It's not Yochi Brandes I know. Sitting across from me is another woman. Warrior. I met her in the past at a literary event in honor of her wonderful book "Adele" and I even stayed at her home in Kfar Saba for a conversation over coffee between pen holders. Yuchi of routine days also has a passion reflected in her sparkling eyes, and a rare charm to shake the soul with her sincere and penetrating words, but this time Yochi is furious and a fire burns in her eyes.
She turns to me after deciding to go to a very unpopular war - to wage a battle for reconciliation, compromise and moderation. "Words that have become obscene in both camps," as she put it. Yochi wishes to make the silenced center heard. In her case, it's not a metaphor, keep her mouth shut.
Protest march from Kfar Saba to Raanana Central Junction // Archive photo: Gabriel Meltzer
"At the very beginning of the protest against the legal reform, Eric Kneller, my agent, approached me and said that the organizers of the protest wanted me to speak at the demonstration. I immediately told him that I didn't really identify with the demonstrators because I was in favor of changes in the judicial system. That week, I refused to speak in front of 150,50 people at a demonstration and went to lecture in a dialogue tent set up by the preparatory schools, to <> young people, because I felt more comfortable there.
"For 20 years I have been supporting amendments and changes in the justice system, which has quite a few flaws, especially since the 'everything is justiciable' revolution," she says. "On the other hand, within a few weeks I understood that the way the coalition is doing it is extreme, fast, without public information, without dialogue, and this creates a rift in the nation. I am in favor of finding a balance in the division of powers between the judiciary and the executive branch. And I am afraid that the extreme legislation will weaken and trample the judiciary, to the point where we will have only one branch left. So in March I turned to Arik and said: 'That's it, I'm with those who oppose the government's moves. I'm coming to Kaplan.' Eric was very happy because he thought it was very important for the voice of people like me to be heard."
, Photo: Arik Sultan
But then the organizers wanted to know what Yochi was going to speak. To that end, one of the organizers spoke to her by phone. Yochi briefly explained her complex position and that she would call for dialogue and compromise. "I got a weird response like, 'Well, we need to think about it,' phrases like that that you say to someone who doesn't get hired."
Yochi thought that perhaps she had not explained herself well enough and wrote to Eric her position, in which she emphasized how much she was against the reform. Eric forwarded the message to the organizer and evasively replied that "not updating doesn't mean 'no,' and that Yochi's message is completely relevant to our stage." "It was still a subtle evasion. Later it got worse. In any case, I understood that they were only looking for spokesmen who would come out in a frothy manner against the reform."
Journey between sectors
Yochi's complex worldview ("not either-or, but both") was formed as a result of her life story and her hopping between sectors. She is 64 years old, born into an ultra-Orthodox family, the daughter of the Rebbe of Biala Ramat Aharon. At an early age she left Haredi society and studied in religious Zionist institutions, later leaving the halachic framework ("To anyone obsessed with categorizing people, I say I travel on Shabbat"), but continued to be connected in her experience, writing and educational work to Judaism. "As far as right-left is concerned, you can say that from the age of 20 I didn't vote for the right. For many years I voted for Meretz. I was deeply on the left, although I had always been a Zionist and I didn't like being slandered around the world.
"25 years ago, along with many on the left, I experienced the trauma of the intifada after Oslo. It made me recognize that there is a lot of truth on the other side. I didn't move to the right, but I didn't believe in the slogans of Peace Now. Since then, I've been voting for centrist parties for years. That's my ideology, it's not for lack of choice. In recent years, I have seen Benny Gantz, and especially Hili Trooper and Michael Biton, as worthy leaders for whom I go to the polls. In any case, because I moved between sectors, I know them all in depth and in each of them I have relatives and good friends, and I see on the one hand the fear in all sectors and on the other hand the radicalization."
