
In a few days, Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the nation’s 47th president. The nation in this case is America, not Israel. But among many Jews in both countries, you’d never know that. Indeed, the common joke in shuls after his landslide victory was if one should recite Hallel with or without a bracha.
Jews certainly have cause for celebration, or thought they did. In his last term, Trump proved to be perhaps the most pro-Jewish, pro-Israel president in American history. This is the leader after all who finally made good on America’s promise to move its embassy to Jerusalem, who formally recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and who hammered out the historic Abraham Accords, securing peace treaties between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morrocco. Here is a man who has done more for peace in the Middle East in four years than the US achieved in the previous four decades.
His love of the Jewish people is no less proven. His famous visit to the Rebbe’s ohel during the election, his invitation to the White House to Jewish leaders after his win, and the clear love he shows to his own Jewish daughter and grandchildren, all speak to the hope that the incoming president is someone who is can truly be called “A righteous among the nations.”
If he shone in the past, his future looked even brighter. He already came out strongly in support of releasing the hostages and it seemed clear that he would finally let Israel do what it needs to in order to win this war once and for all.
So why, when I see so many Jews celebrating his win, am I filled with a cold sense of unease? Why am I so worried? I should be giving thanks that our protector has come at last.
It’s because his threats to Hamas hid the contents of the proposed hostage deal that keeps Hamas in power and able to regroup. It seems planned to be a deal Hamas can agree to rather than a deal that allows Israel the victory over Hamas that is in its grasp. It reminds me of another defender of Israel, one who was also supposed to save the country. Ariel Sharon.
For those too young to remember, or those who wish to forget, Ariel Sharon was a celebrated Israeli general, famous for his military victories. He then served as the 11th prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006.
When he defeated Ehud Barak, I remember there being a sense of elation in this country. Finally, we were getting rid of the inept and crooked leadership that had so weakened the country in recent years. Sharon's credentials couldn’t have been better. From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon had been a staunch supporter of annexing the so-called “West Bank” and Gaza Strip. He had long championed the construction of Israeli communities in those areas.
Now Sharon was finally in power. Now he would finally be able to put his ideas into practice. Now, the nation would finally have a leader who would protect Israel’s inherent right to its native land.
Anyone who knows Israeli history will give a shudder remembering what happened next. For reasons that may never be known in this world, although theories are rampant, once he was in office, Sharon’s policies completely reversed. As Prime Minister, it was none other than Sharon who orchestrated Israel's unilateral disengagement, more accurately known as the Katif Expulsion, from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The tragedy of his action was evident even then, when thousands of Jews were expelled from their homes not by invaders or foreign powers, but by their own leadership.
Since then, the insanity of this decision has only become more apparent. Immediately after they were given Gaza the Palestinian Arabs elected Hamas, a terrorist organization, as their leaders. They dismantled the Jewish farms and greenhouses left behind for them and used the materials, as well as the cement the West made Israel allow into the Strip ostensibly to buld homes and schools, to make weapons and dig tunnels to attack the Jewish state.
The terror that came from Gaza led to no less than three wars within less than ten years of the withdrawal. The First Gaza War called Operation Cast Lead in 2008, the 2012 Gaza War called Operation Pillar of Defense, and the 2014 Gaza War called Operation Protective Edge. It also led to countless terror attacks against Israel.
These attacks culminated in the horror that was October 7th. October 7th was in fact nothing other than the natural conclusion to Ariel Sharon’s calamitous decisions as Israel’s leader. All the death and destruction, all the pain this country has endured in the past months, it is Sharon who is directly responsible for it.
Mercifully for the country, Sharon suffered a stroke on January 4, 2006. Had he stayed in power and won the next election, he was planning on "clearing Israel out of most of the 'West Bank'" in a series of unilateral withdrawals. Had he been successful, the damage to Israel today, if there was still an Israel, would be unimaginable.
This was the same Sharon who was initially greeted as Israel’s hero, if not its savior. No one would ever have guessed, or even suspected that he would be perhaps the most dangerous leader in Israel’s history. Now, when I see the same excitement surrounding Trump, I can’t help but feel worried that history, as it’s been known to do, will repeat itself.
To be perfectly clear, I cannot prove that Trump has done anything to suggest such an about-face, although the terms of the proposed ceasefire are suspiciously bad for Israel. But neither did Sharon, that’s what makes it so scary. I am also not suggesting that Trump will follow down Sharon’s corrupt path. I sincerely hope that I am worrying for nothing and that Trump does indeed turn out to be Israel’s truest friend among the nations.
But I remember the pasuk in Mishlei (21:1), "Like streams of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem, wherever He wishes, so He directs it." In a Midrash, R. Yishmael expounds this pasuk: “Just as water, when put in a vessel, can be tilted to any side that you wish, so too, when a person rises to greatness, his heart is given in the hand of Hashem. If the world merits -- G-d tilts the king’s heart to good, and if the world does not merit -- He tilts it to harsh decrees.”
In the end, Trump is nothing more than a tool for Hashem to use as He sees fit. All of Trump’s promises and praises come to nothing if Hashem has other ideas for him. We have already seen this in the case of Sharon. That’s always the danger of pinning our hopes on any leader.
Once again, I am not insinuating that this is what will happen. Instead, I am reminding the Jewish people Who our true leader is, and Who we should always be turning to for our help. It is Hashem, not any temporary leader Who will decide the fate of Israel. It’s to Hashem alone that all our hopes should turn.
It’s good to always bear in mind what David, a king himself, wrote in Tehillim (146:3-6) "Do not trust in princes, in the son of man, who has no salvation. His spirit leaves, and he returns to his soil; on that day, his thoughts are lost. Praiseworthy is he in whose help is the God of Jacob; his hope is in the Lord his God. Who made heaven and Earth, the sea and all that is in them, Who keeps truth forever."
We must never lose sight of the fact that whoever is running the country, is still Hashem Who is running the world.
I don’t know what the coming months will bring. I don’t know what Trump will do about the situation here in Israel once he is in office. I pray that President Trump will be a righteous messenger of Hashem, and that Hashem will use him to do only good to the nation of Israel and to the Jewish people. I pray that his presidency is a time of blessing for Israel as well as America.
Certainly, we Jews must certainly pray for Trump’s success. But as we do so we must always have in mind where our blessings are truly coming from. Trump is an instrument of Hashem, no more, no less. I sincerely hope that he will be an instrument for good. Whatever happens, good or bad, we must never forget that it’s Hashem and Hashem alone Who we should look to for help.
Jews were able to outlast Biden. We will outlast Trump as well. Only Hashem is eternal.
Ilan Goodman is a museum collections professional and exhibition curator. He also serves as a rabbi and educator. He made Aliyah to Israel in 2011 and lives with his wife and children in Beit Shemesh.