President Isaac Herzog hosted a discussion today (Thursday) in honor of the fast of Tisha B'Av as part of his 'Change Your Words, Change the World' program, bringing together people from different communities, faiths, lifestyles, and political positions.
The event was attended by dozens of invitees representing a spectrum of different positions and opinions in Israeli society from the fields of education, academia, medicine, religion and more, who participated in open discourse circles and discussed the state of Israeli society, the deep rift surrounding the judicial reforms and the solutions that can be pursued.
Herzog told the participants: "I went through all the discussion groups here and the snippets I heard really moved me. I think it's wonderful that you came on this day. It's not easy to come on Tisha B'av, you've taken it upon yourselves to come from all over the country and I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for the openness and honesty, and I thank all of you, and all the team coordinators, for this wonderful work."
He added: "I find myself in a certain place in which I am resonating and feeling exactly what everyone has said here. All the pleas come to me, all the nerves, all the nervousness, all the frustrations, all the anxieties come to me. There is a huge space of anxiety that I think echoes primal fears that we carry with us from generations past; each with his personal and family experiences, of where he came from and how he got here, alongside of course the collective anxieties; and this is being expressed in full force."
"I say with absolute certainty: Democracy has not been eliminated, Israel exists and is strong, and the whole idea that we are heading towards a ' halahkic state' is very serious, very bad and very wrong. I went through very lengthy processes trying to reach understandings and compromises. There are people here who were complicit in this. There is a complete lack of understanding of the depth of the anxiety and where it comes from - the feeling of loss of our free and liberal lives, of the fundamental values of democracy.
"I strongly believe in the strength of Israeli society and its ability to get through very difficult things, because we are a people who carry with them deep pains, and enormous capacities for contribution and action," he stated. "We must think about how we make sure that in fifty years, and a hundred years, our descendants will also be able to live together."
"It's not easy," he said, adding that "perhaps this moment is a moment of defining opportunity for all of us, to think together about how to influence future generations. Instead of getting intomuckraking and fighting with each other - we need to talk about the pain, as openly as possible, but also to think about the next operative step, assuming that we all want to live together."
Herzog concluded: "I want to wish an easy fast to those fasting, we may do something very important here for the people and the country, so consider this a mission. Thank you very much."