He recommended that Jews, like their enemies, adopt a posture of patience: “If you are patient, you may get peace one day. If you want peace now, you won’t get it.”
In his view, Jews “need a sense of the future.” Jews are so desperate for peace that “we run around in a frenzy, we can’t wait, we expel people from their homes in an unprecedented act of barbarism, self-hatred, and stupidity. We fall all over ourselves with anxiety and self-hatred.”
Dr. Aumann again stressed that the shahids are not madmen. Their goal is to get the Jews out of the Middle East. They have a vision of the future and are determined as well as persistent. These are qualities the professor respects, even “envies,” and he urges Jews and Israelis to adopt just such qualities.
“Persistence and determination,” he declared, “are omnipotent.” Here he quoted Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison and Bella Wexner, the noted philanthropist whose name was stamped on the evening’s proceedings – all of whom believed that persistence and determination are everything.
“The Jewish nation, “he concluded, “will survive, no matter what. But I am not sure about the State of Israel.” He barely paused before reminding us that “it is in our hands. If we persevere, if we demonstrate that no amount of violence will budge us, if we are willing to be patient, if we stop appeasing them – it is in our hands.”
People were invited to join Dr. Aumann for refreshments. I came right home instead, compelled to share his words with you.