It is a remarkable commentary on ourselves as Israelis that in the midst of our deep disagreements over how to preserve and build this nation, we still maintain, at heart, a true respect for one another. Two events over the past week demonstrated that essential unity vividly.
Late last week, Prime Minister Sharon visited the family of Tali Hatuel, the mother of four gunned down with all of her children by Arab terrorists. At the time she was murdered, she was on her way to vote in the Likud referendum on Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza. She and other Jewish residents of Gaza strongly opposed Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza, often displaying signs and otherwise demonstrating their opposition. And yet, there was the picture in Sunday's paper of Sharon visiting that very family. David Hatuel, Tali's husband, sat on the ground in unimaginable grief, still in the week-long mourning for his wife and children. And before him sat Sharon, in dark suit and kippah, received by the family despite their being so politically at odds, and despite the cruel circumstances of Tali's and the children's murders, as they were on their way to vote against Sharon's proposal.
That picture of Sharon visiting the family carries a strong message. We Israelis possess a great capacity to close ranks. Yes, we disagree and we demonstrate - we act on the call of our consciences - but, at the end of the day, we stand together.
Another unmistakable, less tragic example of this phenomenon was the awarding, last Sunday, of the $100,000 Wolf prize to Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim. Barenboim has been an outspoken critic of Israel's policies during the current Arab uprising. And he sparked controversy a few years back by playing an encore of Wagner to an unsuspecting Israeli audience.
Still, despite these controversies, he was chosen to receive the prize, presented in the Israeli Knesset. It should come as no surprise that he used the occasion to voice his political views, though it did, in fact, take people by surprise. After Barenboim's remarks, Education Minister Limor Livnat got up and expressed with some exasperation that it was not an easy decision to award the prize to Barenboim. And, of course, he rebutted. All in all, the ceremony was less genteel than was hoped.
But here again, we demonstrate a closing of ranks. We can have our differences, but we respect each other even enough to swallow our reservations and honor the good work of a rival - in this case, Barenboim's musical artistry. It is reminiscent of the comment Bill Clinton made when he attended Shimon Peres' 80th birthday gathering last year. With Peres' political rival, Ariel Sharon, happily attending the affair and speaking kindly of his friend Peres, Clinton noted how remarkable that seemed to him; his own opponents, he said, wouldn't even sit in the same room with him.
In these days of ideological wrangling and smoldering war, it is comforting to remember that underneath the layers of internal dispute, we do live in this country by the Talmudic dictum that all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another.
This is easy to miss when one is on the outside looking in. One might read the rhetoric levied by the Israeli Left against the Right and vice-versa, read of the antipathy between the "religious" and the "non-religious", and even the elements of friction between Israelis of Ashkenazi extraction and those of Sephardi, and one might see only divisiveness among Israelis. But spend a little time in this country and one sees how it all fits together - the remarkable brotherhood and sense of responsibility for one another we share here. Even when we are not all pulling in the same direction, Israelis do recognize that we are all in this together.
Copyright 2004, David Block
Late last week, Prime Minister Sharon visited the family of Tali Hatuel, the mother of four gunned down with all of her children by Arab terrorists. At the time she was murdered, she was on her way to vote in the Likud referendum on Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza. She and other Jewish residents of Gaza strongly opposed Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza, often displaying signs and otherwise demonstrating their opposition. And yet, there was the picture in Sunday's paper of Sharon visiting that very family. David Hatuel, Tali's husband, sat on the ground in unimaginable grief, still in the week-long mourning for his wife and children. And before him sat Sharon, in dark suit and kippah, received by the family despite their being so politically at odds, and despite the cruel circumstances of Tali's and the children's murders, as they were on their way to vote against Sharon's proposal.
That picture of Sharon visiting the family carries a strong message. We Israelis possess a great capacity to close ranks. Yes, we disagree and we demonstrate - we act on the call of our consciences - but, at the end of the day, we stand together.
Another unmistakable, less tragic example of this phenomenon was the awarding, last Sunday, of the $100,000 Wolf prize to Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim. Barenboim has been an outspoken critic of Israel's policies during the current Arab uprising. And he sparked controversy a few years back by playing an encore of Wagner to an unsuspecting Israeli audience.
Still, despite these controversies, he was chosen to receive the prize, presented in the Israeli Knesset. It should come as no surprise that he used the occasion to voice his political views, though it did, in fact, take people by surprise. After Barenboim's remarks, Education Minister Limor Livnat got up and expressed with some exasperation that it was not an easy decision to award the prize to Barenboim. And, of course, he rebutted. All in all, the ceremony was less genteel than was hoped.
But here again, we demonstrate a closing of ranks. We can have our differences, but we respect each other even enough to swallow our reservations and honor the good work of a rival - in this case, Barenboim's musical artistry. It is reminiscent of the comment Bill Clinton made when he attended Shimon Peres' 80th birthday gathering last year. With Peres' political rival, Ariel Sharon, happily attending the affair and speaking kindly of his friend Peres, Clinton noted how remarkable that seemed to him; his own opponents, he said, wouldn't even sit in the same room with him.
In these days of ideological wrangling and smoldering war, it is comforting to remember that underneath the layers of internal dispute, we do live in this country by the Talmudic dictum that all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another.
This is easy to miss when one is on the outside looking in. One might read the rhetoric levied by the Israeli Left against the Right and vice-versa, read of the antipathy between the "religious" and the "non-religious", and even the elements of friction between Israelis of Ashkenazi extraction and those of Sephardi, and one might see only divisiveness among Israelis. But spend a little time in this country and one sees how it all fits together - the remarkable brotherhood and sense of responsibility for one another we share here. Even when we are not all pulling in the same direction, Israelis do recognize that we are all in this together.
Copyright 2004, David Block