Opinion

A few days after the outbreak of the war, I went into a neighborhood hardware store where two old timers were muttering that things would be different today if only Begin were still prime minister. My goal is not to disparage Netanyahu or any of Israel’s politicians. Rather, I would like to examine the life of Menachem Begin in order to understand why so many Israelis admired, revered, and trusted him – and why numerous schools, government buildings, parks, and roads were named after him.

The news drifted around slowly, picking up fervor on the morning of Sh’mini Atzeres, as American Jews learned of the attacks by Palestinian terrorists into the heart of Israel. Hundreds of dead, thousands wounded, and a Jewish state declaring its first war in exactly 50 years. This is the time where even the most fair-weather friends of Israel back their actions, and the most despicable among us reveal themselves even more. The reactions from America are damning and telling.

In the aftermath of the attacks on October 7, President Joe Biden gave some statements that were in strong support of Israel. For a moment, those who criticized the President’s leadership on the world stage were pleasantly surprised and somewhat dumbfounded by his ability to call out evil and stand firm with the greatest ally the United State has. Biden didn’t surprise his critics for long, though, as a mere few weeks later he has begun to waver in his support and is showing considerable weakness to America’s enemies.

Fifty years ago, I was learning at Kerem B’Yavneh, a hesder yeshivah where Israeli students divided their time between learning at the yeshivah and military service. On the morning of Yom Kippur, we heard planes flying over the yeshivah, a clear sign that something was very wrong. As the day went on, students began to discreetly leave the yeshivah. Many of the students were in the army that Yom Kippur morning, conducting the t’filos. One was taken as a POW by the Syrians. Twelve never returned to the yeshivah.

In February 1939, the German American Bund threw a pro-Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden that drew over 20,000 attendees. In the late 1970s, the National Socialist Party of America regularly demonstrated and marched in Chicago in support of neo-Nazi ideology, despite their numbers dwindling to a tenth of what they were. In 2017, with a few hundred on their side, neo-Nazis showed their face again in Charlottesville, Virginia. At each of these events and throughout the last century, most Americans ask themselves how it’s possible that people believe such a disgusting and perverse ideology that celebrates death and hatred. American college campuses are showing that not only does that ideology and mentality exist, but it is also in far larger numbers than American Nazis have ever had.

I went to the synagogue last Friday night to dance with the Torah and celebrate Shmini Atzeret, the last day of the fall Jewish holidays. My wife and I were overjoyed from experiencing the Chagim in Israel. We had prayed, sang and danced in the synagogue on Rosh HaShanah, davened fervently for a healthy and peaceful year on Yom Kippur, gone on family tiyulim (day trips), and spent long hours with children and grandchildren in our children’s Succah. On Shabbat morning, reality and the vicissitudes of life struck home. We were awakened at 6:30 a.m. by sirens signaling a rocket attack on Rehovot. Little did we know that by nightfall on that day, life in Israel would be changed for the foreseeable future.