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Norman L. Smith

An Open Letter to Leader of the Opposition, Yair Lapid M.K.

Dear Member of Knesset Lapid,

It is time for you to leave the comforts of the grandstand and follow the leadership of Benny Gantz by entering the arena to help engender and project much needed national unity. Like Gantz, you will probably have to “hold your nose” when entering Netanyahu’s toxic cabinet but that is a small price to pay considering the ultimate and enormous price paid by countless others.

This well-known speech by Theodore Roosevelt may help you reach the right conclusion:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

About the Author
Norman Smith is a California attorney residing in Raanana and San Diego. He is a fellow of the Wexner Heritage Foundation, serves on the National Board of the Friends of the IDF and is the founder and past Chairman of the San Diego and Orange County Chapters of the Friends of the IDF.