Better is the sight of the eyes

טוב מראה עיניים

The origin of this phrase is from the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet 6:9) in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). The original is a much deeper verse appears as: ‘טוֹב מַרְאֵה עֵינַיִם מֵהֲלָךְ־נָפֶשׁ’ meaning ‘Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire’. It is better to enjoy what you can see right in front of you than to constantly long for things you do not have. The philosophical commentary focuses on the human struggle with contentment. Because Ecclesiastes is a work of wisdom literature, Jewish and secular philosophers view this verse as a psychological blueprint for finding peace. The verse argues that appreciating an imperfect reality in the present is superior to chasing a perfect illusion in the future. In simple terms the original Biblical statement means ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’.

In moderns Hebrew (as it appears in the title) the second half of the sentence was deleted and it was used as a shorter version of ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’. In my book I state, in the introduction, that phrases known to originate from the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish sages are eternal and are forever true and I provide current narratives to support this claim. However, this is definitely not true any longer with regards to the updated usage of the verse in modern Hebrew.

I have written before on Substack ‘Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are’ that celebrities and people in public domain usually like to associate themselves with charity work to shine a good light on their character. Therefore, it is shocking to see how many of them endeavour so hard to support the Palestinian cause without expressing any criticism or judgment about the Palestinian leadership and its direct responsibility to the current state of affairs.

I still believe that most of them are useful idiots and I categorise most celebrity Israelophobes (anti-Zionists) as antisemites. But I remained with a lingering state of unease as some of the performers, who are not just “line reading” actors, primely musicians, that I really appreciate and even admire as super sensitive and inelegant, have ended up in the wrong camp.

I have been straggling with this notion since October 7. How can someone like Elvis Costello who writes such amazing insightful lyrics be so blind and one sided against Israel. Then I recently came across an interview with Bob Geldof on Sky News which opened my eyes to a simple truth. Bob Geldof decided that he has a right to speak when it comes to famine and starvation. He claimed that the Israeli government was lying and he was basing this claim on ‘images that Sky News were publishing… from inside Gaza’.

The strengths of the image – what the eye can see – is still a core human experience as reflected in the essence of the modern Hebrew saying. I now conclude that, because these artists have a noble soul, because they base their art on what they, see, hear and feel from their environment, this is why they are so susceptible to simple propaganda tricks.

These are supper intelligent people who have been around the block, they were clever enough to reach the top of their profession in an extremely competitive environment and yet they are unable to grasp the depravity of fundamental Islam. Hamas’s war to eliminate Israel has become an integral element of the Muslim Brotherhood’s fight against the West and its values.

Unfortunately, these days of 24/7 live coverage you cannot believe what you see on TV, social media and the press. It does not need to be deep fake or advanced social media algorithms, it’s enough to take a picture of a sick baby and claim that he suffers from malnutrition. This image alone was worth a thousand words.

Israel, as a democracy, will forever struggle to fight a terror organisation that uses such tactics. I despair to think that solely based on fake visuals even intelligent people can attain such strong opinions against Israel.

The false images spread instantly, while the truth takes time to emerge. The picture of the sick baby was revealed to be a picture of a baby that suffered from a severe pre-existing neurological condition, cerebral palsy. Another example is a photo of children queuing for food, which later proved to be manipulated: photographer Anas Zayed Fteiha had staged specific images of hunger in the Gaza Strip. The fact that none of my heroes, who shouted about these images, has properly retrieved their accusations is shocking.

My book ‘Revealing Israeli secrets’ – the Wisdom of Hebrew Proverbs, should appeal to anyone who is interested in the culture, history and character of Israel and its people as well as their entrepreneurial skills.

To pre-order, please click here. It should be out in September.