1. First, the date of the outbreak of the war reminded me of my forgotten past, when I went on Shabbat, fifty years ago, on Modi'in St. in old Givatayim (in the camp area, for those who remember) to visit my friend. We were both 12th graders before enlistment, when I was caught by the unforgettable siren in the middle of Yom Kippur of the Yom Kippur War… This time too, on a Saturday in the middle of a holiday, we were caught with our pants down. As if the God above cares to remind us of all the humiliations of the last year that we have fed him. An anti-religious war and a burning hatred for the religious community in particular and the Jewish religion in general. On one Sabbath God made sure to remind us of our sins.
2. And not only our sins God remembered. With the sound of one whiplash, he made us believe again in his own power and in the people of Israel, to forget our childish quarrels, and to return to call upon him for salvation. The sights of slaughtered Jews came back to us again as if we were back in 1933, when we were helpless Jews. True, the Sabbath in October will always be a cursed day in Israeli history from here on out, but also a day when we returned to our nationality, to our faith, when we woke up from our "Sleeping Beauty" sleep. For the recognition of our need and our faith in the people of Israel, despite the thousands of Israelis whose lives have ended or will never return to normal.
3. God in his grace made sure to get us back on track within (only) four days of fighting, which, although it cost us a terrible price, paved the way for a situation where we are finally facing our boogeyman (demon) that we avoided facing for many decades. A nation that is surprised by a savage attack on its settlements and suppresses the attack within 3-4 days is an extraordinary miracle.
4. And God does another favor with us. It is now clear to all of us that the time has come for a general looting of systems that the state will have to do after the war that is brewing in front of us. No more Bibi, but neither are the leaders of our other camps who are no less guilty. These too are no longer worthy of leadership. We will need a new leadership that will grow again, from the people. Even the ultra-Orthodox among us are beginning to feel that their role in the nation must be redefined, how their public must be reintegrated into the Israeli public, both in the army, both in national service and in the economy.
5. Even our education, which has turned over the years into an empty culture of empty hedonism and escapism and turned our children into a public of ignorant people, will have to recalculate a course. The word "religion" that scares so many of our secularists will have to undergo an upgrade. We should strive to return to the schools that teach our children Torah and Mitzvot (at least a little). I am secular in everything, if I had small children today, I would direct them to national religious education. The state schools have become a cultural wasteland, a void that is taught to us by teachers of the Bible, history, literature and language of Arab origin, due to a lack of Jewish teachers. I have no criticism of the Arab teachers, but we are killing ourselves nationally by exporting the most important subjects of our child's education.
6. And our judges will also stand with their mouths open in view of the upheaval that suddenly jumps on this nation. Suddenly the anti-religious campaign sweeping us over the past year seems irrelevant. And another thing, the leftism of the judicial system is also shattered in the face of the atrocities of the Palestinians and the recognition that basically all the "peace" processes that have been going on here are doomed. The entire fake reality of peace born in the Oslo process is crumbling in the face of the murderousness and unconcealed hatred on the part of the Palestinians. The Arabs of Judea and Samaria are also no different from the monsters that suddenly appeared to us in Gaza, like a curtain on reality that opens for a moment and the horrible truth is revealed behind it. Our souls are torn from all the pampering and consideration of our public systems for the Palestinian public, the Israeli Arabs and their rights. Israeli from a political point of view, it will have to take into account the will of the people.
7. All of our systems will have to be overhauled after the war. We'd better recognize that and prepare for it and let's all thank God that in one fatal and tragic act, he's re-arranging all things for us.
Avner
The story "Journey" was written in 2001-2002 and is more relevant today than ever.
https://avnergivoni.com/מסע/