrition, health, cosmetics, and social affairs that are of particular concern to them as single parents.
Toward the end of the afternoon, the parents and children are re-united so that each child can light his or her very own chanuka menorah accompanied by his or her parent. The day serves as a relaxing break for the parents and a day of holiday fun and cheer for the children.
And lastly, of course, there are the donuts. On each night of chanuka, motorized convoys leave Kfar Chabad at dusk and travel to outlying areas of the country. Most of the more remote settlements in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights, are visited, as well as quite a few within Central Israel. At each stop, crowds gather in the centre of the community to get a donut, enjoy some music and dancing, and share in the holiday spirit as distributed by the Chabad emissaries.
When a convoy passes an IDF outpost, or a hitch-hiking post where soldiers are waiting for rides, they stop and offer the troops donuts and warm holiday wishes as well. It was these donuts, and this cheer, that Meretz was objecting to in its petition this past chanuka. It seems that Meretz is against the disbursement of holiday joy. But that is not about to stop these emissaries from doing their jobs.
Chanuka, of course, is not the only time these emissaries come out of hiding to spread cheer. Daily, one can see them at the airport or the local bus station helping people to put on tefillin (phylacteries) or say a blessing over food. Soon, yet another flight will arrive bearing Children of Chernobyl, and for them the fun will just begin.
How anyone can object, and call these efforts poison, is unimaginable. Certainly the happiness spread by the people of Kfar Chabad is infectious. Just watching some of these children makes one smile. What a shame it is that for every donut of happiness Kfar Chabad grants a child, or a widow, or a lonely cold soldier, some can only see the hole in the middle through which their own, not-so-lofty, aspirations fall.
Copyright 1997. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
