On this first anniversary of the horrific Hamas pogrom, Israel—as both a nation and a society—embodies the human condition writ large.
We are heartbroken as we recognize that more than 100 of our fellow Israelis, as well as workers from other countries, remain in the clutches of Hamas terrorists. We shudder to think what has happened to the children, and especially, fear for the women and the elderly.
We have come to appreciate—or at least we should recognize—that the slogan “Bring them home now” was inapt, as it implied and conferred agency and control upon us. In other words, the decision and reality of bringing our hostages home was viewed as something that we could make happen if only we decided to do so.
Instead, we have come to understand that the monsters of Hamas have little or no interest in doing anything that would bind our wounds, even if it enabled Gazans to emerge from the specter of war and its carnage.
Our focus on the hostages and the frustratingly futile negotiations to make a deal that would not be a time-released suicide pill for us has been admittedly distracted by the intensity and brutality of the Hezbollah rocket invasion.
From the skies, Hezbollah has been as brutal and maniacal as Hamas was on the ground. Fortunately, they have been dramatically less successful. Nevertheless, they have posed an existential threat to the state and people of Israel.
Thankfully, against all prevailing conventional wisdom (call it a carryover of the Oct. 6 mindset), Hezbollah has not emerged as the devastating scourge, unleashing tens of thousands of rockets at us. Rather, we are seeing somewhere between 200 and 300 fired daily.
But something completely unexpected and amazingly transformative has taken place. Hezbollah has emerged as the great energizer of the Israeli spirit—not by design, of course, but by the impact that our incredible soldiers have been able to inflict upon them.
Vladimir Lenin’s famous quote has been given new relevance, thanks to Hezbollah: “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.”
The progression of amazing undertakings—from the beeper attack on the pagers to the elimination of Hezbollah’s senior military command, followed by the assassination of its decades-long leader Hassan Nasrallah, followed by his successor, and now, we think, by his successor’s successor—has transfixed and transformed Israel.
We have gone from holding our heads down to fist-pumping the skies. We have emerged from being an increasingly divisive, uncertain and fearful society to one that remembers what Israel has always been about: doing the unexpected and the incredible.
We have reconnected with one another on the common ground of appreciation and wonderment at our successes.
Ironically, Hezbollah has additionally been the vehicle for rejuvenating Israeli unity by widening the radius of rocket attacks away from just the beleaguered north to a greater and greater swath of Israel.
In doing so, Hezbollah has morphed millions of Israelis from being observers of the attacks on the news to being recipients of them. This, of course, has had a transformative effect.
The old expression, “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged,” has taken on new life here, as more and more Israelis are intent on making sure that we do everything we can to stop the attacks.
And doing what we can is not what French President Emmanuel Macron has in mind, but what our soldiers envision: a victory.
A month ago, those contemplating this anniversary did so with a sense of profound sadness and probably also with a sense of dread. We would be one year into a conflict that had no end and no resolution, not to mention no transformation in sight.
Our thoughts and concerns were about doing our best to stay focused, stay the course and not let naysayers distract or defeat us.
How different are we today. Yes, we look at pictures of the hostages and turn our heads away because we have not secured their release.
But we hold our heads up with the resolve that says we will release them; we will rescue them. We will also defeat our enemies; we will strike a decisive blow for civilization and humaneness in the world.
We are still in the throes of battle and uncertainty. But the existential wind is now at our back, and we are entering the second year of a war thrust upon us with a resolve and a conviction that will hopefully characterize our society for years to come.
As we begin our new Jewish year, let us act confident in His support, confident in our own determination, and with the conviction that in 5785 and the remainder of 2024, we will undertake great and transformative feats of heroism and humanity.
