A Beloved Israeli Moment

by Reb Akiva @ Mystical Paths

On my way to a business meeting at a coffee shop in the mall in Israel…

Israeli malls have security checkpoints at every entrance.  This means an armed security guard, a metal detector and the guard with a detector-wand.  All bags are checked, women’s handbags and so forth, and anyone that looks unusual (like wearing a coat in summer) or puffing is closely checked (they might, G-d forbid, be a bomber.)

I arrive at the mall entrance security with my computer bag.  I like a big computer bag and therefore commonly use one that rolls.  This allows me to haul around the computer, various USB cables that might come in handy, some other computer tools, a business notebook, and more.  Kind of a portable office.

Entering a mall with this makes me unusual, worthy of extra security.  But it also makes me a pain to deal with as this is a computer bag with various zippered and internal pockets.  Security guards want to check a bag in a couple of seconds and be on to the next person, I’m time consuming.

As I arrived the non-religious (or appearing so) looked at me (I look like a religious Jew, and Jews aren’t a security risk as they don’t go around blowing people up), looked at my bag…

He said to me, “And the Hebrew month is…”.  I instantly answered, “Elul”.

He then asked, “Ani L’Dodi…”.  I instantly answered, “v’Dodi Li”.

Meaning “I am my beloved’s…and my beloved is mine”, a sentence in Hebrew made up of words starting with each letter of the name of the month, Elul.

He then waived me through.

I was smiling through my meeting and the rest of the day.  Every Jew, especially in Israel, is filled with mitzvot and Torah like a pomegranate with seeds!

Baruch Hashem.