ϟ Achdut: A Sefira Reflection
During the sefira we mourn. By the Mekubalim (kabbalists) this starts at the beginning and goes until the end the the exception of a single day, Lag B’Omer. Why do we mourn? For the loss of 22,000 Torah Scholars that died in a plague as a result of Sinat Chinam (baseless hatred).
What is this baseless hatred for which they died? Did they call each other names? Did they say derogatory things about one another? Did they make insults and crack wise in the comments on blog posts? No. They did none of these things. What they did do was they failed to treat each other with the proper respect, to view their fellow students as greater then themselves.
Rav Shalom M. Hedayya ZTzUK”L used to say that ahdut (unity) was the greatest force in the world, and that if we could all simply keep that one single commandment to love one another, even for a single hour, Mashiah would come. Without fail this would always elicit the reaction of, “Yeah look at those ______ they make a fight with everybody.” Which is when the Rav would simply smirk and hold out his hand with a pointing finger and say, “When you point one finger at someone else, three more are pointing back at yourself.”
Truly it is easy to see the faults in others while we justify our own actions. All the more so on the internet, where anonymous ID’s give us the ability to say things that we would never say in real life. I have thought about this a lot in recent days, especially my own posting and commenting. How have I held back geula (redemption)?
Maybe we should all think about that.
by Rabbi Michael Alkohen on Mystical Paths
ϟ Winners and Losers: Israel’s Historic Unity Government
A joint Joe-Jameel post.
Left behind in the wake of Netanyahu’s surprise unity maneuver are some serious winners and loser. There is no doubt that elections would have shaken things up, but this unity coalition shakes up things even more. What Netanyahu managed to do today is of historic proportions and has some serious ramifications for many people on both a personal and national level. We present to you our list of winners and losers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Winner.
Bibi would probably have done well in elections, but now he runs the largest unity government ever in the history of Israel, giving him a support base not even Ben-Gurion could have dreamed of.
Shaul Mofaz: Winner.
Mofaz made a fool out of himself when he jumped ship to Kadima, but after sitting it out on the back benches behind Tzipi Livni on the back benched, he’s manages to come out on top and resuscitate the essentially dead Kadima party.
Kadima Party: Winner
Until yesterday they were completely irrelevant and simply dead in the water; the largest individual party in the Knesset was forced to face the fact that they might as well not even have been voted into office. Now they have a seat at the table, and perhaps some influence too.
Tzipi Livni: Loser
She could have been in the government 3 years ago, 2 years ago, and even 1 year ago. This could have been her and not Mofaz. At the end of the day, Kadima was kept in failure and disgrace because of her. Now it’s obvious to all.
Likud Party: Winner
The Likud as a party is more powerful than ever.
Likud MKs: Losers
For the most part, their individual influence and power has been diluted. Perhaps significantly.
Labor: Losers
They were positioned to be the second largest party. Who knows what will be in a year and a half. They may be in for an even bigger shock in the opposition (see Ahmed Tibi below).
Shelly Yachimovitch: Black eye
Labor lost, but Shelly only got a black eye out of this. Perhaps she’ll lead the Tel Aviv summer block party, if it happens.
Yisrael Beiteinu: Winner/Loser
Yisrael Beiteinu didn’t really want elections, so this is good for them. The downside, their influence has been diluted, perhaps almost completely. One of the goals of this unity coalition is to implement a good replacement for the Tal law. It may happen. Yisrael Beiteinu may even get part of the credit for it, so they can at least bask in the reflected glory.
Avigdor Lieberman: Loser
Lieberman will keep his job, avoid elections, and get the opportunity to try to pass more laws he wants. But on the downside, the investigation(s) against him will now continue, and his influence has been severely diminished. We’ll see if he can make a comeback out of this.
Ahmed Tibi: Winner
What does Ahmed Tibi have to do with this? It’s simple math. Depending on a few factors, there will be only around 26 MKs in the opposition. The Arab have the largest number of opposition members compared to Labor, Meretz (and maybe Ichud Leumi). Ahmed Tibi is poised to be the new head of the opposition.
Meretz: Losers
Outside, irrelevant, no following, and not going to be opposition leader. Not even the Tel Aviv summer block party will be able to help them.
Aryeh Deri: Loser
No explanation needed.
Shas: Winners
See Aryeh Deri above.
Yair Lapid: Loser
No explanation needed, but we’ll give one anyway. Sure he can go back to TV and perhaps try again next year, but he really lost his opportunity, even as his followers lost their enthusiasm the second he actually announced his candidacy.
President Obama: Loser
Obama is a partisan president, while Bibi is the leader of the largest national unity coalition in the history of Israel. Netanyahu has the support of most of the country behind him for whatever he may need to do. Obama may have hoped he’d be facing a weaker Bibi after November, there’s no chance of that now.
Dagan, Diskin, etc.: Losers
Netanyahu and Barak are messianists, and irrational? Well, then add Mofaz too, and 80% of the Knesset. Now the former security chiefs sound like sore losers.
Ehud Barak: Winner
He still has a job.
