Born for Peace

Today, what I heard on the radio brought tears to my eyes.

It wasn’t the news, or an interview with a mother of one of the hostages or of a fallen soldier.

It was the song.

They played “Noladti Lashalom”, the song written by Uzi Hitman to celebrate the birth of his child during the Israel-Egypt peace negotiations in 1979. What a hopeful period!

And they kept on playing peace songs.

And I kept on crying.

Because these hopeful songs are so far from our reality.

Hitman says, “We were born for peace.” I believe him. ALL human beings are born for peace. When we make war, we upset our destinies. The Prophets tell us that peace is inevitable but not necessarily imminent. That depends on us. I keep hoping that this current situation is the nadir; from here we can only go up. Let’s go up all the way – to the peace in our imaginations and sacred texts.

The Torah tells us that before we go out to war, we need to call out for Peace. Only if the enemy refuses our advances may we wage war.

We had enemies then and we have them now. Some of them would prefer war to peace. But what about us? What do we prefer?

We have a war cabinet but no peace cabinet.

Where are our peace-initiatives?

During 2019, Women Wage Peace gathered advice and support from security experts and public figures to prepare the “Political Alternatives” bill, requiring national decision-makers in routine times and during emergencies to examine political alternatives for resolving conflicts, in coordination with representatives from civil society, before resorting to military options; and to allocate time, funds and personnel for detailed examination of political/diplomatic solutions to conflicts of all sizes.

This resolution is entirely in accordance with the Torah law. Not surprisingly, the so-called “religious” parties did not support it. While the Torah and our prayers call on us to be peace-builders and peace-makers, the politicians who claim to represent the religious communities do nothing to promote this Torah value. Most of them want to be exempt from fighting themselves and reject conscription but they want to keep the country at war, with others taking the risks and suffering the losses and the hardship.

A dear friend of mine recently told me that she supported the wonderful women of Women Wage Peace but that she thought their Knesset proposal was naïve and impractical.

Is it more “practical” to be in a permanent state of war?

Is it “impractical” to want money currently spent on arms to go to education and healthcare and culture?

Is it naïve to hope for a better future for my grandchildren?

Is it naïve to believe that the majority will, which is unquestionably for stopping this war, will prevail?

A member of the current coalition, speaking on the radio this morning, said that it was a terrible thing to suggest that we should have elections during a war. Ironically, I agree with him. But while his government wants to stay in war to avoid elections, I want to be at peace, so that we can have elections and all the other advantages of a peaceful, democratic country.

It makes me terribly sad that Torah values of peace, justice, honesty, trust, human dignity and compassion have been forgotten in the pursuit of power, money and privileges. It makes me cry that the playlist of beautiful Israeli songs yearning for peace, most of which were written by secular Jews articulating our ancient values, touches the hearts of many listeners like myself but not of our decision-makers.

I was born for peace and I will work for it as long as I am alive – or until I no longer have to, when the words of our prophets are fulfilled.