As Rosh Hashanah approaches, I’ve been thinking about what I could wish friends, acquaintances, and passersby beyond the usual “Shana Tova,” without irritating or offending anyone.
Not surprisingly, given the very complicated and divided national reality we are currently experiencing, there are very few options. Even the one I finally selected, “May all the hostages be brought home soon,” is not really an issue on which we are fully united.
I doubt whether anyone objects to the return of all the hostages, dead or alive, on principle. However, it cannot be denied that there is a minority – perhaps even a large minority – that refuses to accept that this be conditioned on an immediate end to the war in the Gaza Strip, as demanded by Hamas.
For most of us, the issue is both humanitarian and connected to the principle that one does not leave prisoners of war, hostages, or persons abroad in trouble for non-military reasons, whether soldiers or civilians, without doing the utmost to bring them home, as soon as feasible. This is all the more so if we believe that their predicament is the fault of the state, which failed to fulfill its duty toward them, as in the case of hundreds of Israelis, and some foreigners, on October 7, 2023.
However, one cannot deny that there is a minority – probably a small minority, but one that prevents the government from falling – that believes that the capture of the hostages was bestowed upon Israel by the Almighty. According to them, the hostage situation has enabled Israel to engage in an all-out war, which has opened up the potential of conquering the Gaza Strip, annexing it to the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, while enabling unlimited Jewish settlement in it.
The hope for peace
What about adding our hope for peace as a Shana Tova wish? As in the case of the hostages, one cannot doubt that all Jewish Israelis want peace. But once more, we are divided on the question of what sort of peace, and under what conditions.
Most, if not the entire Right, say that peace cannot be based exclusively on the release of the hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that peace is possible only after the complete obliteration of Hamas, and he has extensive popular support on this point.
However, most Israeli military leaders claim that Hamas has already been defeated as an effective military force capable of executing the sort of operation it carried out on October 7; nor is it an effective governing apparatus.
The Center/Left adds that Israel is unable to defeat Hamas as an ideology or as a terrorist organization. The only way to weaken these elements is to create an effective alternative administration for the Gaza Strip in which Hamas would play no part. This would require an end to the fighting, and some sort of peace arrangement, which must, according to the Center/Left, begin with the release of all the hostages.
The Center/Left also maintains that when Netanyahu spoke last Monday of Israel turning into a super-Sparta with an autarkic economy, he actually admitted that this is what the continuation of the war, as currently waged by Israel, is leading to. The conclusion to be drawn is that only an end to the war can bring the hostages back and reverse Israel’s growing isolation, ostracism, and resulting economic travails.
Educational system issues
Concerning whether there is anything that all Israelis agree on, and what could be a suitable wish for Rosh Hashanah, a friend suggested that we seek a better educational system. But here, too, there is a catch. There are different views regarding the problems in the education system – or rather the education systems that allegedly coexist in Israel with public financing.
I am sure that the majority of haredim (ultra-Orthodox) want a system in which they are not forced to include some basic non-religious studies dictated by the state. In short, they want state money, but no state supervision or control.
Secular Israelis, especially those more liberal, complain not only of a chronic and growing shortage of professional teachers, but are also disturbed by the growing ideological interference in the secular curricula.
For example, there is less emphasis on the principles of liberal democracy in the curriculum of civic studies in secondary schools. Government financing for Jewish heritage excursions is provided exclusively for excursions to biblical sites in Judea and Samaria.
I am not familiar with the concerns of the national-religious population regarding their school system, but I suspect that these days, they have less to complain about. Each population group relates to a totally different system, which does not contribute to our waning unity.
It is much easier to think of Rosh Hashanah wishes that relate to the concerns and aspirations of the political and social groups to which I belong. Thus, Israel urgently needs a government with different goals, aspirations, and everyday conduct than those held by the current government. And may the coming year see new and fair elections that will bring about such a change by truly democratic means.
Whether or not new elections will be held soon, I wish the new year brings political compromises that will enable changes to our legal and judicial systems that improve the current systems, rather than lead to their destruction.
Furthermore, I wish that the emphasis in the legislative sphere in the coming year concentrates on a battle against corruption and repairing our faltering civil service system, rather than on weakening the freedom of expression and the press, and of all manifestations of anything that is not right-wing or religious.
Perhaps we can express a general Rosh Hashanah wish that all those suffering from post-traumatic symptoms, caused by various circumstances during the last two years, receive the best treatment available. Are we all able to agree on that?
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. From 1994-2010, she worked in the Knesset library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.