We’ll start with Germany. Government. Food. Hostages.
None of it is good.
And we’ll end with a very brief clip from a wedding, along with its story, because good things still happen. Good things still need to happen. The quote which is the title of today’s post comes from the wedding.
GERMANY
Today’s posting focuses on the above video, which is an excerpted version of a presentation I did yesterday for an American Jewish organization, because we know it’s coming—the world is going to run out of patience. International opinion will turn from the 1,000 Israelis killed in the pogrom to the images that will be coming out of Gaza.
And no, they are not going to be pretty. Yes, they are going to be horrifying. And no, no Israeli that I know will be satisfied until Hamas is wiped out. Period. That, sadly, means many dead innocent Gazans.
But so did defeating Nazi Germany mean the death of many innocent German girls and boys, and presumably, some innocent adults, too. But the Allies knew that could not be a consideration then. It cannot be one now.
Either freedom wins, or it loses. Shabbat and Sunday were a glimpse of what losing would look like.
GOVERNMENT
I will stay away from politics today, though it’s bubbling to the surface in all the Israeli media. The government is MIA. We are days into the war, some 1200 dead, some 3000 hospitalized, Israeli cities being pummeled, stories of beheaded babies and beheaded soldiers now emerging, images of a naked Israeli woman being paraded around the street of Gaza to be jeered and heckled are uploaded by Hamas social media. Hamas terrorists raped Israeli women while the women’s dead friends were lying right next to them. Soldiers are bringing back stories of sadistic torture that lasted for hours.
And there is no Emergency Government. As of this writing, Gantz and Bibi are still negotiating the deal. What, exactly, is there to negotiate? People are simply incredulous. None of them have been to hospitals. None of them have visited bereaved families. None of them have been to the front.
There’s really nothing more to say. Except that I’ve heard countless Israelis, including many on the right, say that they wish we had leadership like President Joe Biden showed yesterday.
FOOD (WHEN IT’S THERE)
The city is not running out of food. Yet. But some things are getting scarce as the northern border heats up and the possibility of rockets on Israeli cities increases, though by how much is difficult to say.
So yes, there is food. (No, still no water to buy.) But not everything is available. As in, try to buy sandwich meats. That’s not happening.
So instead, we went to the butcher to buy chickens. We asked for two. “Danny,” he said, “Get more. These are going fast and I have no idea when we’re going to get more.” So we did.
But then I asked him, “Why won’t you get more? Where’s the breakdown in the supply chain?”
He said, “First, all of the plants are in the south [which means not far from Gaza], so they’re closed because of the rocket fire. Second, even if the plants opened up, the roads are closed. And third, even if the roads opened up, all the truck drivers are in the army.”
That was pretty clear.
But even the food scene has its very inspiring moments. The explanation follows the photograph:
The Instagram caption reads: Tel Aviv’s elite non-kosher restaurants are kashering their kitchens so that all the soldiers will be able to eat the food that the restaurants are sending to the bases. Among those restaurants which have become kosher are ….
HOSTAGES
Israeli social media is not for the faint of heart. There are reports of sadistic torture of hostages beginning to emerge.
Israeli psychologists are pleading with parents to take TikTok off their kids’ phones, and telling adults, as well, not to view the videos of torture or of the hostages begging for their lives that Hamas is apparently about to upload.
Watching these videos, psychologists are saying, could cause life-long trauma for children and adults.
At the same time, of course, the families and friends of the hostages are posting on social media to pressure the government or the international community to get their loved ones home. Most are in Hebrew, obviously. These two are in English. They speak for themselves. Any comment would be superfluous and absurd.
If you’re just joining us, Israel from the Inside typically posts a written column on Mondays and a podcast on Wednesdays. That is obviously irrelevant for the time being.
We’ve delayed all the podcasts that were ready to go, because the people whose stories they tell deserve to tell them when we all have the bandwidth to hear. Hopefully, that will return some day.
In the interim, we’ll post as possible. Here in Israel, there are non-stop funerals to go to, shiva homes to visit, grandchildren to help care for while sons and daughters are in the army, so we’ll see.
Schedules are the least of our worries.
How in the world did this happen?
That, of course, will be the subject of Israeli investigations for as far as the eye can see. But already, we’re learning some things. Here are two interesting articles worth reading:
REUTERS: How Hamas duped Israel as it planned devastating attack
JERUSALEM STRATEGIC TRIBUNE: How Could This Happen?
Now, the wedding.
The original post is here, in Hebrew. Here’s a translation:
I doubt this has ever happened before. In the midst of a war and on a military base, a wedding is held.
Assaf and Rotem were supposed to get married today, but Assaf got called up. They cancelled the hall, the catering, the photographer and the band. The wedding, they decided not to cancel.
The bride and the immediate family were allowed onto the base. The unit arranged for loudspeakers, Israeli flags and a chuppah. The groom changed out of his green uniform and put on a white shirt, and around them gathered hundreds of soldiers, who sang, danced and brought them joy on the day of their wedding—a moment before he went out to battle.
The father of the groom, who is also a rabbi, blessed them and under the chuppah he explained that this is our answer to our savage enemy—we keep creating families and bringing children into this world.
We will continue to fight with courage, but we will also continue to live.
Mazal tov, Assaf and Rotem.
Go out safely, and return safely.
[From the wedding liturgy]: Soon, Lord our God, may the sound of happiness and the sound of joy and the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride be heard in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem — the rejoicing of groom from their huppahs and youths from their singing banquets. Blessed are you Lord who makes the groom rejoice with the bride.
Amen.
Gd help us.
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