Yuval Zellner: Winner
Yuval Who? We asked the same thing.
Zellner just replaced Livni in the Knesset. Until this morning, he was going to go down in history as one of the shortest serving MKs (who would never get a second chance at it either). Now he gets a chance to serve.
Moshe Feiglin: Loser
(Netanyahu election shenanigans aside) Moshe would have done well in elections. It remains to be seen if Likud MKs will still have as much influence in the unity government, because right now his influence is through them. On the other hand, there’s a slight chance he may be entering the Knesset as a new MK to replace someone else who might be leaving. In which case, he will become a winner.
Chareidi Parties: Losers
In or out of the coalition, it doesn’t matter. Some new, improved Tal law will pass, and that battle will be lost. Now it’s up to them to decide if they want to work together to make it a good law or not.
The Chareidim: Winners
A new version of the Tal law will pass that will help integrate Chareidim into the work force and perhaps the army/national service, removing them from the cycle of poverty they’re currently in. And they’ll still be able to learn Torah. Exactly how good things turn out for them will depend on what their parties fight for and what they’re willing to compromise on.
Mafdal-Bayit Yehud-Ichud Leumi: Winners
Really! They are just as irrelevant now (on a legislative level) as they were before, and they probably weren’t going to do that much better in the next election. But at least they got their act together and learned they can unify. That’s a very good thing. Hopefully it will last.
Ichud Leumi: No difference
In or out of the coalition, it won’t make much of a difference, but do they really want to sit outside with just Meretz, Labor and the Arab parties?
Ulpana, Beit El: Losers
The Supreme Court just decided to only give the government 2 weeks to destroy the homes. The new unity government is likely to do it. But they’ll probably compensate the owners at least. We’ll know in a few weeks if they are really losers here or not.
Settlements: Winners
For the most part, we won’t see another Hitnatkut (expulsion), and Bibi may legalize more outposts and pass laws to help others, perhaps even annex settlement blocks or area C. As long they stay out of direct conflict with the Supreme Court, individual settlements should be safe. Overall the Settlement Enterprise should be OK.
Supreme Court: Winner
Kadima is on their side, and will block legislation that will put limits on their extrajudicial expanded powers.
Israel’s Political Media Pundits: Losers
They’re like deer in the headlights, completely surprised by what happened.
Israel: Winners
As an aside Israel saved NIS 400 million on election costs. National Unity is a good thing (for all the vague reasons). It also means that the country is united in whatever challenges it may need to face with Iran. Perhaps we’ll also see a real revamping of the government system.
The Palestinians: N/A
They don’t even have a pony in this race.
Iranian Government: Losers
There’s a much higher probability that with such a large unity government, and with (the Iranian) Mofaz at Bibi’s side, that a strike against Iran’s nuclear weapon production facilities is very likely.
The Iranian People: Winners
Perhaps there will be more outside support to help them overthrow the Islamic regime.
The Jewish People: Winners
National unity is a good thing in religious thought. So overall, this should be good for the Jews.
Oren: At a time when support for Israel in the US is at an all-time high, Jews are increasingly divided
I don’t agree with everything he says, but I urge you to read this speech that Michael Oren gave in Detroit on Sunday. It has plenty of food for thought.
Here’s a small excerpt. I was shocked, then, that on the very day that I spoke with my kids about their concerns in Israel, some American Jews were discussing a call to boycott products made by Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
I followed that debate closely, as is my duty as ambassador. I was curious to know whether anybody seriously thought such a boycott could be implemented—whether a distinction could be made between the computer chip made in a settlement and the computer itself. I was curious to know how, in the absence of Palestinian peacepartners, such a boycott might contribute to a two-state solution. I wondered whether those calling for the boycott realized how much they strengthened the case for boycotting all Israeli products and delegitimizing the Jewish state.
But what most struck me—not as an ambassador but as an Israeli and as an Israeli father, was the fact that, on the same day that my son was worrying about his raw recruits and my daughter about rockets in Beersheva, a portion of the American Jewish community was debating whether or not to buy Ahava hand products.
Something is wrong here. Terribly wrong.
When I grew up in this country, the slogan of the United Jewish Appeal was “We are One.” Today, that same logo is more likely to raise eyebrows than funds.
No doubt, a majority of American Jews care deeply about the security of Israel and oppose those seeking to undermine it. And even some of those calling for boycotts do so out of a sense of caring—I’d say misplaced sense of caring—about Israel.
And yet, sometimes it seems that we, Israelis and American Jews, not only inhabit different countries but different universes, different realities.
As recent research by Prof. Steven Cohen has indicated, American Jews care most about women’s and minority rights in Israel, and equality among the major streams of Judaism. Those issues are also important to Israelis, but weare also interested in making a living and gaining social benefits. We are interested in protecting our families so that they can have the luxury of worrying about jobs and benefits.
Ironically, at a time when support for Israel in this country is at a near all-time high—indeed it’s one of the few truly bipartisan issues—we Jews seem increasingly divided.
Let me be clear: at stake is not merely Israel’s policies or rights of American Jews to criticize them. At stake is nothing less than the unity of a Jewish people.
