by Nadav Gedaliah, Indipendent Journalist, translated by Hillel Fendel.
There was
once a man who was very afraid of dogs. He was afraid of small dogs, large
dogs, cute dogs, and dangerous dogs alike. He could not even stand to be near a
dog. But one day he boarded a crowded train – and so did a blind woman, accompanied
by her seeing-eye dog. Before he knew it, he couldn't move left or right
because of the crowdedness, and, to his own utter shock, he spent a half-hour
standing next to a dog! And afterwards he realized that he was no longer afraid
of dogs.
Was this
a true happy ending? Not really, because he knew that the real test would be
the next time he found himself next to a dog: would he feel compelled to run
away, or not?
For years
now we have been told that we can't meaningfully fight terrorism, and that our
only option is to build protective walls and the like, no matter how scared we
continue to be. Then came Trump – and he laid out on the table a totally new
type of solution. It could be that forced, or voluntary, mass Arab emigration
from Gaza is not the best idea ever, but never mind that; what's more
intriguing is that suddenly, with one announcement, the world saw that what we
had been afraid of for years was really just a figment of our imagination. We
were always being told us that we can't act on our own because of "America,"
and that we must always be coordinated with the Americans and follow their
dictates. And here, all a sudden, that same America says out loud what we
didn't allow ourselves to even think – even if it was the most obvious and
indicated plan of action.
In a
certain sense, the dog was placed next to our legs, and we had no choice but to
go along with the situation, even if we were shivering with fear. At this
point, we would be well advised to acknowledge out loud our past mistakes. Let
us admit that our fear of America, enveloped in the thick smoke of wild
imagination, smothered us for years, while America itself didn't really know
what to make of the Middle East.
Now, it
appears that we are pushing ahead. The hope is that the important decisions
will be made by us, on our own initiative, with self-confidence that we know
what is best for us.
The past
decades have proven that, despite all of our advantages, we have been captive
to a sense of helplessness that forced us, absurdly, to pay shameful and
painful prices – instead of simply doing what anyone can see that we had to do.
The
recent waves of pain that we have suffered are, finally, forcing us to develop
a clear sense of self-confidence about what is good and right for us. Our lack
of confidence is surprising and difficult to understand, but its roots can be
found in the course of Israeli history.
With our amazing victories in Israel's first wars, we began, most unfortunately, believing in "My might and My strength" [as opposed to faith in G-d]. It gave us tremendous strength, economic abundance, and a sense of pride. But it was missing something big: faith – without which it is impossible to win even simple wars against a thong-wearing enemy. The way to free ourselves from our lack of self-confidence in our path is to do a U-turn and go back. We must neutralize our thoughts of "My might and My might," and bow our heads to Heaven in the face of this miracle called the "State of Israel" and its every security-political-economic success.