A True Leader Would Care!

A true leader would care

when hundreds of thousands of citizens protest in sweltering heat, 29 weeks straight
gathering on Derech HaShalom, דרך השלוםת, in English “The Way of Peace.”
Day after day, week after week, month after month.
Heart and soul of Tel Aviv.

In alignment with others in cities, villages, kibbutzim throughout Israel
and beyond: Spain, Canada, America, Australia etc.
Singing, praying, protesting on street corners and bridges.
Not throwing stones, not calling names, not spouting untruths.

Demanding democracy, equal rights for all, justice for all, respect for all.

B’yechad, ביחד, in English “United.”

But a tyrant wouldn’t care.

A true leader would care

that he/she/they was voted in by a slight margin of voters — many of whom have since withdrawn their support

Among them, manual laborers and high-tech workers, generals and hippies, painters and pilots, police commissioners and reservists, sign language interpreters whose passionate expressions and elegant hands spell out democracy for the hearing-impaired… all united as their shirts stick to the sweat on their backs and music plays, drums beat, horns blast
and the air fills with the Israeli national anthem Hatikvah, התקווה, in English “The Hope.”

A true leader would care as non-confrontational people of every age and background, faith tradition and orientation are arrested, trampled by horses, bombarded with sewer water, tear-gassed, shocked by stun grenades, subject to car ramming and death threats.

Non-violent protesters walk for days from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem —
including a veteran who lost his leg defending Israel while under attack from Syria.
All of them, everywhere, young and old, single and in groups, demanding Demo-crat-yah! דמוקרטיה in English “Democracy!”

But a bully wouldn’t care.

A true leader would care

about everyone in this
teardrop of land
as darkness falls
and the moon waxes and wanes
day after day, week after week, month after month…

Resisting oppression
in desperation and hope
that the crooked will be made straight
swords will be beaten into plowshares
injuries healed
mistakes corrected.

A true leader would care.

7/23/23
5 Av 5783