1. A sign from our ancestors
We are a people built up from our troubles. No matter how harsh, we are not defeated by them, and, eventually, from the depth of these troubles, we rise from the ashes and are reborn. In the midst of our troubles, it is difficult to see the light that awaits us. To do so we must draw water with joy from the wells of salvation of our national memories and internalize this historiosophical pattern. Our ancestors were given a sign that now, in the depths of our tribulations, salvation is taking shape. Our sages called it the "light of the messiah," namely the light that shines on us now from the future that awaits us. There is no need for us to fear the word "messiah" which refers to our ancient national idea (The messiah was someone anointed in oil to lead).
The Vilna Gaon said of the verse, "It is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but he shall be delivered from it", that salvation is already to be found in the trouble itself. The Vilna Gaon read in the words "he shall be delivered from it" that our salvation will come from trouble itself. The verse is taken from Jeremiah's prophecy (Chapter 30) of consolation which urges the people not to fear difficulty: "We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace… Alas! for that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is a time of trouble unto Jacob, But he shall be delivered from it ." The verses that follow prove how a deep perspective of our tribulations ties with our independence: "In that day – declares the Lord of Hosts – I will break the yoke from your neck [the yoke of the King of Babylon] and I will rip off your bonds. Strangers shall no longer make slaves of them (i.e. of the people of Israel)…" In an earlier verse, Jeremiah prophecies the return to Zion. "For days are coming – declares God – when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah, said GOD; and I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they shall possess it." Moses taught us that possessing the land after strangers have invaded it, means conquering it anew and imposing our sovereignty.
2. The joy of the poor turns upon us
The history of our people is rich in eras of calm that turned on us in a great storm. This was the case with the golden age of the Jews of Spain and this was the case of German Jewry after the emancipation, and there are many other historical examples. The great joy with which the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine accepted the United Nations partition plan of November 29, 1947, which promised a homeland for the Jewish people was followed by the War of Independence which claimed more casualties than any of the wars of Israel since.
It has often been the case in our history that, wrapped as were in distress, the joy of the poor knocked on our door and we, a poor people, considered as good as dead, rejoiced in it. In our nights in exile, when we were scolded and downtrodden, from our bed of straw we dreamed of our revenge, it was the poor man's lamb that we still possessed. But when it finally came to visit us, it became clear to us that our joy had become destroying and our last day. It was not us that joy was visiting, but our coffin bearers, our troubles and tormentors. It was they that she smiled upon.
Natan Alterman, in his great poem "Joy of the Poor" published in the early days of World War II, wrote the following words: "The joy of the poor knocked on the door…/ The deathly poor rejoiced in her…/ And he said: How pleasant, how good/ The joy of the poor I have heard… / But the joy said: No, your destroyer has come / No, your last day has come to you …"
3. The Jew consoles the Israeli
Our story does not end here. These difficult events are a prelude to a better future for our people. The poem quoted above is just the opening of a great poem at the center of which is a besieged city where a maiden and her living-dead father live. The city is Western civilization which in those days was falling to the Nazis one country after another. The literary critic Mordechai Shalev showed how the maiden represents Zionism and the father represents Judaism. Alterman was convinced that the disaster that had replaced joy was only temporary and that there was hope for the future. In our tradition, the Prophet Jeremiah and the Vilna Gaon saw in the depth of despair the hope for redemption, In the penultimate poem of the eponymous collection of the Joy of the Poor, even if the city falls there is a sense of joy because it is a sign that the terrible long night of exile is about to end: "Exultation shall reign, ah, for night's on the wane,\ on Abaddon's joy shines the light.\ Ah for night's on the wane, its joy ancient appears, maybe.\ Brethren! This once in a thousand years for our death there is morning's light! (in Hebrew: shahar, which is dawn but also a meaning)".
Thus the father consoles his daughter – the father representing the historical depth and faith of the Jewish people shines a consoling light on the difficult Zionist-Israeli reality, and encourages it to see that the end in fact expresses the pangs of birth: "End, my daughter! The end has come!\ And long live joy and trouble,/ Long live your pure happiness that drove away like a leper,/ Long live all the strength of our poverty.
For between the straits,\ it is not the ones who besiege, but the ones who are besieged who know happiness!\ "And happy the worm, (the biblical warm of Jacob i.e. the People of Israel) mocked humbled and bowed,\ deceived and surrounded and hurled and plowed,\ remembering, hate-eyed, and digging still,\ whom fate neither leaves nor yet will kill!\ For stern decree has cursed him to die!\ And God, life-giving, has cursed him to living!". Even if we are isolated and have no rest, we shall not be destroyed; the opposite is true: Came a runner with tidings...Your strength was done.\ Still, for salvation's hope, you embraced the son. "
The son born from the connection between Judaism and Zionism, in other words, the Tzabar who will save us in our time of trouble, just as we are witnessing with this generation of victory in the current war.
4. Katznelson's legacy
Earlier this week, I visited the main library at the Beit Berl College where an exhibition reconstructs the home of Sivan Elkabetz and Naor Hasidim who were murdered on Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. The exhibit preserves the horror and terror, the signs of blood, of the struggle, and the brutal murder. I stood there in awe of the words of Sivan's mother Anat and her father Shimon. I highly recommend you go there to view the chilling testimony that will remain until the end of generations so that we remember what the war is about, and why it is important that we continue the battle until we have eliminated all the evil that tried to overcome us. When we left, we saw a photo of Berl Katzenelson, one of the founders of Labor Zionism. Standing next to me, the linguist Avshalom Kor quoted off by heart Katzenelson's words said 104 years ago, after the fall of Tel Hai. It is important that we repeat these words to our children:
"Let there be no rest, no consolation, and no end to mourning – until the day comes, when Israel returns and redeems its stolen land! Our enemies should know: You will not frighten us. It is not by your grace that the land was given to us, nor by your malice and deceit will you take it from us. You cannot overcome us. With our heads, we will smash the iron bolts. The new mines you have planted at our feet will not stop us. The new danger will awaken in us hidden forces, ignite the fervor of sacred fanaticism, extract from the depths of our souls our complete addiction, it will set the oath for the great enterprise. Whoever our enemies may be – be they savages of thievery and rape or the so-called representatives of culture – you will not subdue us. You replaced the Balfour Declaration with a blood declaration. You have put your name down in the annals of history – along with the memory of Amalek or Hadrian's plot – you have engraved your names in the blood of Jerusalem. For us, you are but dust, a passing whip. Over our corpses, the corpses of our fallen, with all our hearts, with our faith, and with our last hope we will break down every wall. We shall go onwards and upwards!"
Kor repeated the words of Katznelson, but looking at Sivan's and Naor's destroyed home, to me, it was as if they had been written today.
