One would think a rabbi would be educated in Jewish literature; therefore one will assume he will be familiar with the saying “Do not judge a person until you stand in his place” (Sayings of the Sages 2:5) and will practice it.
I am an Israeli who has been living in the Diaspora for a long time (long enough that it makes it hard to count the years). In all that time, I never went public and expressed my opinions (supportive or not) on what Israel should or shouldn’t do when it comes to protecting its borders or citizens.
As one can imagine, given that I am an Israeli citizen born and raised who served in the Israel Defense Force as an active soldier for three years and then reserves for years after, I get my fair share of questions about how I feel or what my thoughts are on the current situation.
Over the years, I have had long discussions with friends and family, some who feel as I do and some who feel differently. When I reply, I always try and mention the fact that it is how I feel, and that the only people who have the right to decide how to react are the people who currently reside in the country.
Unlike the United States of America, in Israel, citizens who do not reside in the country by choice do not have the right to vote in an election.
After reading Rabbi Shlomo Levin’s view in the Jan. 9 Chronicle, I felt I had to say few things with the utmost respect to his opinions and his position in the community:
• Assuming he has never lived through an air raid in his life, how can he begin to “realize the toll these attacks have taken” on people of Sderot, Beer Sheva, Ashkelon, Ashdod and the rest of southern Israel?
Over the last few weeks I spoke to my friends and family in Israel quite often. They lived in the country all their lives and this was the first time they had to run for shelter. Many told me that they never thought for a second it could be such a terrifying and traumatic experience.
• Assuming Levin has no inside information on the official Israel Cabinet meeting minutes, I cannot help but wonder how did he come up with the information on the two goals the state of Israel had set for the IDF?
I have been listening to most of the media outlets (in and out of Israel) and all I got out of it was that this time Israeli officials did not set clear list of goals just so people like the honorable rabbi will not be able to say we lost the battle and did not fulfill our mission.
• I do think it is demonizing and generalizing on his part to write, “Revenge may taste sweet” and “That is what the people of Sderot in particular may now want.”
I am confident that the majority of people in Sderot just want to be free of the fear of rocket attacks, and are supportive of the measures the government takes to protect them.
I highly doubt there are celebrations in the streets of Sderot over the pictures that come out of Gaza, and I am pretty confident there was no dancing and distribution of candy over the casualty-counts of the other side.
• Finally, the rabbi writes: “This is like one kid beating another to a pulp in the schoolyard and then justifying it with a long list of past annoyance and provocations that in his mind makes brutality acceptable.”
I can recall a few tragedies in our Jewish history for which we did not retaliate for a “long list of annoyances,” one of which happened few decades ago and ended up with 6,000,000 Jewish people dead out of which were about 1,500,000 children.
I wish the situation in the Middle East was like a schoolyard and I wish what Hamas has been doing to the people of Sderot were just a “list of annoyances.”
What I took from everything I saw, heard and read was that Israel’s overall stated goal of this operation was to change the equation in the area and to deter Hamas from terrorizing Israel.
As an Israel supporter, I truly hope we accomplish the mission even if temporarily. Judging from the way Hezbollah in Lebanon acted during this war and since 2006, I think we might succeed.
For a region and people who has seen their fair share of war and suffering this is the minimum they can hope for.
As they say in Hebrew, “Nichiyeh v’nireh,” “we shall live and we shall see.”
Yonatan Zvi lives in Mequon and was one of two recipients of the 2006 Benjamin E. Nickoll Young Leadership Award from the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
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