The state, the society, the war, the present hour.
As a Maimonidean, as a #Zionist, as a Libertarian Socialist – communal self-determination has a high place in my hierarchy of values.
I think it’s all the more important here in #Israel, where the need to form new types of communities together, with new identities, new norms, new customs, new niggunim, is critical.
(long but LIFE AFFIRMING ๐)
This week we are supposed to celebrate Yom Haatsmaut.
A national day of independence.
A celebration of the achievement and the miracle that was the creation of this state, and what it means for the people of Israel who have marched down this road for millenia.
A recognition of what it means to go from being herded into the gas chambers to flying one of the world’s greatest air forces.
To be one step – one huge and meaningful step – closer to the ultimate freedom we’ve prayed and fought for throughout the longest exile.
A day to look forward to, every year.
And so we’re getting ready.
Meanwhile… the ceasefire with Lebanon didn’t include Hezbollah and the “ceasefire” with the IRGC wasn’t based on any points of agreement, didn’t translate into anything permanent, and expires on… Yom Haatsmaut.
Meanwhile POTUS said Hormuz will never be closed again hours before the IRGC closed it and fired on ships, and said Iran will transfer all its uranium to the USA only for the IRGC to flatly deny anything of the sort minutes later. Sounds like someone’s looking to sell renewed hostilities (“a civilization will die tonight”?) to his base as the necessary response to the IRGC breaking the aforementioned “ceasefire.”
Meanwhile the IRGC has been digging out launchers, manufacturing new launchers and missiles, and repositioning all the assets it conserved and recovered during the 40 days of missiles fired at just the right pace to keep us running to shelters and to deplete our interceptors, escalating at will in response to coalition strikes and political developments.
Meanwhile we are running lower than ever before on interceptors and we can’t cover all the missiles and launchers the IRGC currently has, let alone resupply the interceptors as quickly as the IRGC can make new missiles and launchers.
Meanwhile Hezbollah is repositioning, resupplying, and still under the complete control of the IRGC. Waiting for the signal to resume the rockets that keep half the country running for cover.
Meanwhile the Israeli government lifted all restrictions on Friday and so all of us are grabbing the opportunity to party and are busy planning barbecues with our friends on balconies and in parks and on the beaches and just want to feel fcking normal for a change after weeks/years of war, like we actually have something to celebrate and live for, just to be free of the shelters for just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
And the “ceasefire” expires on Yom Haatsmaut…
I have no idea what to expect this week.
A couple of weeks ago we were staring down the barrel of radically escalated hostilities with possibly devasting consequences for Israelis, and then like 45 minutes before it was bombs and missiles everywhere, the Pakistani government jumped in and we got some kind of pause in the bombs and missiles instead of a lot more of them.
I had stocked our shelter, stayed up reading the news, studying, and waiting for the sirens, and was never so happy to have my concerns prove fruitless if not unfounded.
This Yom Haatsmaut might be the day of normalcy and joy and fun we’ve been collectively craving for over a month.
It might be a day of missiles.
Landing.
Most of the signs I’m seeing as of today are pointing in a clear direction – but everything is in flux, perpetually and rapidly shifting, ever-changing dรฉtentes between multiple belligerent and corrupt parties.
Nothing is certain. Nothing is fixed. Nothing is guaranteed.
And always, throughout history and across the world but especially in this place at this time – Divine love, compassion, and grace have accompanied us, even in the darkest hour of night.
Anything can happen, especially the miraculous, especially here, in the land of providential love.
Whatever happens, though, we WILL celebrate our independence. Our freedom. Our autonomy. Our democracy.
The inalienable rights our ancestors fought to assert and defend and exercise in our ancestral land.
They are worth celebrating this year and every year, with thanks and gratitude to the Highest.
Maybe especially this year.
(Yes, the war and the history and everything was complicated and multifaceted – hard won independence for some came at a catastrophic price for others. I will share some thoughts on what independence means, and should mean, and can mean, in a few days. But for this moment I just want to say:)
Whether in the parks or in the shelters… we will celebrate.
We will find a way.
We will have our Yom Haatsmaut.
So, my friends…. I’m praying for normalcy.
I’m praying for barbecues and loud music and the joy of being alive together under the open sky.
I’m praying for another miracle.
But I’m keeping the shelter stocked.
With beer.
“Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough.”
Can you believe this Radical Far Left Democrat has the NERVE to tell Israel what to do?!
It’s interesting what people assume.
For those few who regularly read what I write ๐ you’ll have noticed that I’ve been very careful for years not to refer to members of Hamas, PLO, Hezbollah, etc, as terrorists, especially after Oct 7.
