“Adversity does not build character; it reveals it.” – James Lane Allen
The antisemitic tsunami following October 7th has shocked so many Jews in the diaspora, making us question the assumptions we had about how much our neighbors would stand against hate and wonder about the very societies in which we live.
Yet October 7th has also shown us a kind of Jew we in the diaspora did not properly appreciate, I am talking about people like my friend Sam.
Sam was an Israeli I met in New York City who had little to no formal Jewish affiliation. Sure, he knew so much about Judaism, its history, and its customs, but locally, he did not affiliate with any Jewish institution. The shared language I had with many, even very assimilated Jews about holidays, Shabbat, synagogues, JCCs, and bagels for breakfast after Yom Kippur did not exist when it came to Sam. Simply put, the fact that many Israelis in the diaspora do not affiliate or attend Jewish life in the diaspora the way we do, can lead us to believe we share less of a common denominator with them than we do with other Jews we might meet.
That all changed when I met Sam on the street in New York this June.
As we ran into one another and exchanged pleasantries, I asked him how the past few months had gone for him. He told me he had recently returned from fighting in Gaza, so things were very unusual. I asked him how he got from working in Midtown Manhattan to fighting in Gaza, and he taught me a lesson in humility.
Upon hearing about the horrors of the October 7th Massacre, Sam, who had previously served in an elite Israeli combat unit, rushed to the JFK International Airport. Sam had not been in active combat for some time, and since he had not lived in Israel for a long time, he had not been called up for reserve duty; he still went.
When Sam arrived in Israel, he looked for a unit that could add him on, and he found one. Sam went into Gaza and fought with courage in the most intense combat zones, looking terrorists in the eye with no fear.
Sam did not ask how he would be able to afford his New York City rent or keep up his job, social life, or anything like that. Sam left everything behind on a moment’s notice and went to defend the people of Israel when they needed him most.
In the years prior to 2023, an outlook that saw secular Israelis as more materialistic, indulgent, and career-oriented took root in many circles. The idea that Israeli culture in and of itself had lost much of the idealism seen in the early years of the Zionist movement became all too prevalent. And it was true, but only externally.
On the day of October 7th, we saw how wrong that was. October 7th and the fourteen months of war that followed it have shown us just how selfless everyday Israelis are. After October 7th, many religious people, myself included, got to see the heroic sanctity each and every Israeli has within them.
When a student came to the late Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Kol Torah yeshiva in Jerusalem, and asked him what sacred site with the tomb of a very righteous person he recommends that he go and pray at. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach told him that when he wants to go pray at the grave of a very righteous person, he goes to Mt. Herzel, where soldiers who gave their lives to defend Israel are buried.
The unflinching willingness of so many Israelis, from every walk of life and every level of religious affiliation, to go fight–and even die–to defend Israel is something we must forever remember.
Never again will I be able to look at secular Israelis–be it in Israel or in the diaspora–the same way I have in the past. To me, their righteousness far exceeds my own, and even that of some of the most religious people out there. Never again will I be able to view people like my friend Sam, or any other Israeli the same way. The heroism and volunteerism for the sake of the Jewish People that we saw emerge on October 7th and during the time that followed it must never be forgotten. These are the Jews we thought we knew, but we did not. They are the Tzadikim of our generation.
