Optimism on the 17th of Tammuz

In the late fall of 1991, Israel was pushed to participate in a peace conference in Madrid, hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the United States and the then Soviet Union. It was an attempt by the international community to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process through negotiations. In addition to Israel, the Palestinians were represented there as were a number of Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.

The Israeli delegation to the conference was led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and included, as well: Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; historian Shlomo Ben-Ami; Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yossi Ben-Aharon; Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Zalman Shoval; head of the delegation’s working group on Syria, Itamar Rabinovitch; head of the delegation’s working group on Palestinian negotiations, Elyakim Rubinstein; and MK Uzi Landau along with some lower level staff people.

There is a story told, perhaps an urban legend of sorts or of an event that actually happened, about a meeting called by Yitzhak Shamir the evening before the conference opened on October 30^th. Shamir was purported to have said to the group, in Yiddish, his native tongue, קינדערלך, דאָס איז דער אָנהייב פֿונעם סוף. Roughly translated, he said, “Children, this is the beginning of the end.” Forty-three years after the establishment of the State of Israel, the Prime Minister is reputed to have said that we were now staring down the path to oblivion.

At that moment in time, Israel’s population stood at 5,059,000 people; the Jewish exodus from the Soviet Union that began in 1989 would add 1.6 million people to the population and Israel’s high-tech industry was just beginning its path to incredible success. We are now a nation of 10 million people, acknowledged, even by those who hate us, as a major center of research and development in multiple fields, from health to aerospace and everything in between, that has made singular contributions to the good and welfare of humanity and, of course, made a lot of people jealous of our success as well.

Given where we are today on the 17^th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day marking the day the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem in 69 CE, and now 35 years since Madrid, once again, there are probably plenty of people who, if they spoke Yiddish, might utter the same words attributed to Yitzchak Shamir on that fateful October 29 in Madrid.

Once again, some might look around and say we are on the cusp of demise given the disappointing results of the Iran war coupled with rising worldwide antisemitism and abandonment by so many of our friends. Yet our tradition teaches us that our God has other plans for us and will protect us in the face of danger.

In the Torah portion of Balak, which was read last Shabbat, the prophet Bilaam, who was told by his king to curse the Jewish people, instead blessed the descendants of Jacob when he said (Numbers 24:8-9):

“God, who has taken you out of Egypt with the strength of His loftiness, will consume the nations that are your adversaries, skin their bones, and dye His arrows in their blood. You will settle and dwell like a lion, like a fearsome lion that no one would dare rouse. Those who bless you will be blessed, and those who curse you will be cursed.”

The nations of the world need to internalize the last line of the blessing, which first appears in Genesis 12:3 and later in last week’s portion as well. God makes it perfectly clear that those who choose to curse Israel by their actions will themselves be cursed.

In fact, what the Israeli delegation to Madrid in 1991did not realize was that they were not about to embark on a journey to Israel’s end, but that they were present at just one more chapter on the long story of Jewish existence and productivity. It may have looked bad from that hotel window but from God’s perch on high it was happening just as it had been planned by the master planner.

Those of us who have taken on the dual obligation of living in the Land of Israel and simultaneously abiding by the law of the elected Government of Israel can take heart that we live here under the cover of God’s grace. God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2 to make him into a great nation is valid to this day and we can all take comfort in knowing that God does not break his promises.

The Rav, Rabbi Joseph B’ Soloveichik z”l, taught that while God promises redemption and a future, humanity is expected to be an active co-creator rather than a passive recipient. He taught that the divine promise of the Land of Israel requires the Jewish people to take initiative, transform the land, and build a just society. The “image of God” means that human beings possess the mandate to innovate, actively participating in the perfection of the world.

There is no more time to ponder what went wrong in the past. The future is before us, it is guaranteed and we have a job to do to make it all happen. It is, in fact, the unstated message of today’s fast. Let’s get on with it and hope we are all up to the challenge.