April 14
My beloved uncle Piet Overweg passed away at the age of 92 and was to be buried in the Netherlands today.
Thankfully, my sister could be at the funeral, but only one of his sons was
able to make it. My other nephew lives in Norway, and because no planes were
leaving, nor any hotels open, he couldn’t be there his grief with his mom and brother.
 |
| The Overweg family: from left to right: my mom, cousin Johan, Aunt Magda, cousin Jan, aunt Sjanie, uncle Ger and uncle Piet. in front: my grandparents. Except for my cousins and aunt Magda (their mother), all the other people in the picture are deceased. |
Thanks to modern day technology Wim
and I were able to ‘attend’ the service through YouTube, but the planned zoom
meeting at the grave didn’t work, so we missed that. My sister wrote that the
sun broke through the moment the casket was lowered in the grave – precious.
Uncle Piet’s memory will always be a blessing to me.
Today from 5 p.m. till Thursday evening, Israel
is again in total lock down before the last day of the Pesach holiday.
It’s not
getting easier, and I now realize how fortunate we were those first weeks to be
outside so much when delivering the meals. Even though we keep busy and our
‘regular’ routine, it’s not easy because nobody can tell you long it’s going to
take before restrictions become more loose.
Nathan Sharansky, born in 1948 in the Soviet Union, was arrrested aged 29 for his Zionist activity. He spent 9 years in prison, half of this time in solitary confinement. 405 days he was in the punishment cell, so he has have some experience in solitary confinement.
He wants to give five tips to get through quarantine.
https://youtu.be/wdyHlYpRvko
1. In prison, I always had to
remind himself that I am part of a huge, global battle. You also should remind
yourselves that we are at war with a very dangerous, though invisible enemy.
Whether we will succeed in the battle depends also, on our behavior.
2. In prison, Sharansky didn’t know
when he would be released, didn’t know in fact if he were to be released at
all. Don’t build your future plans based on the hope that in the next few days
or in the next few weeks it all will be finished. It does not depend on you.
So, try to build plans which fully depend on you. You can decide that finally,
in the next three days you can read the book that you wanted to read or in the
next month you can learn the language which you always wanted to speak. And
then it depends all on you, whether you will succeed in your plans or not.
3. Never give up on your sense of
humor. I remember how in prison I enjoyed telling anti-Soviet jokes to my
prison guards. And thank God there are so many jokes on the internet. For
example, just now, I got a joke on the internet. “The ministry of health
informs that all the weddings are cancelled, but those couples that are married
continue their life as usual in the meantime.”
4. Don’t give up on your hobbies. I
have a great hobby: playing chess. I
knew how to play chess without the board and in the punishment cell, I could
play thousands and thousands of games in my head, with myself. You can enjoy
singing, playing music, drawing.
5. Feel your connection. Remember
that you are not alone. We Jews, for thousands of years, all over the world,
were scattered. But we always had this feeling that we are part of a big
people, a great people, with our mutual past and our mutual future. And our
mutual mission. Think about it. Feel your connection.
Refuah shlema – a full recovery to
all our ill. Together, we will succeed.
Am Yisrael Chai!
