#1,096: Say "Shehecheyanu"

More than half a century ago, a handful of students studying at the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College put together and performed a satirical rewrite of West Side Story. They called it Upper West Side Story. It was one part Shakespeare (Romeo & Juliet) and several parts Jerome Robbins/Leonard Bernstein. One song I will never forget was called When You’re Dahti (a Hebrew word meaning “extremely Orthodox”) and was sung to the tune of “When You’re a Jet." It went, in part:

When you’re dahti you’re dahti all the way;
From your first brit milah (circumcision) to the Kaddish (prayer for the dead ), they say.
When you’re dahti. you know just what to do,
There’s a prayer for your hat, and there’s one for your shoe...

For the most part, this last statement - about there being a unique and solitary prayer for every occasion - is absolutely true. In Jewish law and practice, there is one prayer or blessing for eating bread and another for eating fruit; one prayer for beginning chemo and one for recovering from illness; a blessing for doctors, one for getting up in the morning, and one for going to bed at night. Why, there is even a prayer for committing an act of martyrdom (called "keedush ha-Shem”) - the "sanctification of G-d’s name in public”).

To the best of my knowledge, there is a single prayer that can be said in many different settings and for many different purposes. It goes by the shorthand name shehecheyanu. It is, if you will, the Jewish generic prayer of gratitude; a “Wow. This moment matters” kind of prayer. It’s the blessing Jewish people say when we reach something new, special, or long-awaited. A holiday arrives. A baby is born. We move into a new home. We buy a new car or graduate from university. We recover. We finally finish the thing that felt impossible to finish.

In Hebrew, it reads: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הַעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ מָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזהַ

Transliterated, it is Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh.

Its translation into English says: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season (or moment).”

Shehecheyanu: I cannot imagine a better way to express thanks and amazement over the saving of more than 170 lives on the Fly Dubai aircraft (a Boeing 737 Max) on its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv at the hands of a lone-wolf hijacker this past Wednesday, the 30th of September. Hauntingly, as first reported by much of the world’s press, the words “hijack” and “Muslim terrorist” were missing from most journalistic accounts. It took nearly 48 hours for print and online sources to begin ferreting out - and reporting on - the truth of what really happened:

The co-pilot who launched the attack was an Omani national, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His name is Hamam al-Hammami. Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu said that after the attacker was subdued on the flight, he called out to the crew, "Kill me, kill me!"

Hammami attempted to take control of the plane travelling to Israel, first attacking the FlyDubai pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, a Hindu from a Gujarati Brahmin family, with a crash axe, according to the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general. After being injured, FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, carrying more than 170 people (of whom at least 150 were Jewish), plunged 17,000 ft two and a half hours into its journey, before passengers managed to overpower the attacker and successfully take control of the plane.

Captain Machcchhar, who saved the lives of more than 150 Jewish passengers, said he was lying on the floor injured when he realized the plane was sinking and he had to act, explaining: "I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside", which allowed the passengers in. Two reserve pilots then landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

A crash axe is usually kept in the cockpit in case of emergencies. The weapon used has been a key question for investigators, given the stringent security on such a sensitive route. Early reports from passengers on board had suggested it might have been a knife.

What is truly remarkable is that no one died on the 3.5-hour flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. A combination of factors, including having 2 additional pilots “deadheading” (riding in the cabin as passengers) aboard the flight. This is highly unusual; having two working pilots on board a flight is costly, and thus rarely done. But they wound up playing an important role, taking over for a wounded pilot and co-pilot, thus ensuring that flight FZ7103 would land safely in Tel Aviv. Then, too, being a flight bound for Israel meant that there would be dozens upon dozens of active and former members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on board, and that among them would be emergency physicians and EMTs, not to mention experts in hand-to hand combat.

In an age when more and more people choose to scapegoat Israel and its citizens for the problems of the world, many forget just how well-equipped this tiny state is when it comes to emergencies requiring fortitude, bravery, and the ability to act heroically.

The great animus shown towards the Jewish State blinds much of the rest of the world to some hard truths: that Israel is frequently the first country to lend and send experts to places experiencing natural disasters and dangers; that Israel provides much of the world with new medicines, medical devices, and techniques; that when left to live in peace, Israel is capable of bringing hope to the entire planet.

In closing, let us learn to say Shehecheyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh.