Shana Tova! SEASON SIX Israel Goes to War—The Bitter Taste of Reality

Note: Our Jewish New Year is starting out with Israel in grave danger. It’s depressing, and not the way anyone would want to start 5785. It’s difficult to keep both my chins up. I thought we all needed a laugh, even though truly nothing of importance is funny now. I’m grateful for another year, but one chin was enough.

Keeping up with the latest news can be wildly challenging. As I have been writing this TOI Blog these last few days, the situation keeps changing and it’s getting even more scary. Iran sent two hundred ballistic missiles into Israel. I don’t know what will happen next, but surely a response is coming and then who knows what will happen? If I don’t mention some specific horrific occurrence, please assume I wrote this before it happened.

The video above is of clips and voice messages that are sent from Phil Saunders (an Israeli Peacemaker who lives in Israel, close to the border of the West Bank) and Ziad Sabateen (Phil’s Palestinian Peace partner who lives in the West Bank), founders of the Path of Hope and Peace, as they live through the opening salvo from Iran, October 1, 2024.

To many wishing L’Shana Tova (Have a Good Year) seems hollow as Israel faces countless attacks against her existence and antisemitism is raging. Yet there still is not only hope, but pockets of Peace throughout Israel. Did you know that there is a bigger secret than the over 9,000 Hezbollah rockets shot against Israel this past year? Finally, the networks mention them, just before Israel is portrayed as genocidal maniacs.

On PEACE with Penny, we speak to dedicated Peace workers who labor tirelessly on Peace. I don’t mean folks who merely call themselves Peace workers, who slap on a label, but push only one side. We speak to Peace organizations of Israelis AND Palestinians working together—several of these Peace organizations have worked on Peace for over twenty years!

As Jews, during Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur, we look at what went right during the past year, and what missed the mark. It’s a time when we ask for forgiveness for what we’ve done wrong. We think about what we want to happen in the next year. I’d like to share  with you my favorite song writer’s (Michael Hunter Ochs) wishes for the new year which explains what we’d want for everyone’s new year no matter if you’re Jewish or not. L’Shana Tova!

As I reflected on what’s happening in the Middle East and closer to home, it’s been a difficult time given the Israel-Hamas War, and now the expansion with Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Israel is sending in troops, and we pray that it doesn’t turn into an all-out war.  Those soldiers, their families, and all Israelis are scared, but as always, they will defend their country.

The hostages still aren’t home. The anguish they and their families are experiencing is incomprehensible. The detritus of war leaves pain, confusion, devastation, destruction, death, injuries, and displacement on both sides. After the escalation from Iran, who knows where this will lead?

I’ve been working on Peace mostly between Israelis and Palestinians who work together for over a decade, it’s hard to believe, the years have flown by. I know, what’s taking so long? Between my book BLASTED from COMPLACENCY: A Journey from Terror to Transformation, becoming a speaker, producing PEACE with Penny, and now writing Times of Israel Blogs, I’ve been busy.

After almost four years in January, at PEACE with Penny we have quite a library of interviews with these angels on Earth. Just folks like us, who realize neither side is going away, and we’d better learn to live together. EVEN TODAY, DURING WAR! They are undeterred, and believe their work is more important than ever. Is it harder during war? Of course, everything is. But look at the horror and destruction shown in the news every night. There must be a better solution.

And I realize this Times of Israel Blog is rather one-sided, I am Jewish, and this is the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Speaking from the Jewish perspective is appropriate. I admit that since I’ve been writing in the Times of Israel Blogs, besides Peace, I have concentrated strongly on the virus of antisemitism. I look at broaching the subject as Peace of mind. It’s been discouraging to write about this albatross that always seems to be hanging around Jewish necks. When will the world stop using Jews as the scapegoat for every ill known?

I prefer to talk about Peace. The Peace organizations are positive and always put a smile on my face. At PEACE with Penny, our mission is to give these Israeli and Palestinian Peacemakers a voice. I’ve been preparing for SEASON SIX, the interviews are wonderful, and we’ll be sharing them soon. Let’s get past the High Holy Days and the first anniversary of October 7^th and we’ll have much more positive topics.

Unfortunately, it’s been necessary to speak about antisemitism. Antisemitism has escaped from beneath the floor of polite society, and even politicians feel comfortable peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories. I’ve felt compelled to speak out. The echoes of Holocaust victims scream to me from their graves. But the fact I’ve been concentrating on this issue doesn’t mean I care any less about Peace between Israelis and Palestinians. People must realize we can keep more than one cause that we care about in mind, but sometimes choose to talk about one at a time.

You may notice I capitalize Peace, because? IT’S SO IMPORTANT! The subject of the Middle East is always complicated. Hell, people are complicated, aren’t we? No religion is a monolith either…is being Jewish a religion? Ethnicity? Culture? Wednesday night began the Jewish New Year. While New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2024, is a celebration, the Jewish New Year, if followed according to tradition, is much more reflective.

Please join me as I wander through the past year. Given the current perils of Israel and the rampant antisemitism and islamophobia throughout the world, we are more than ready for a change in direction. This is Rosh Hashana, and unfortunately, the change to a more open and compassionate attitude didn’t arrive last night at sundown.

