The indescribable horrors unleashed on Israel on October 7 shook every Israeli, and the overwhelming majority of Jews, to the core. We are all still in agony and unbearable grief as we slowly try to come to grips with the diabolic acts of Hamas terrorists, assisted with satanic enthusiasm by hundreds of Gazan civilians who joined in their orgy of murder and rape, torture and mutilation. The descriptions of survivors, the videos made by the murderers, and the numbing, heart-breaking testimonies of those who identified the victims make it clear that in their brutality, Hamas and its allies reached depths of depravity that even the Nazis avoided.
We have met Amalek face to face, in all of his hideous ugliness.
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In describing the arrival of the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the Torah states: “And they traveled from Rephidim, and they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there opposite the mountain” (Exodus 19:2). Rashi comments that the Torah equates the people’s departure with their arrival: “Just as their arrival at Sinai was marked by teshuva, so their departure from Rephidim was marked by teshuva.” In addition, the Israelites reached Sinai in an unprecedented state of absolute unity.
When he taught this passage, on a Saturday night in Boston in the mid-1970s, Rav Soloveitchik, zt”l, looked out at the audience and asked: “What happened at Rephidim that prompted the dual response of teshuva and unprecedented unity?” Someone called out: “The encounter with Amalek.” “And what does Amalek represent?” the Rav asked. “Amalek represents absolute evil,” he explained. The encounter with absolute evil, embodied by Amalek, led to a deep sense of vulnerability on the part of the Israelites. Their response was twofold: First, they reached out to G-d through teshuva, and then, instinctively, they reached out to each other. They transcended their differences, acknowledged their unbreakable familial ties, and melded into a nation worthy of receiving the Torah.
This is precisely what happened on the “Black Sabbath,” October 7.
The night before, millions of Israelis (myself included) went to bed deeply worried, even terrified, that Israel was coming apart at the seams. It was not only the increasingly virulent (and not infrequently violent) protests surrounding judicial reform that led to such foreboding. The question of judicial reform triggered all of the underlying tensions in Israeli society: religious vs. secular, Jewish State vs. State of the Jews, Ashkenazim vs. Mizrachim, Right vs. Left, the exemption of charedim from the army, and more. Indeed, before October 7, Judaism itself was a focus of the conflict, expressed by unprecedented assaults on open-air services on Yom Kippur because of the option of separate seating. Things had become so extreme that there was a growing movement to divide the country in two, between a secular Israel and an Orthodox Judah.
And then came the morning of October 7.
Along with the initial, existential shock, a miracle occurred: The vicious and vociferous arguments were seemingly set aside. The mutual hostility and suspicion seemingly disappeared. In their place, there emerged a visceral, intuitive feeling of national unity, reinforced by a grim determination to join hands to uproot the absolute evil of Hamas and its minions. Myriads of Israelis returned home to join their reserve units to defend our homeland and our people. Every sector of society (Jews, including secular, religious, charedi, Ashkenazi, Mizrachi; Druze; Aramean; Bedouin; and Circassian) enlisted in endless acts of voluntary chesed to support the victims, to succor the families of those still held hostage by Hamas, those uprooted from their homes, the families of those serving on the frontlines, and those whose children sacrificed their lives so that Israel might be secure. Wonderfully, but not surprisingly, this multifaceted activity continues largely unabated.
This blessed development has been much noted in the press and in podcasts and reports about the Israeli home front.
Less noted, but just as noteworthy, is the upsurge in Jewish religious self-awareness and self-expression, both among the troops at the front and among the populace at large. The unity, mutual reliance, and affection among our soldiers laid low the hostility that just one hundred and one days ago characterized the religious-secular divide and threatened to tear the country asunder. Troops seek to be inspired by singers with Jewish content like Ishai Ribo, Yuval Dayyan, and Hanan Ben Ari. There is a huge demand by non-observant soldiers for khaki-colored tzitzit. Shabbat, tefillot, and divrei Torah are shared by all who are interested, and they are many. The soldiers report feeling that they are an integral link in the chain of Jewish peoplehood and Jewish history. This is not a massive acceptance of observance. But it is an unprecedented massive embrace of G-d and Jewish tradition.
One could explain all of this by observing that there are no atheists in foxholes. Yet that would not explain the upscale Tel Aviv restaurants which set up kosher kitchens so that every soldier could eat what they prepared. It would not explain the return of prayer to the public sphere. It would not explain the invocation of the command to remember Amalek in such unlikely places as Tel Aviv University and on the gates of secularist kibbutzim.
From the other direction, there has been a dramatic shift in attitudes toward Zionism and army service among charedim. According to a recent study, fully a third of charedim see army or national service as a positive value and not a contradiction to Torah study or Jewish values. Despite it being a minority point of view, it represents a significant shift within the charedi population and will, please G-d, indicate a future trend wherein charedim feel they can maintain their lives devoted to serving G-d and learning Torah while doing their share contributing to the safety and welfare and security of the State, of which all are a part. And, of course, a critical part of this shift (and of an equally impressive decline in anti-charedi sentiment among the general population) is a result of the extraordinary efforts and dedication of the volunteers of ZAKA and Ichud Hatzalah.
On October 7, the Children of Israel met Hamas/Amalek face to face. It overwhelmingly awoke in them deep ties to G-d, ties to one another and to Sinai. At the end of his comment on the above verse, Rashi notes that while Israel was extraordinarily united as it encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai, by contrast, “all [of its] other encampments were marked by controversy.” And that, aside from the war itself and its terrible cost, is what is causing many concerned Israelis to lose sleep.
As we reach the hundred-day mark, there are worrying signs. The political discourse has again turned increasingly ugly. Though judicial reform is a dead letter, politicians and journalists are seizing the opportunity to resume their efforts to unseat the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Increasingly, they are using the horrific fate of our hostages as ammunition, arguing that the government cares not a whit for the hostages but only for a war against Hamas. Along the same lines, for the first time in months, explicitly anti-religious incidents have occurred in Tel Aviv.
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Now, everyone in authority, starting with PM Netanyahu, must answer for their actions in the years leading up to October 7 and afterwards, and to pay the appropriate price. There should be elections, hopefully set by consensus, toward the end of the year. However, under no circumstances can Israel return to where it was on October 6. Myriads of Israelis understand that, starting with the troops in Gaza. A viral TikTok campaign is underway in which soldiers from every community tell the politicians and the media types that if they can’t be uniting, they should be silent.
When a Tel Aviv principal stopped a student from putting on tefillin, hundreds of secular students came to protest and put on tefillin the next day. There are four large, popular movements working in tandem to respectfully address core questions of Israeli Jewish identity and life. The healthier instincts of the people are at work. We must pray to G-d that they prevail, even as He aids us in prevailing over Hamas/Amalek.
