Happiness in our hall!

Last night--indeed, the very last night of 2024-- the Hanassi Beit Midrash, which doubles as a hall, resonated to some very happy sounds. The reason? We were hosting a special event--a batmitzvah celebration by 31 families of evacuees from Shlomi, close to the Lebanese border. 

Not everyone in Rechavia is familiar with Shlomi. Though the modern town of Shlomi was founded in 1950, it has ancient antecedents: on the road between Shlomi and Kibbutz Hanita, Israeli archaeologists found the remains of Pi Metzuba, This prosperous town got name-checks both in the Talmud Yerushalmi and in the Tosefta (Shevi'it 4:8). Pi Metzuba was destroyed in the early seventh century when Persia (yes, it was those Iranians again) invaded the region as part of its broader conflict with the Byzantine part of the Roman Empire.

Anyway, following targeted attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, Shlomi -- a border town of around 7,500 inhabitants -- was evacuated. Some of the town's residents are currently based locally in Jerusalem, many in hotels. As such, they do not have a natural focal point for their communal activities.

The families of the young ladies who were bat mitzvah said that, with all the upheavals they have experienced and dislocation in their regular lives, they were truly pleased just to be able to do something absolutely normal for a change -- to celebrate a family simcha in a real shul hall and with all the fun and fanfare that goes with an absolutely normal celebration. We may not have been there last night but we can still share their sense of simcha by enjoying the photos which they have shared with us.