My New Zionist Guitar And Post Election Thoughts

Howdy and shalom once again.  I send special greetings to my friends in Israel who have just gone through one of the most tumultuous and momentous election campaigns.  Results are still mixed but are sorting themselves out.

Despite the many differences within Israeli society (that sometimes make it difficult for pro-Israel folks in the Diaspora who are experiencing rising hate crimes and marginalization often excused by or linked to responses to Israeli politics and IDF actions), as a political thinker and writer I am absolutely delighted by the high rate of participation in Israel’s recent election and the testament to democracy that Israel’s political system remains.  This makes me very proud.  Despite the challenges posed, these divided results show Israeli democracy to be alive and well and far ahead of the political systems of its key adversaries.

The Times of Israel has now reported on the recently elected Members of the Knesset.  It remains to be seen what the structure of the new government will be, who will serve as Prime Minister, and who will serve as Cabinet Ministers in the new government, but I am delighted to see so many distinguished young professionals as a new generation elected as first-time MKs, including a significant proportion of women across party lines.  33 women MKs in a Knesset of 120 seats is a respectable proportion of 27.5%, not far below our rate of 31% female parliamentarians in Canada, and far above the proportions of female parliamentarians in many other democracies and certainly in the governments of the Arab-Muslim world, many of which are anti-democratic in both theory and practice.

Learn more about the newly elected Knesset members in this article.  Click on the links to learn more about their backgrounds.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-120-members-of-the-incoming-knesset/

I hope to see these MKs in meaningful positions across party lines and to hear about their work in the Israeli and Diaspora press.  I wish to correct my earlier statement in my previous column.  Some of the prominent female candidates featured in a recent Jerusalem Post report on presentations to WIZO (the Women’s International Zionist Organization) were elected, including Na’ama Lazimi (Democrats) and  Inbar Yehezkeli (Yashar).

https://www.jpost.com/israel-election-2026/article-911321

Many other distinguished female candidates were not elected, but we congratulate these women and all candidates for public office for their courage and their commitments to public service and political life.  One hopes that they will continue to contribute to Israeli society and political thought and commentary, perhaps in media, academe and community service, particularly Canadian born Sharren Haskel of the Israel First party, who served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the last government, and Dr. Einat Wilf (Oz, later the Reservists Party).   I am certain we will be hearing more from them in the years to come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharren_Haskel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einat_Wilf

From my Canadian Zionist centrist hawk armchair perspective, we all benefit when Israel is shown to be democratic and diverse and yet united in its objectives.  I do believe we would all benefit by having Israel rein in excessive behaviors and criminality among some sectors of the population, notably in the settler community and among members of the IDF.  Every excessive act of violence or corruption or criminality or cruelty reverberates negatively and endlessly in media and harms Jewish interests in Israel and around the world.  Israel needs to learn to think ahead to its reception abroad and about the longterm interests and viability of their own people and their supporters and charitable donors and investors.  No one among Israel’s supporters would choose to subsidize criminality or corruption, and certainly not our adversaries.

The prominence of recent campaigns in the Israeli election against corruption and criminality, demands for accountability in regard to the omissions and errors leading to the Hamas attacks of October 7 2023, and demands for civil equity in army or civic service for all sectors of the Israeli population, as well as the high participation rate of Arab Israeli voters in the recent election confirm the commitment among many diverse Israeli citizens to the ideals of democracy on which Israel was founded as a Jewish state.  It remains now only to fulfill them.  Please read Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Independence and Basic Law once again.  And please keep an independent judiciary – it is a hallmark of the Israeli democracy we celebrate and revere internationally.

Here at home, our municipal elections in Hamilton, Ontario went smoothly, with a new mayor elected and many new city councilors riding desires among electors for a wave of change and hopefully a return to law and order and civility.  We also have an FBI educated incoming young police chief to be appointed in Spring 2027.  We have many economic and social challenges here, and we are in a building phase.  We want our city back.  US tariffs against our Canadian steel industry are leading to layoffs and potential litigation which have huge spillover effects on our local economy.  Consumer prices are already increasing due to the conflicts with Iran and rising inflation and oil prices.

In Belleville, Ontario, the community is starting to recover from the heinous attack on the Sons of Jacob Synagogue.  The National Post and Jerusalem Post have reported that Belleville Police Officer Jeff Smith who was grievously wounded in the attack by the gunman Sean Ward has now been released from hospital and is continuing to recover at home.  A Go Fund Me campaign to support Officer Smith and his family in his anticipated long recovery has now reached nearly $1 million.  A similar fundraiser for the rescuing Officer Michael McCurdy has now reached nearly $60,000 and is ongoing.  The Go Fund Me fundraiser launched to support stained glass window repairs and security enhancements at Belleville’s Sons of Jacob Synagogue has now reached over $100K.  Please support them.

One gets so used to living in ‘crisis mode’ when hate crimes and attacks on Israel and its supporters are ongoing, but I honestly believe that we are slowly and surely making progress and building key community alliances that we hope will be enduring and sustaining in the long term.

I do believe, as my grandmother and George Herbert used to say that “living well is the best revenge” and the best way to do that is to take time to rest, reflect and recover and to study our Jewish and Israeli history and take pride in our tradition and participate in it.  Don’t forget to pray for Israel!  Pick up a prayer book.  Support a pro-Israel charity.  Learn more about your Jewish heritage.  Take a class at your local JCC or online. Learn to speak Hebrew.  Learn to pray.  And, Israel Bonds rates are very attractive investments right now.  That’s what I am going to do.  How about you?

I am still writing and playing Jewish music and encourage my friends to pick up a guitar and learn to play Jewish and Israeli music.  There are many sheet music and lyrics collections available online.  I just found a uniquely finished and very affordable blue and white sunburst acoustic guitar and think I might dedicate it exclusively to playing Hebrew music.  It will match the IDF Israeli flag patch I have added to my guitar strap.  Perfect for summer camp, youth groups and cottage communities around the campfire.

Let us remember ourselves and remember our highest purposes as we work to build ourselves and our communities.  As we learn in Pirkei Avot 4.12 in The Ethics Of The Sages, “let the honor of your colleagues be at least as dear to you as your own”.  Let’s learn to be kinder to ourselves and our interlocutors in public and in private life.  Especially in politics and media.  The personal is political.  Our wellbeing and our democracies depend on it.

https://www.sefaria.org/English_Explanation_of_Pirkei_Avot.4.12?lang=bi

We are taught in Pirkei Avot 3.2 to pray for the welfare of the government, for without it, chaos would ensue, and people would swallow each other alive, so we do.  Let’s remind Israel of this prayer right now.  Make it so.

https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.3.2?lang=bi

I will leave you with a song based on Psalm 122.  I especially love this video by a Christian Zionist band based in Germany.  It depicts Israel’s ancient and modern diversity and enduring desire for peace beautifully.  May it bring peace to Israel and to all of us, swiftly and in our time.

Am Yisrael Chai.  We send our love from Canada.