Photo: Herzi Shapira
Later, a group of writers organized to read the Book of Lamentations in front of the Knesset and invited Yochi to join the group. "This was even before the dialogue began at the president's residence, regardless of Tisha B'Av. I made sure that only the scroll was read and that they wouldn't give speeches there, because I didn't want to join something I couldn't identify with, such as a call for refusal. It was made clear to me that this would be the case and I decided to join. What could be more appropriate than reading the Declaration of Destruction when there is a fear of a rift in the nation? What's more, I always want the liberal left to feel that Judaism is ours. And then the talks had just begun at the president's residence, so I said there was no point in reading the Book of Lamentations when there was dialogue. There were others who said that we should demonstrate during the talks as well. The event ultimately did not materialize. A little later, I left the WhatsApp group because there were extremist voices speaking out against the state, and I didn't know my soul.
"Throughout the period of talks at the president's residence, I saw how extremist voices on both sides exerted tremendous pressure on their leaders not to compromise. Compromise has become a dirty word. Then, painfully, the conversations stopped. This was a terrible mistake by Gantz and Lapid, withdrawing from the talks. They may not have withstood the pressure from the demonstrators. Then the coalition started racing with the laws and I saw how dangerous it was getting going. So about two weeks ago, on Tisha B'Av, I again approached the organizers on my own initiative and offered to revive the idea of writers and creators reading the Book of Lamentations near the Knesset. And then I also went back to the protest WhatsApp groups."
But then one of the poets in the group issued a press release linking the Lamentations to the destruction of the media. "I didn't understand what communication was all of a sudden. It was in the morning, I hadn't opened a newspaper yet. I read Israel Hayom and Haaretz every morning with coffee. I have not yet formed my opinion on the law that the Minister of Communications wants to promote. In order to protest something, I first need to understand what, read, hear the different opinions. I wrote in the group that as far as I was concerned, Lamentations was about the gallop forward of the legal coup, that we were protesting that it was not done cooperatively. The same poet answered me fine, and then he issued another message, that we protest the violation of women's rights."
Yochi tried to understand what the poet meant by the violation of women's rights, because in this area too, her position is complex. "I am very, very disagreeable and even angry and feel the need to strongly protest against the liberal groups that, in the name of liberalism and the defense of women's rights, do not allow the ultra-Orthodox to maintain their way of life, for example to perform separately or to study in academia separately. They want the ultra-Orthodox to be like us. But they won't be like us, they're anxious. I don't think that segregated education is something that violates women's rights. I know as an ultra-Orthodox woman that I never felt inferior when men and women were separated. To a certain extent, it even kept us women safe. Why call it the exclusion of women?! Their lifestyles require it. Muslims are allowed, Christians are allowed, and only the ultra-Orthodox, in the name of liberalism, are forbidden?" wonders Brandes.
"I wrote in the group, and also to that poet in private, to return to the original title of the event, that we read Lamentations about the fact that legislation is being done in a thoughtless gallop forward. The same poet wrote that we must focus on a topic that people are passionate about, because there are not enough creators who have expressed a desire to participate in the event. In short, they were looking for a sexier subject. I wrote that if there was a shortage of artists, I was willing to recruit some older, well-known writers from among my good friends. I even worded a message that these were writers of all shades reading the Book of Lamentations together, in order to protest the way the reform was carried out. I asked them to approve the wording. When they didn't approve, I realized that I couldn't call others to come, nor could I come myself. And that's what I wrote. So the same poet wrote to me: 'So don't come.' This gag was already blatant. For now, I've stayed in the group and I'm going crazy from the sounds of hatred and condescension inside. Probably after this article they will kick me out of there. The words agreement, dialogue, compromise have become forbidden, and whoever says them is considered 'not one of us.'"
Right-wing member of the demonstration
Still, on Saturday night two weeks ago, Yochi decided to join her husband, who has been regularly participating in demonstrations against the reform for weeks. "I decided to go with Ofer to a demonstration in Kfar Saba. I wanted to be part of it because I really admire the demonstrators, as well as the organizers, for their passion and determination and sacrificing their private lives for what they consider to be the salvation of democracy. I really adore them. My criticism is directed at the protest leaders who do not allow moderate voices to be heard.
