1.
A dark cloud looms over us. The rare desecration of the sanctity of Holocaust Remembrance Day threatens to burst forth with even greater intensity on Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers, to break down the fabric of our shared existence, and disrupt the joy of the Independence Day holiday. A certain group within us has long since chosen the "Samson Option" and has now found a pretext to cling to in the form of legal reform, even though the legislation has been halted and discussions on an agreed framework are taking place. In previous articles, I have called for the legislation to be suspended even if no compromise is reached because the damages outweigh the benefits, and our sages have already taught us to calculate risk and reward.
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This has not changed the behavior of the "Samsonites" (this group does not represent a majority of the protestors against the reform, but it is the dominant group within the opposition camp compared to the marginality of the radicals in the pro-reform camp). The meaning of the Samson Option is despair of the Zionist enterprise and its fruits. For the Samsonites, if their camp does not lead the country as in the past, and if we do not adhere to the imaginary values that they have decided we should live by and to which there is no alternative – then they will die with the Philistines/Palestinians and the end justifies the means; they have no share in David, nor any inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents O Israel!
2.
Do not despair. Amid the storm of debate and mutual accusations, it is important to lift our gaze and not examine our future through the eye of the needle in the form of the images that currently appear on our television screens and on social networks. They are not the be-all and the end-all. We have known far more difficult situations in the past, and we have overcome them. This week we marked the most terrible event of all. And lo and behold, only three years after we were thrown into the valley of death, we resurrected ourselves in our homeland. So, even if there are those who would tell us, in the hope of achieving gain, that the end is nigh, we must not succumb to their propaganda. We are now in the process of forging our national and spiritual identity, and it is natural that we will suffer birth pains.
3.
These are the Ten Days of Gratitude between Holocaust Remembrance Day, Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers, and Independence Day, in which it is important to acknowledge the amazing journey we have made as a nation in such a short time. In World War II, as the Nazis approached Eretz Israel before they were stopped at the Battle of El Alamein when the mood in the Yishuv – the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine – was apocalyptic, Nathan Alterman published his collection of poems "The Joy of the Poor" which centers around a besieged city. There will be no destruction, Alterman said (compare that with the lamentations of destruction voiced by certain authors, both in their lives and in deaths). The long night of exile is about to end, writes Alterman: "Exultation shall reign, ah, for night's on the wane, on Abaddon's joy shines the light. Ah for night's on the wane, its joy ancient appears, maybe. Brethren! This once in a thousand years for our death there is morning's light!" For the first time in thousands of years, our self-sacrifice has meaning beyond spiritual existence and strives for sovereign existence in an independent state.
Do not fear the approaching battalions, writes Alterman: "For between the straits /Not the happy ones are those who laid siege, But the happy ones are the besieged !" At the end of the historical account, it is the besieged who will triumph. Alterman added: "And happy the worm, mocked humbled and bowed, deceived and surrounded and hurled and plowed, remembering, hate-eyed, and digging still, whom fate neither leaves nor yet will kill!" Joyous is the worm, who despite all the threats against it is not left by fate or killed. What worm?
4.
In "Songs of the Plagues of Egypt" Alterman speaks of the "wonder of the butterfly emerging from the worm." The worm is the silkworm, which spins itself into a cocoon on its way to becoming a moth. If we break open this cocoon, everything appears to be dead. But if we wait patiently and don't try to rush the process, we will have the privilege to witness the wonder, to see how, from the dead, a butterfly emerges from the worm and spreads its wings to the light.
The worm thus represents the Jewish people; the Bible uses similar imagery in the words of the Prophet Isaiah: "Fear not, O worm Jacob, O men of Israel, I will help you Declares the Lord, I your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." According to tradition, the worm is a silkworm: "There is no other creature in the world like the silkworm. The People of Israel are like the silkworm; even though they may die, they will return to this world as before." Our enemies may harm us severely, but they will not annul our existence. Before dawn breaks, when the angel sees he cannot prevail over Jacob, he touches his hip and dislocates it to harm his continuity (compare this with "the issue of Jacob's hip [Exodus 1:5] a name for Jacob's descendants] but fails. Even if we came out scarred and limping from an existential battle, we continued to walk the paths of history from Rome to Jerusalem.
5.
While in Rome, I was invited to speak at a conference for outstanding students, the future leadership of Italy. The audience included former prime ministers and presidents. I was asked to talk about the concept of revival in Israel. Among other things, I referred to the secret of Israel's transformation into the "Start-up Nation." We are less formal, I said; we don't have stifling hierarchies and social traditions. Curiosity comes naturally to us, to the point of chutzpah and intrusion into the personal. Add to this the military service which requires great responsibility at a young age and the ongoing investment of the state in innovation, even if most inventions do not mature into a product. Our people's cultural tradition has always seen study as a supreme value, and places importance on questioning and skepticism. Our Sages taught in the Mishnah: "A timid person cannot learn, nor can an impatient person teach."
Our ancient cultural tradition questions even the decisions of God. Abraham, the father of our nation, argues with God about the fate of Sodom. He is not asking for mercy but contends: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?!" I have not found such a story in other cultures. The Hebrew Bible and literature are full of debates with God. The significance of this is a constant appeal against any authority, including scientific authorities and fundamental assumptions.
And then I asked to add another layer of explanation. In 12th century Spain, Rabbi Judah Halevi published his book "The Kuzari"(Book of Refutation and Proof on Behalf of the Despised Religion), a philosophical dialogue between a Khazar king and a Jewish rabbi. Among other things, the king asked, why do you dream of the land you were exiled from, after more than a thousand years have passed? The rabbi answered: Just as a tree needs special soil to grow fully and healthily, more so than were it planted in any random soil, so too do we need our land. It is there that we can find the most suitable soil for the spiritual growth of our people for only it can provide prophecy.
You see, I said to the Italian students, when we return home after thousands of years, the treasures of spirit and soul that had been dormant for so many years return to us as well, and with them, initiative, courage, creative thinking, self-confidence, and more. The tree of knowledge and life that was uprooted from the Garden of Eden returns to its soil and begins to bear fruit. And what after all is invention that comes from a flash of inspiration, if not the glimmer of the spirit of prophecy? And as with the Bible, we do not covet these ideas and inventions just for ourselves, but we share them with the world for the benefit of all humanity. Here, I conclude; this is why the return to Zion and the establishment of the State of Israel hold hope for the entire world. We must have patience and faith. We are only at the beginning.
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