Because of some groups in society that do not receive authority, the tension in Israeli society will only increase • The current situation should bring the leadership to act in a focused manner vis-à-vis those who are required • Interpretation
These days, ahead of the opening of the new Hebrew year, the Israeli government will decide whether to punish Israeli society a collective punishment - this as a result of a widespread closure that will be imposed on us with no choice, given the morbidity data.
In this situation, a question and a mental account are required - how did we get here?
Archive photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Six months after the corona virus came to "visit" Israel, it seems that not only have we not progressed, but to a large extent we have gone backwards in dealing with it.
The closure that threatens the routine of the upcoming Tishrei holidays, along with the alarming morbidity data, requires clarification - what happened to us?
How did we set off in May with a sense of triumph, and actually be humiliated in the face of the virus?
One can expand and talk about the systemic conduct, about the conduct of the unity government established for that purpose, about the various ministries.
But this discussion, as important as it is, I understand less interesting.
The political context sterilizes a matter-of-fact discussion - hence it is right to talk about us as a society.
It was already clear in May, and also described by the writer of these lines, that the victory over the Corona necessitated a value-based conduct at all levels.
Well, at the value level as ours, as well as in the three main efforts: personal example, task adherence and discipline.
It is not for nothing that personal example is at the forefront of values - since in any organization or system a certain behavior cannot be demanded, without the systems being conducted in the same spirit and with the same level of rigor, if not more than that.
We are all everywhere and we all see what is happening - leaders and managers do not set a personal example, and do not behave in the required spirit.
Many of them see the guidelines as a blunder, and the message seeps down at a devastating speed. As if "Israel-bluff."
This, along with the arrogance demonstrated upon leaving the first quarantine, led to behavior that was inconsistent with the situation, and to a fundamental lack of understanding - at the central risk of high morbidity and relevance of draconian measures that would be required.
The lack of personal example led to distrust and unresponsiveness on the part of the public.
Everyone knows that if you act as required, you probably do not mean seriously - the result accordingly.
Adherence to a mission is a value whose purpose is to lead to a consistent, determined and ongoing effort in the fight against the virus.
The mission of all systems was to maintain low morbidity data and continue to fight Corona to prevent its spread.
We should ask the person who heads every system, municipality, council, school or business entity - how did you fight?
What happened to you?
Where did they succeed and where did they fail?
Some institutions have realized that the need for the hour is hygiene and a different behavior.
The same managers set goals and metrics accordingly - they saw infections as their personal failure, and hence in those organizations and institutions the infection data were low.
Where they defined the central mission as war, and behaved as in war, there was no contagion.
Those heads of institutions realized that without a determined war on the virus, their organization would collapse and be unable to function.
Those who did not understand that at the top of the organizational and systemic goals is the war on the virus, those who were not able to assimilate the required behavior over time, those who did not measure themselves daily and took the necessary actions - did not stick to the task.
In war, without adherence to a mission, there will be no decision.
The value of discipline is a condition for success, and in the situation identified in Israeli society, this value is at a very disturbing low.
It can be said that what we see before our eyes are groups in society that do not accept authority, that live according to their perception and belief while completely disregarding the binding disciplinary requirements in the situation that has arisen.
Unsurprisingly, the same groups are “Achilles heel” in other social spheres as well.
Dealing with the corona virus has given us an irreplaceable opportunity to realize that if we do not address this weak point, we are on our way to the abyss.
These groups are challenging the sovereignty of the government, and are now challenging the quality of life, not to mention life itself, here, in the State of Israel.
Democracy allows diagnosed groups to live by their beliefs, but there are state rules to which those groups are also committed.
These groups despise these rules, and despise those who try to assimilate them.
This contempt brings all nine million Israelis to quarantine during the Tishrei holidays.
It is a collective punishment that distinct groups have led to, but more than that, the inability of the central government to enforce the rules on those groups.
I am not talking about the need to use force, but the ability of the controlling system to harness these groups, to be in "eye-level" dialogue with their leaders, and to make them behave differently - this is a disgraceful failure.
The value difficulties before us can be summed up in one poignant statement - cultural failure.
Our conduct as a company in recent months, since the March-April lockout, has been extremely troubling.
It challenges the concept of "state" and all the logic that exists around it.
Rule, laws, enforcement, mutual guarantee.
As if everything had evaporated before our eyes.
Hence we are all on the road to "quilting".
It is impossible to detach the situation from the level of discourse created here, the disconnection, and the lack of personal responsibility.
Some argue that this is the "Yom Kippur" catastrophe as an example of that war, but on a principled level, it is much more serious.
A society that is unable to internalize the threat, that has no trust, that does not have the ability to align with the rules required to deal with it (which are mostly very simple) is a society that has neither law nor justice.
We are not on the path to anarchy, we are already there.
And if you ask me, the impending closure will only intensify tensions in Israeli society.
There will be no solidarity here, here hatred and polarization will intensify.
Corona is a biological virus, but in practice it has led to a terrible social disease.
In this situation, the decision to close on the days of mental reckoning is a mistake.
The social outcome will be devastating.
It would be right to tighten guidelines and tighten enforcement, while leading a dialogue that would lead to solidarity in understanding the need for cooperation and mutual guarantee.
The entrenchment of any nuclear family at the door of its mothers will not lead to this.
No applause was seen this time and no balconies were served.
The current situation is a call for leadership - act in a focused manner towards those who are required, do not punish those who set a personal example, who stood the task and showed the required self-discipline.
In practice, this type of punishment means a deeper violation of trust, from the fact that the one who will actually be punished is actually the one who acted in accordance with what is required.
Is this the message we seek in the social situation we have reached?