"The demonstration, by the way, began on Saturday, without consideration for the religious who also want to come and demonstrate. I stood there cramped, frozen and raped in front of the speakers, almost all of whom were extremists and spoke in praise of rejectionism, blocking roads and disrupting the country. I couldn't identify with any word, and especially not with the discourse of 'they' versus 'us' – that familiar and sad discourse that repeats itself throughout Jewish history, that we are the children of light and they are the sons of darkness. The same discourse that ultimately leads to the ostracism and loss of groups from the Jewish people.
Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"During the demonstration, I saw a couple of our friends, Rabbi Yinon Aviad and his wife, running sweaty immediately after Havdalah to participate in the demonstration. Rabbi Aviad, who is a very open and also very right-wing person, came to demonstrate against the reform, because he does not want a rift in the nation. I told him it was terrible that religious people weren't considered, and that they started the demonstration on Shabbat. He said, 'No, no, they shouldn't be considerate of us.' I tried to figure out who they were? Who is his son? He said he never asked to be considered for being observant. Look at what a great man. He wasn't angry at the lack of consideration of the organizers, but I find it very, very angry. And that's it, I decided I wasn't silent. I told my agent that I hoped he wasn't mad at me, but I was going to say out loud that people like me don't let their voices be heard at a demonstration. Arik surprised me and told me that he would actually be very happy, that he identifies with the fact that moderate voices should also be heard in protest."
Yochi describes that an atmosphere has been created in which the middle people are denounced and forced to hide. "After this article, they will probably say that I remained ultra-Orthodox, that I ingratiate myself with the right. I'm not afraid of it because I've been tempered. When you leave ultra-Orthodox society and then religious society and then the left, you absorb so much denunciation that you are already tempered. It's me. But other artists don't want to be denounced. People are afraid. Yes. We are secular, urban, live in the center, have never voted right-wing, are ultra-Orthodox from a bi-national state, believe in dividing the land, support LGBT people, and are still considered 'right-wing' or 'not of ours' or 'collaborators with the government.'
"We absorb contempt and even anger and are left without an identity. Even secular friends and even family members denounced me and disliked me when they heard that I did not participate in the demonstrations, because there were no voices opposing refusal, leaving hospitals, civil disobedience. Over the past few months, I have lost beloved relatives who really ostracized me with the family joy we attended. They were angry with me, they distanced themselves from me.
"Our four children have different opinions in all areas: political, religious, social, economic. Diversity is part of their lives. They grew up with a grandfather Rebbe, an atheist grandfather, right-wing religious uncles and a left-left aunt. The differences of opinion in our family never damaged our relationship. We, thank God, don't quarrel with each other, but over the past six months our differences have spilled over into danger zones. The ability to find justice in other opinions has been particularly weakened in recent days. It's the same with friends – we met, an argument started, I got harsh words, and we haven't seen each other since. At the same time, I receive all kinds of expressions of hatred of LGBT people from ultra-Orthodox or religious friends, without them knowing that I have a gay son. And I can't bear this hatred anymore. I assume that even in the opposite camp, this is the atmosphere, that those who express opposition to burning down Arab communities after an attack, those who dislike Channel 14's hateful rhetoric, also receive a kind of denunciation. There is still an Israeli center, but it is a frightened majority."
"Talking is the lifesaver"
Until the last minute on Monday, Yochi hoped that the stronger side would show the generosity of winners and pass a more moderate law. "But the coalition galloped nonetheless. Moderate voices, such as Gallant and Edelstein, fell silent. I understand that a coalition cannot surrender to the threats of rejectionism and economic shutdown, but they did it quickly and aggressively. I think that the responsibility at the moment in this matter lies with the coalition. Does your camp understand how scared and scared my camp really is? I hear the voices in my camp incited by extremists who spread hatred, intertwined with fear and terror, and I die of fear."
Protest convoy in Jerusalem, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Yochi sends me examples of texts running in the protest group of which she is still a member: "Prepare for the attack of 'Brothers We' and the embraces of 'One Destiny.' Beware of lip candy. From reconciliation initiatives and roundtables. Don't believe them! Do not come in their audience. Judah has declared war on us and her knees are shaking at the results. After intoxication comes sobriety. They have no doctors, no scientists, no high-tech engineers, no Mossad, no Shin Bet, and no northern pilots. The enlightened world applauds Israel and will punish Judah. The contours sharpened. Judea will no longer hide behind Israel's back. Wait and see... A dreamer will become a eulogy... Israel will defeat Judah. Cheers to the democracy fighters! Hooray to the spirit of Israel!" wrote one member of the group.