Today, in 2024, I don’t recognize the United States in which I was raised. What happened to opening our arms to new immigrants who only want a chance at the American dream? Lately instead, the dream feels like a nightmare. Antisemitism and the political atmosphere in the United States is unconscionable. There are so many challenges to be faced, looking for positive opportunities takes a magnifying glass.

Personally, coming so close to what would have been a disaster because of the Airport Fire, I’m very grateful that our outstanding firefighters did such a great job. And there were three huge simultaneous fires! Although the Airport Fire is 95% out and the Bridge fire is 98% contained, the Line fire which includes Big Bear has started to grow again. So far over 44,000 acres have been burned. Containment has reduced to 76%. Let’s hope the firefighters can control it again soon. Hurricane Helene also unleashed its own brand of devastation. Global warming is something we need to take seriously!

There are many who weren’t lucky. May their wounds both psychological and physical heal quickly. As a nation we’ve had fire and floods. I don’t know what brimstone is, but we’d like to take a pass, please. This is a year I think we’ll be glad to see end.

Haitian immigrants have been in the news and my heart goes out to them. One of my favorite art pieces that I’ve collected over the years is from Haiti, which I visited decades ago. It always intrigued me that in such an impoverished, struggling country, that this carving had such a modern look to it.

Juxtapositions always stand out to me like in Tzfat, Israel where the ultrareligious and modern art coexist. It’s located in Northern Israel close to the Lebanese border.

Figure 1 Noam Chen Photography The Artist colony in Tzfat

Tzfat is considered the center of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah since the 16^th century. Many Haredim live there.

Figure 2An ultra-Orthodox man casts his vote at the Tzfat Likud polling station on February 5, 2019 in the party’s primaries. (David Cohen/Flash90)

We visited Tzfat in 2014 during the war that changed my life. Then too, it seemed Peaceful as we roamed the streets filled with men with tall black hats and rolling hills lined with art and creativity. At that time war in Israel was an intermittent nuisance, one minute seeing incredible sights, and the next running to bomb shelters. Getting bombed happens so often to Israelis, your life being at risk seems like it’s another task to check off their to-do list. Israelis just move on with their day. Maybe it’s a form of psychological preservation. It wasn’t something I ever intend to get used to. God Bless Iron Dome!

After October 7^th Israel dismantled Hamas, at least for now. Since October 8^th, daily, for a year, Israel has been bombed by Hezbollah. The world demanded that they take it and only allowed limited reprisals. What other nation would be expected to play this dangerous cat and mouse game? Israel decided enough is enough. This tit-for-tat dance finally came to an end and Israel communicated the conclusion loudly with Hezbollah’s own cell phones and pagers. That was a surprise.

Now in June 2024 because of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, fire has reached Tzfat, Israel too. Hezbollah attacks have scorched 21,500 acres in northern Israel.

An Israeli flag flutters next to a fire burning in an area near the border with Lebanon, in Safed, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

In Lebanon, the IDF strikes have burned 10,000 acres. War is hell and now they have the fires to prove it.

Lebanese Civil Defense firefighters extinguish fires that erupted by Israeli shelling at a cherry orchard in Shebaa, a Lebanese town near the border with Israel, June 14, 2024. AP Photo Ramiz Dallah

The United States election campaign is as important as it is an embarrassment. Voting is essential. As Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

All the antisemites who attack Jews might do well to share in our practices these next days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to get their heads straight. It won’t happen, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t.

Too many in media bemoan the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader. They memorialize this terrorist like a father figure, a jolly old soul. The American Jewish Committee says that “During his rise to power, Hezbollah was behind several major terror attacks targeting the U.S., including the suicide truck bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983, and the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984, as well as the hijacking of TWA 847 in 1985. The U.S. designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.” He was Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s loyal follower.

The United States won’t shed tears that Nasrallah was eliminated. Israel again demonstrates the benefits of  the U.S.-Israeli friendship.

CBS reported that, “Nasrallah was credited with leading the war of attrition that led to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from South Lebanon in 2000, after an 18-year occupation, the AFP reported. He also spearheaded Hezbollah’s 34-day war against Israel in 2006.

Nasrallah also got the group heavily involved in neighboring Syria’s brutal conflict in 2011. Hezbollah fighters sided with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, even as the rest of the Arab world ostracized him, the AFP reported. Hezbollah, and other key allies like Russia and Iran, helped Assad stay in power and retake territory lost earlier in the conflict.”

It’s estimated that between 350,209 and 617,910 Syrians were killed in Assad’s and his allies’ attacks on his own people. Syria is nine times larger than Israel. Yet the Jewish nation is on everyone’s lips. You should ask why?

He also was credited with bringing Hezbollah into politics establishing a social network system and seats in Lebanon’s Parliament.

He brought terrorism into the legitimate Lebanese government and deflected focus on his cruel actions by providing schools, clinics, and housing in the impoverished and predominantly Shiite parts of Lebanon.

Will I suddenly wake up and find that this has just been a horrible nightmare and not our reality? No, alas it isn’t. Good riddance to 5784. Sadly, 5785 is starting out rough. We can only pray that the trajectory changes to a more positive outcome. Wishing all of you and Israel a Peaceful year.

May You Live in Peace, שלום and سلام.