What is peace to you?

As the Jewish New Year approaches, our Rabbi asked each member of our Synagogue to pick one aspect of peace and write about “What is peace to you”? The very first thing that came to my mind was the weekly prayer for peace that we recite on the Sabbath. “May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease, when a great peace will embrace the whole world.” To me the significance of this prayer is being able to freely travel to any country without fear and to be welcomed with love and not hatred.

In 1958, I had the unique privilege of traveling to Israel, during its 10 year anniversary celebration, to have my Bar Mitzvah in Tel Aviv. I was treated to trips throughout the country by my Israeli relatives, and could feel the love of the people in Israel. Jews and Arabs alike. Unfortunately, because the Old City of Jerusalem was occupied by the not so friendly Arabs, I was not permitted to go into old Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, when we stopped at a high chain link fence separating us from the Old City, looking out from the Mount of Olives; I was quickly told by my Israeli cousins not to get close to the fence; because the Arabs would shoot at me.

It wasn’t until 1993 when my wife and I took a trip to Israel that I got to visit the Old City of Jerusalem. Also, because of the peace treaty with Egypt, we were able to fly from Tel Aviv to Cairo, Egypt. Several of our friends in the States tried to talk us out of going, saying that it was too dangerous, but we found that the Egyptians were a warm and friendly people and trustworthy. When we deplaned from the Cairo airport I hadn’t noticed that my money clip fell out of my pocket onto the tarmac, but one of the baggage handlers came running up to me to return my lost money clip, with all of its contents included.

What is peace to me? It is a worldwide peace treaty allowing unilateral safe travel to any place on this earth without fear of harm or hateful sentiments.

Rich “Shalom” Kruth is an active member at Congregation Kneseth Israel, especially as part of the Saturday morning minyan and as a member of the Men’s Club. He loves to travel, especially after the end of tax preparation season since he owns his own business FLP Professional Tax and Planning Services.