3rd Israel Report: Normalcy in Wartime

It’s cold and wet in Jerusalem, normal for this time of year, but when you have to walk everywhere on Shabbat in the wind and rain it reminds you that the sabbath of this amazing, unique city is not always easy. That hasn’t changed over the 30 years or so since I lived here and have been coming back in winter. Jerusalem is made out of stone, which retains cold wonderfully well—a much better trait in summertime.

As usual, spending time in Israel can change your perspective on hamatzav, the situation, often multiple times in a short period. Now that I have been here for Shabbat, and have spoken with a number of relatives, friends and strangers, I’m seeing things a little more deeply, and consequently also a bit differently.

As my cousin Ken says, “Israel was a deeply divided country before October 7th. The brutality of the assault unified the whole nation. It was completely clear that we had to go in and destroy this enemy that perpetrated those atrocities.” There is a desperate concern about the 130 hostages, evident all over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. But there is also both a sense of determination to win this war, and an odd normalcy about the functioning of this ultra-pragmatic, modern, sophisticated country during wartime. There is traffic and people going to work, and full synagogues on Shabbat, with everyone going to someone’s home afterward for Shabbat dinner or lunch. There are returned soldiers in the seats at shul, some still carrying their weapons; but the talk is of visitors and the rabbi’s dvar Torah and the weather, with only some mention of friends or relatives who have people on the idf and the casualties there.

Israel is indeed engaged in what it fully believes is an existential fight against Hamas terrorism. That doesn’t necessarily mean an anti-Palestinian attitude from Israelis.

One of the surprising facts about the current situation is that many thousands of Gaza Palestinians worked the farms and factories of southern Israel prior to October 7, and had done so for generations, right through other Gaza fighting. That is no longer possible, bringing additional economic hardship to a war-damaged region. You cannot, of course blame Israelis for refusing now and in the future to allow Palestinian workers from Gaza into Israel to work when some of those workers were Hamas’ spies sent to plot out invasion routes and places to attack and bring rape and murder.

There was some hope after October 7 that the Palestinian people would see Hamas for the murderous, corrupt butchers they have demonstrated themselves to be. That was naive, at best. Some Palestinians, including those I’ve spoken with, believe that democratic elections in Gaza—Hamas has not held elections in 17 years; the Palestinian Authority hasn’t done so in even longer in the West Bank—and a new non-terrorist regime can bring both peace and prosperity to Gaza. I hope they are right, but like any observer of the Middle East, while I have hope I also am skeptical.

Real, functional democracy does not exist in any Arab nation. Only Israel in this region actually holds elections and has representative government. Will the Palestinians, under the thumb of Hamas in Gaza and the corrupt kleptocrats of the Palestinian Authority, supported by the Israel military, suddenly embrace true democracy and economic and social modernity?

It is Shabbat Shirah, a day of chanting the song of Moses, a triumphant ode to military victory over an enemy bent on genocide of the Israelites. I don’t see God stepping in and solving this war. And I’m not sure just what “victory” will look like. But perhaps praying for peace and elimination of Hamas at the same time is the best we can do right now.

Now, back to a long walk on the rainy, windy cold….

Shabbat Shalom and Shavua Tov from Yerushalayim!