"I go crazy when I read texts like this that are so condescending, that attribute ignorance to the other side," Brandes says painfully. "The greatest trauma in the Bible, the split between Judah and Israel – a terrible rift that caused us to lose ten out of twelve tribes – has now become a fantasy. 'Let's repeat it' - these are the voices that are heard on the level. These voices, who think that the worse the better, are dangerous. This is our country, this is our army, this is our economy. And incitement is a terrible thing. On the other hand, I know from my daughter and husband, who participate in nonviolent demonstrations, that they are spit on and cursed and run over attempts. Hatred and incitement are burning on both sides."
So what's next now that the legislation has passed?
"I would very much like key voices on the right and left, who see the justice on both sides, to understand that talking to each other is our salvation. The compromise of Beit Hillel is what saved us throughout history."
But as long as the coalition depends on Jewish power, in the end the veto power is in the hands of the extremists. Maybe instead of boycotting Bibi, the moderate center will enter the government?
"I can't call on my camp to enter the government. Gantz tried, and Bibi deceived him and wouldn't let him be prime minister. Bibi has become, rightly or wrongly, a demon in my camp. They just mention his name - and then, like Haman, in the Book of Esther, they shout contempt. It's everyone, not just the extremists. In such a situation, it is irrelevant to enter the government. If I were a leader today, and I'm not, I'm just a writer and a private person, I'd try to calm things down. I expect the leaders of the center to say that we are in a difficult period, because there is aggressive legislation here, but let's get through this without incitement, without participating in these voices shouting Israel and Judea. To say it will be fine. So now they are legislators with their annoying 64 seats, but this is neither the end of the state nor the end of democracy. That's what I want to hear.
"Eliminating the grounds of reasonableness is not the end of the High Court, the High Court has many more tools. And the time will come when we, the centrists, will hold the helm of government, and then we will cancel the laws and enact laws in an intelligent and moderate manner that will fix the judicial system and not destroy it. If we only take care not to make extreme noises of intimidation, incitement, hatred and arrogance, then we will truly be the majority and gain leadership. The role of centrist leaders is not to surrender to extremists and to reassure the public that no disaster has happened and that we have patience until the next elections."
Yochi's concern also reverberates within her contemporary literary writing. She is currently writing a detective novel about the period of Ezra and Nehemiah's Return to Zion. "There, too, as in other periods in history when there were internal struggles and ostracism, the extremists took over the discourse. Ezra led a revolution of Torah for All among the people and was brave enough to stand up to the resistance of the priests and initiate Torah reading ceremonies accompanied by an Aramaic translation. He wanted all sectors and classes to be part of the Jewish people and feel that the Torah was theirs too, but he could not stand up to the extremists who would not accept the group of "those who remained," who married non-Jewish women. And so the Jewish people lost the Jews, the remnants of the Kingdom of Judah, who clung to the Land of Israel and remained loyal to it and were not exiled from it despite all the crises and destructions. I am terribly anxious that this trait, of surrendering to extremists and tearing apart the people, which is now revealed in us in all its terribleness, will also wreak havoc on the second return to Zion."
How will you mark Tisha B'Av this year?
"Like every year, I will fast until the middle of the day in memory of the destruction and out of a desire that a Temple be built here not as a center of sacrificial worship but as a spiritual center of a home for all peoples. Half the day I will eat and drink out of gratitude that we have a country. I am more anxious this year than I have all my adult life about the future of our country, about the rifts and rifts. We have already gone through difficult periods of divisions in Oslo, and after Rabin's assassination, and in the disengagement and the coronavirus, but the hatred and division have never been as severe as now. I see the sights and hear the voices, yet I am optimistic and continue to believe in the power of moderation and compromise of the majority of the people."
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