It seems counterintuitive, if not downright perverse, to express any appreciation and even gratitude for the reality of Israel’s having foreign enemies. These are people who harass and attack, seeking to murder and to destroy us.
That is the horrific reality. However, there is another aspect of their threat: they provide the wherewithal for our coming together as a people and a nation.
One can wonder what is most enduring: the fractiousness of the Jewish people, the enduring hatred of our enemies, or the willingness to set aside our problems with one another in order to face a common foe.
The answer, of course, is all the above. I have long believed that Jewish DNA – implanted into us at Sinai, and which has been crystallized over the centuries – has made us peerless at survival, and totally inept at “thrival.”
We are still here, a rounding error of the world’s population, because of our emulation of our father Abraham. We come from the other side. We have refused, to the point of martyrdom, to stop being who we are.
“You want me to do what? No way.” We wrote the book on the adamant refusal to give up our traditions and beliefs.
The flip side of this strength is the difficulty of managing when we are not under threat. As a rabbi-teacher once said to me about one of his students: “He has a hard time handling success.”
That is also us. Our orneriness has sustained us, but it has also made it hard for us to go along and get along. We are not “I’m ok, you’re ok.”
I don’t point this out ruefully; I just mention it objectively.
How existential threats are what keep the Jewish people going
IT’S A MIRACLE that for the past 77 years we have maintained as much cohesiveness in our nation as we have. Perhaps the primary reason is the ever-present threats and challenges that exist around us.
These are not disagreements, contentions, or oppositions. They are existential threats, filled with genocidal aspirations.
The reality of being the only Jewish state in the Middle East, indeed in the world, has engendered the historical unwillingness of the surrounding Arab/Muslim world to accept us.
This means we are not dealing with rivalries, oppositions, or contentions, all of which might be susceptible to mediation and compromise. We are dealing with a fundamental, theological refusal to countenance our presence here.
This is dismaying but also liberating. It means that ultimately, there is nothing we can do about the situation other than disappear.
But if we are not going to disappear, we are going to have to persevere. Perseverance taps into the Jewish genius for survival. It has nothing to do with who is running the government or sitting on the Supreme Court.
Our enemies make things clear and existentially simple for us. If we are intent on sticking around, we have to confront their threat. To do that, we have to realize that the differences between us mean absolutely nothing to our foes. For them, there are no good Israelis. We are all in the same boat, the one that our foes seek to sail out to sea and sink.
Our enemies shame us into realizing the existential pettiness of our disagreements, disputes, and world views. When Iranians hurl rockets at us, they are not distinguishing between those who wait six, three, or one hour to eat milk after meat.
They don’t care if you are bringing Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals, or burning tires on the Ayalon highway.
You are an Israeli; even worse, a Jewish Israeli. You just have to go.
The opposite of just having to go, is the “oh yeah?” refusal to do so, and the insistence on sticking around. This begs the question of what “sticking around” will look like on the day after. But in the face of existential rejection, the insistence on sticking around is more than adequate.
And so, the Iranian mullahs have brought us together. They have enabled us to put aside, quickly, intuitively, and seamlessly, our myriad differences and disputes in order to confront a common enemy.
Our great challenge is not to confront Iran together; that’s the easy part. The hard part is what do we do when, please God, we have defeated this nightmarish regime and the threats it poses.
Will we be able to stay in the same room for any longer than it takes to make a l’chaim for our collective victory?
I have complete faith that we will defeat the mullahs and remove the existential sword hanging over our national head. This is us at our best, this is us being a light unto the nations.
What I have less conviction about is the aftermath. How terrible would it be if we look back nostalgically at this, pining for the good old days when we had no choice but to be united.
My only recompense is the painfully ironic realization that the Jewish people never suffer from a lack of enemies. But there are enemies who just hate you, and enemies who not only hate you but have the wherewithal to eliminate you.
I am not willing to abide the latter. However, the mere haters, well, maybe they’re there for our own good.
The writer is the chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu and a director of the Israel Independence Fund.