WhatsappAfter this Tisha Ba’av, I’m more encouraged than ever before that we are living in redemptive times and everything is 100% the opposite of what we are being told to think by the establishment media and our Jewish organizational “leaders”. Hence, it is so prophetic, literally, that on the eve of Tisha Ba’av a fox was seen running on the ruins of the destroyed rocks of the Second Temple, a sign that Rabbi Akiva saw, recorded in the Talmud, symbolizing the rebuilding of the Third Temple as prophesied by Zechariah the prophet!
What am I so optimistic about?
While we are being told that never before have we been so divided as a people, reminding people of Second Temple times, I think that never before have we been closer to uniting as a people! Yes, totally radically different from what we are being told!!!
The headlines of division are actually a “fight within the family” that is part of the process of uniting us like never before in our history.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a tiny, tiny minority of elites who are pushing for division, literally supporting civil war and destroying the unifying factors of our society. And they are supported by the establishment media in the Jewish/Israel space working with them hand in hand. (Which is another hint to stop reading the establishment media in the Jewish/Israel space! They are playing an active part in inciting this division, highlighting that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution!)
So what did I personally experience on Tisha Ba’av that makes me even more opmistic than usual?
Well, a friend of mine in Efrat organized a sort of unity talk in our community, with leaders/speakers of the anti-judicial reform protest movement and pro-judicial reform representatives from the community. And Kol hakavod to him for doing so.
I do believe the panel was a bit lopsided with activist/leaders from the left and two wonderful/respectable local Rabbis from the right. It wasn’t a debate, but a panel for each to express thoughts, feelings, hopes about what is going on, etc. Hence, it was personally frustrating as the anti-judicial reform activists/leaders got away with sharing absolute lies and divisive thoughts, not countered or called out during the whole panel session.
For instance, at one point, one of them said how the protestors today “are crying out to the Israeli public about the danger, and they are being ignored”.
To which I wanted to emphatically point out to her how she is totally disconnected from the reality of Israel, that she and her political camp have been ignoring the cries of danger from the right-wing political camp for over 30 years! I and my family members were out in the streets being trampled by the police horses in the early 1990s as her Rabin government, that relied on enemy Arab votes!, and despicable political blackmailing, passed the Oslo accords by one vote!!! legalizing Jew-killers, giving away our land, giving them guns, endangering all of our lives based on a false messianic dream of peace with terrorists, while systematically ignoring the protest of hundreds of thousands of Israelis. And that is just one protest movement she has ignored by us during the past 30 years! Which also highlights the sad state of feigned ignorance as they today scream for “consensus”. The left never cared about consensus when they pushed their destructive policies upon all of us that literally led to the deaths of thousands of Jews, as we warned, and they ignored…
We are not ignoring the protest movement, while we think they have every right to “fear” and protest, we just think they are very wrong, being led by a campaign of lies and emotional manipulation making them feel that they have the right to destroy the country, in order to “save the country”, in their words.
But I couldn’t say that proper rebuttal because the forum didn’t allow for it.
Regardless, the most important thing for me is how the event highlighted the difference between protest leaders/panelists and the many protestors.
Again, what bothered me about the official representatives of the protest movement was their cognitive dissonance. They believe they have the right to cross all red lines and destroy Israeli democracy because they “fear” Israeli democracy might be destroyed.
But what I really wanted to focus upon was a conversation I had with one of the anti-judicial reform attendees at the event. He is more representative to me of the true situation on the ground then the leaders of the movement, who I believe ultimately remove facts, context and history from today’s situation.
It wasn’t an argument, it was truly a respectable conversation where we expressed our views, clarified issues and really came to a deep understanding that we are one people, despite our different points of view.
I honestly believe that the guy I spoke with represents the majority of the protestors, that despite our passionate difference of opinions, what unifies us is much stronger than what divides us, signifying to me that this protest movement is really the catalyst to bringing us together as a people, not further dividing us.
In terms of our specific conversation of the issues, the man I spoke with focused on expressing his “fears” of what Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and the Chareidim will do to change this country once the judicial reform is enacted, hence he believes he must protest today to stop any of those changes.
First of all, I explained that whenever he is afraid of any statement or proposed law, he can give me a call so I can explain to him the context necessary to understand so he shouldn’t be afraid of the sensational headlines about the issues.
For instance, he expressed his fear that a proposed law will take rights away from LGBTs. While I emphasized that I understand his fear, I explained the context of that proposed law, that is about a service provider not feeling forced by the law to provide a service that goes against one’s values, that it’s not discriminatory against a group of people, just a step to allow people to be protected by law not to be forced to give a service that goes against their values. He still has every right to be against the law and protest against it, but it is not what he has been told it is.
Next I explained to him my fears regarding the protest movement. While I totally respect the right to protest, I voiced my extreme disappointment in the tactics used that are trying to destroy our society, the IDF and the economy. Basically, I expressed to him how I believe the leaders of the protest are acting in a totally anti democratic fashion.
I broke it down for him as follows: Basically because of their “fears” of what might happen one day, they have allowed themselves to use totally anti-democratic, society-destroying, economy destroying, IDF-destroying steps.
I explained ‘That’s why we vote in democracies, to “vote the bums out” whose policies we don’t like. We don’t destroy democracy today to potentially save a democracy that one day might be harmed.
Ultimately, he agreed with me that judicial reform is needed. He just is afraid that the words/plans of Smotrich/Ben-Gvir/Chareidim (statements and proposed laws that sometimes I even disagree with) show their intention to use the judicial reform to control the judicial system and bring about a medinat Halacha. I responded that even Smotrich/Ben Gvir/Chareidim know that governments will change, leftist governments will return, and all that they want is a strong independent Supreme Court that will be fair in applying the actual law, not their personal progressive values, despite what government is in power, right or left.
In anycase, it was a good conversation, with a very respectful back and forth with mutual respect despite our passionate differing views.
And, my ultimate point in attending the event was to accomplish just that. To give a genuine hug of true unity to my fellow Jewish brothers despite our differing opinions on this issue.
Hence, I’m totally optimistic that we will come out of this stronger and more united than before.
So, I’m glad I went just for that 
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
