‘Opposing Viewpoints, One Heart’
The radio was blaring as I was driving home from work yesterday. Stories of war – of Witkoff’s visit to Gaza. International condemnation. Stalled hostage talks. Protests. Humanitarian crisis. PTSD. Soldiers serving endlessly, giving way beyond what they are capable of.
My heart ached.
I drove past a traffic circle on the road outside of Bet Shemesh. Filled with families wearing yellow vests, holding placards of soldiers who had been killed in the war. Waving huge, homemade signs calling for national unity and the return of the hostages. It was a part of an ongoing initiative, L’maanam, run by Chagai Luber – father of fallen soldier Yonatan, of blessed memory, who was killed in the war in Gaza.
“Opposing Viewpoints, One Heart,” one sign read. “We’re Brothers,” said another.
It warmed my heart straight through.
Because – of course, we don’t agree. Yet, we cannot allow ourselves to be locked in the horrific internal struggles that destroy our society and make us vulnerable to external threats. With Tisha B’Av this week, I know I’m not the only one thinking of the tradition that states the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam (“baseless hatred”). In our own times, I believe we do have the strength as a people to choose an alternative path in which we value and respect all parts of Israeli society – particularly the parts we find difficult – and to leverage the power of our differences to make Israel a stronger, better place.
Identifying Creative Solutions that Most Israelis Support
This week, I attended an event of Rivon Harevii (“The Fourth Quarter”) – a grassroots movement aimed, in my own words, at taking the sting out of Israel’s public discourse.
Rivon activists (all volunteers) have been working on developing numerous strategy proposals, each of which aims to develop new kinds of political and national policies: proposals designed to have broad appeal, i.e., that are likely to have the support of the vast majority of Israelis.
What do I mean? I’ll give just one, simple (and simplified…) example. Let’s take the loaded issue of the relationship in Israel between religion and state. Should there be public transportation on Shabbat, for example. What about civil marriage? The basic concept floated by Rivon activists is: Less coercion, more Judaism. If this guiding principle were applied sensitively, comprehensively, perhaps this could be a direction that most Israelis could live with?
The Rivon’s Strategy in Action
I’m sharing below a mini-introduction to some of the strategy proposals that the Rivon is currently developing. If you’re curious to learn more, you can read about them here (Hebrew link): https://q4-consensus.lovable.app/process/social-contract And if you’d like to get involved, in many cases you can join the groups that are working on writing up these proposals:
- A New Social Contract – Defining a different type of social contract based on mutual responsibility and the concept of equally sharing the burden of defense. This relates to questions such as the IDF draft of the Charedi (Ultraorthodox) community, granting special privileges for those who serve in Milu’im (IDF reserves), etc.
- The Rules of the Game – A proposal for resolving the judicial/constitutional crisis that meets the needs of both the right and the left, by adopting a 3-stage process of change to our system of government.
- State Commission of Inquiry regarding October 7 – Hashing out a proposal for moving ahead with the State Commission of Inquiry in a way that has the support of the majority of Israelis.
- Cost of Living – Suggestions for strengthening Israel’s economy and removing blockers that are hurting the cost of living in Israel.
- The North as Our Solution – Building out a proposal focused on the belief that many of Israel’s core problems could be solved by properly supporting the development of the North.
- Arab Society – Developing an approach to the place of Israel’s Arab citizens in the Jewish State that relates to both rights and responsibilities – and that fosters a greater sense of belonging.
- Israeli Education and AI – Pushing us to become the first country whose national educational system fully leverages AI.
- Educating Toward National Unity – Restructuring the educational system to foster unity and a sense of national responsibility, for the next generation.
- The Israeli Story – A new narrative designed to function as Israel’s national story, the “why” behind Israel – formulated in a way that makes space for all of Israel’s different “tribes.”
If you’d like to learn more, check out our website.
This blog post was written with prayers for the safety of our Chayalim, the speedy and safe return of all the hostages, and the return of those evacuated to their homes.
All opinions expressed here are my own and have not been reviewed or approved by the leadership of the Rivon Harevii.
