The beauty of living in Israel is that there is always more
to uncover and discover.
The country has a varied geography, stunning topography and is
a cultural mosaic. Israel has a rich history that we can trace back millennia and some of this history can be experienced before our very eyes.
There are Jews here who can trace their ancestry a few
generations back. Many others have family trees that take them to Eastern
Europe or North Africa. And in Tzfat, there are families who can trace their roots
as far back as the Spanish Inquisition.
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| Margalit Zinati. Photo from Times of Israel |
Yesterday, I encountered a golden thread in the chain of the
Jewish people. I met a special woman whose family originates here, right where
the Jewish people began. It was from Israel that the Jews were expelled and
began their long story of wandering. Yet her family remained.
Margalit Zinati’s family left the smouldering Second Temple
that was destroyed by the Roman legions under Titus. It was the year 70 when several
Cohanim, priests of the temple, fled Jerusalem and headed north away from
persecution. Many Jews remained in the debris of the fallen city, others were slaughtered
or captured and enslaved.
Margalit’s family brought two stones from the mighty Temple,
a massive and impressive building constructed by Herod the Great. They wandered
from Jerusalem into the mountains of the Upper Galilee. When they reached a
stream on a mountaintop near a secluded valley, they stopped. Here they settled,
founding the agricultural village that we know today as Peki’in.
The village was Jewish. The priests built a synagogue,
placing the two stones they brought from the Temple inside and learned how to
farm the rocky land.
They lived this way for centuries. Arab villages dotted the
hills around them. Druze, who were persecuted in Egypt, eventually settled in
the area and over time, Arabs who converted to Christianity also became neighbours.
Thus, four religions lived in peaceful coexistence tucked away in the Galilee mountains.
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| Peaceful coexistence. Photo by Haaretz |
The story takes a sharp, dark turn between 1936 and 1939 during
the Arab revolt. Arabs across the country rebelled against Jewish immigration
to Israel and British plans to partition Palestine to make way for a Jewish national home. They attacked Jews, killed many and forced the families of Peki’in
to flee.
In 1940, after the riots were quelled, the only family to
return home to Peki’in was the Zinati family. And as the Jewish population
dwindled, the Druze presence grew.
Margalit distinctly remembers her father repeating how
important it was to preserve one’s home. And so she kept her father’s promise
and stayed on. Since she did not want to leave her village, she never married.
Today, Margalit is the only Jew left. She is 85 years old
and she is a legend.
Her house has become a museum called Beit Zinati. Her fame has reached far and
wide and people come here to meet her, pilgrims searching for a connection.
Although there is no minyan in the shul she looks after, families often do bar mitzvahs there, praying in a synagogue that was founded by our ancient Cohanim.
And so we visited this wonderful woman. She is tiny and is a
powerhouse. She recited Psalms (Tehillim) and gave us a blessing for health, for
a long life and for peace. She has seen war, hatred and strife and is now living
in peace with accepting neighbours who respect her traditions.
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| Main square in Peki'in |
People move to Israel from all over the world bringing their
varied customs and languages with them. When
we had the privilege of sitting with Margalit, we were surprised to see her
speaking Arabic.
She told us her father would wear tzitzit together with
his keffiyeh (Arab headdress). As modern olim, we do not associate this with
Jewish clothing. Yet here, sitting in front of us, was a descendant of the very
first Jews in Israel and yes, this is how they dressed.
Margalit gave up a lot in order to preserve a Jewish
presence and now she continues to give by blessing her visitors. Instead, we
should be blessing her.
These lines of Tehillim evoke her dedication and her light:
“Then I will preserve your Torah constantly, forever and
ever. And I will walk along a broad path, for Your precepts I have sought. And
I will speak of your testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed. And I
will delight myself with your commandments that I have loved. Tehillim, Chapter
119, 44-46.
Here you can watch a video of Margalit.
