Words of Farewell in the Synagogue of Ganei Tal One Hour before the Expulsion

August 17, 2005

By: Shoshi Slutsky

“Even if our mouths were filled with song as the sea, our tongues filled with joy as its many waves, our lips filled with praise as the wide sky, our eyes bright as the sun and the moon, our hands spread like an eagle’s wings and our feet as light as gazelles, we would not be able to thank you enough, our God and God of our fathers”.

We thank Thee for the opportunity to have lived in this wonderful place for twenty-seven enchanting years of creation, and of love toward this good earth that reciprocated by giving us bountiful crops and helped us prosper.

We cannot thank Thee enough for the spiritual strength you have given us over the years, which we used to build an outstanding community that helped us cope with tragedy and celebrate our joys, inside the synagogue and in its courtyard.

We cannot thank Thee enough for the wonderful children that grew up in the dunes to become paragons of faith and spiritual strength; they will be able to lead the next generation very differently, in the spirit of Jewish and human ethics.

We cannot thank Thee enough for all the good Thou hast done for us in this place and for the many miracles Thou hast shown us. For many years Ganei-Tal will remain for us a model for future development.

We have all had a very difficult morning and now, my dear Ganei-Tal, we must bid you farewell and say goodbye to all this beauty and grace that accompanied us for so many years.

The Kotsker Rabbi said: “Inside the dark cloud are the nourishing raindrops”. We are now under a very dark cloud, but we are leaving as a special community with our heads held high. We fought for you, Ganei-Tal, and for Gush Katif as a whole; no one will take away from us the power engendered by that struggle.

We shall build you and you shall rise again, Ganei-Tal.