I prefer to name their crimes:
– murder
– kidnapping
– r*pe
– extortion
– theft
I don’t believe that committing these crimes supposedly in the name of some ideology makes the crimes any more significant than ones committed in the name of profit or pleasure. Giving them a special category seems like endowing them with a perverse nobility.
Having watched how people and politicians use the term “terrorist” for decades, it’s become apparent that it’s nothing more than a vague rhetorical device, now mobilized by all sides of many conflicts, and crucially it is utilized by the Israeli and American governments to justify placing someone accused of committing particular crimes, squarely outside of the justice system.
I firmly believe that no one should be outside the justice system, that everyone has the right to a fair trial, and that all criminals should be held accountable in courts of law.
(I derived little satisfaction from the extrajudicial killing of Sinwar, for example. I would much rather he had been tried and faced the law.)
Words matter.
They shape our perception of and relationship to reality.
I don’t think choosing better words replaces the need for further actions to build a better world, but those actions start with the words we choose.
Words matter.
I try to choose my words carefully:
The IRGC – not Iran.
Hezbollah – not Lebanon.
Hamas – not Gaza.
Criminals – not terrorists.
Autonomy – not sovereignty.
Etcetera…
And because I choose my words carefully, I inhabit a very different world than most other people
I am not persuaded that Israeli soldiers are Nazis.
There is so much that separates your average soldier from an actual Nazi, just as there is so much that differentiates the Israeli state’s pointless military occupation of the West Bank and patchwork of anti-Palestinian policies, from the mobilization of an entire civilization for the express enslavement and murder of millions of people based on their ethnicity.
Even the decimation of Gaza – which stands as a permanent stain on our conscience – does not begin to approach, in intent, scope, or method, the orchestrated genocide of an entire population.
The war on Gaza, like most anti-Palestinian things the state of Israel does (and despite the words and actions of a vocal, violent minority that has found its way into the governing coalition and into positions of power over Palestinians), has been typified by an immoral disregard for Palestinian lives and property – not hatred for them or a thirst for their blood.
The difference is crucial when we’re talking about Nazis.
But the act of making the comparison itself – of holding up a mirror and seeing for ourselves if and how closely we start to resemble Nazis – is not only legitimate imho but absolutely necessary, after Auschwitz.
We SHOULD be comparing our soldiers to Nazis and seeing where there might be some similarity in tactics, outcomes, or attitudes.
We SHOULD be comparing our government to the Third Reich and seeing what policies and propaganda they might have in common.
We SHOULD be comparing our leaders to Hitler and seeing if the things they’re saying and the moves they’re making have uncomfortable, unacceptable precedent.
Because after Auschwitz, we can never, ever again let any society go down that dark path.
And the #Holocaust is the most clear benchmark we could ever use for evaluating where a society stands.
Does a country stand only 1% chance of murdering its citizens (or strangers) for the taint of their blood upon its soil?
Barukh Hashem, the disease is present but contained.
But 2% is worse than 1%.
10% is worse than 2%.
Every step along that scale is an inch closer to Auschwitz.
The abyss of the human soul.
The black whole of civilization, exerting an inexorable pull on members of society towards a collective madness born of fear and hate.
No society is totally immune to the lure of Auschwitz, the demonic promise of false justice bought for the price of human lives, of a grand future soaked in strangers’ blood.
And the worse the social conditions, the more wounded the collective and individual spirit, the easier the slide along the slope to Auschwitz becomes.
As human beings – as a species – we must always set Auschwitz before us as a memory, seared into our souls, of where we never wish to return.
We must use that memory as a guide, not just for our collective policies and institutions, but in our own personal thoughts, words, and actions.
And together, we must build the antithesis of Auschwitz – we must plant the Paradise as our answer to its Hell.
The people of Hungary have given us a breath of fresh air and reminded us all that This Too Shall Pass.
They suffered for over a decade under an incompetent, criminal, failure of a politician, and then they aligned together and kicked him out.
Soon by us.
I’m hopeful.
Yeah I’m watching the clock waiting for the missiles to start coming again – waiting for the big barrage of remaining missiles, recovered missiles, manufactured missiles, while we sit here like ducks in our unfit shelters and an interceptor stockpile that is nearly all gone – but for the first time in over a month I’m feeling hopeful.
This war may get a lot tougher – the state in its current incarnation may face an existential challenge after years of failed wars and mounting casualties – but Israeli society will survive.
We will endure.
We will rebuild whatever is broken.
We’re not going anywhere.
And if our state crumbles because our politicians failed us and played endless political games for decades, failed us in our hour of dire need –
We will organize a new state.
Maybe some institutions will stay. Maybe some will go. Maybe some will be reworked.
Maybe we’ll create new institutions, that better serve our needs as a society.
Maybe we’ll internalize the lessons that righteous leadership isn’t optional and that the theoretical ends never justify the actual means.
Maybe we’ll write ourselves a constitution that balances rights and responsibilities and protects lawful order and civil society and human freedom all together.
These are a lot of maybes. And I can’t ignore the feeling that I’m staring down the barrel of a gun. But thinking of what this threat actually means, and what it doesn’t, and what can come out of it –
I’m left with a feeling of hope on a sunny day.
The missiles may come.
Our lives may change.
But our society is not so easily uprooted…
May we all be blessed with the gift of peace.
May we all be blessed with a revolution.
(Thoughts on the immediate situation… If you live in this country… Please read to the end. Stay safe my friends.)
POTUS is threatening to attack every power plant and bridge in Iran, starting at 8 PM Eastern Time tomorrow night.
I’m hoping for the best. Maybe this will all blow over, maybe he’ll move the deadline again, maybe TACO, idk.
But I’m preparing for the worst.
My friends – Israelis, Palestinians, internationals – please get ready for a wild ride tomorrow night, starting at 3 AM, through 7 AM, if not the entire day.
If you do not have access to a bomb shelter, PLEASE consider spending the festival somewhere you do. I’d even say it’s worth the risk traveling to a safer location, but that’s a tough call and I honestly don’t know what I would definitely do in that situation. I’ve got a baby and no car, I know what it’s like to not be so mobile and not want to expose them to danger.
Please buy extra water and food, and keep them in your bomb shelter along with blankets, batteries, and a first aid kit. Maybe a book or something. Tehillim. Quran. Brandon Sanderson. Whatever works for you.
Don’t forget games for the kids.
Please keep your phones close (as if I even have to say it ๐คฆ) and get ready to go as soon as you get a warning. In our home that’s shoes ~> blankets for baby ~> bathroom ~> coats. Turn off the stove.
Don’t wait for the sirens to get ready. Don’t count on there being enough time.
And if and when the sirens come, please GO, calmly and quickly, to your shelter. Close the doors behind you. And stay there until you get a notification that it’s safe to leave.
I’m hoping for: nothing, like so much of what comes of POTUS’s rants. A day of prayer and study. A potluck lunch and an afternoon nap.
I’m preparing for: a morning (day?) of missile salvos, possibly as bad as the first day of the war, with barely anything left to intercept them.
Now, don’t get it twisted:
This is not doom and gloom.
I’m not trying to scare anyone.
But after a month of daily warnings, sirens, and missiles, I know how burned out we’re getting. Getting a little loose with safety and common sense. Hell, some people I know refuse to go to a shelter at all. ๐คฆ
So in the hopes of nudging even just one person closer towards safety than they otherwise would have been, I’m willing to take the comparatively small risk of looking like a fool and/or Cassandra, and suggest that it’s a good idea to prepare for and stay safe tomorrow night and Wednesday.
Don’t rely on miracles – but always hope for them.
And last but not least, as a reminder, last night we counted 4 in the Omer. (5 if you’re reading this ereb hag.)
ืฉืืืื ื ืืืช ืืืงืืฉ ืืืืจื ืืืืื ื
ืืชื ืืืงื ื ืืชืืจืชื
(Some thoughts on bomb shelters and missiles, with a request at the end:)
For someone who’s been itching for a war with Iran for decades, our prime minister didn’t actually prepare this country for war with Iran.
Of the 11,775 public bomb shelters in this country, around 1 in 9 are officially unfit. In some areas of Israel, that number rises to 1 in 5. Untold more shared bomb shelters – like the one for our building – have also been officially declared unfit over the years, with no steps taken to fix or upgrade them.
These shelters are the primary defense for 20% of the population against ICBM’s targeting us.
An additional 33% of the population doesn’t even have access to a shared bomb shelter or a reinforced shelter space in their home.
That means we have missiles raining daily with half the population either unprotected or dependent on shelters that in many cases are unfit to protect us.
In situations like ours, it is possible to privately upgrade the bomb shelter, replacing the decrepit doors and enclosing the pre-Gulf War apertures in the walls – but the estimated cost, $12,000, is more than we and our neighbors can collectively afford on budgets already stretched thin by years of war and rising costs.
Needless to say, this problem will only become more urgent as the interceptors are depleted and ICBM’s start landing across Israel at much higher rates.
I’m thinking of maybe putting together a campaign to raise money from our friends in American Jewish communities. I’d like to help other Israelis in situations similar to ours, who are dependent on shelters that are officially unfit during a crapshoot of a prolonged war in which adequate protection is becoming increasingly important.
If you would like to contribute ideas, time, or money to help me organize and implement this project, please be in touch. ๐