The harsh images and testimonies from Dizengoff and other prayer centers in Tel Aviv refuse to be blurred.
Where did we go? The president spoke yesterday about Jews clashing with each other on Yom Kippur. A small mistake, Mr. President. There was verbal, savage, almost physical violence by one side of the argument against the other.
There was no reciprocity here, period. Unlike the president who was not precise, there were those who did.
I don't mean religious people or right-wingers, but people who take part in the protests on a daily basis and march in Kaplan, people who don't like the government and its decisions, some of whom don't sympathize with "Jewish heads." Still, two things made them cry out "Enough is enough" yesterday: the ugly and planned attack on everyone who attends these prayers – most of them, by the way, Tel Avivians who simply came to catch prayers because they are uncomfortable in a synagogue – and the fact that the prayer destroyers desecrated the holy day. Not in the religious sense, but in the traditional Israeli sense: a day of quiet, of gathering, of unity.
Everyone already knows that the protest is not about legal reform. Recently, it has begun to be framed as a struggle between the democratic identity of the State of Israel and the Jewish one. Well, the sad events in Tel Aviv and the reactions to them prove how wrong this framing is. Many of the protest supporters oppose religious coercion, they are in favor of liberalism and want democracy here - but don't touch them on Yom Kippur. It is not. He must be respected, and whoever desecrates him with cries of "shame," whoever photographs people praying against their will, whoever bombards the shofar blasts with zamburas, which tear up the skyline at the most beautiful moments of every year – crosses the line.
Yes. Again the obvious must be stated - there is much in common about the separator. The deep web, which unites us all beneath the surface, is stronger and denser than what we see on screens.
Tradition speaks to many of us. In almost all cities and towns, Yom Kippur prayers were held. Almost all the prayers were attended by people who were not visitors to the synagogue on a daily basis. The regular worshippers made a place for them on the bench and in their hearts, and together they all asked for forgiveness, atonement and peace. This is how it should be. In contrast to those who looked inward and condemned the painful scenes, there were also those who did not.
The protest leaders, for example, found it difficult in the first 24 hours to release a clear condemnation on their behalf. I searched and found no reflective look in them, an admission of a mistake in navigation, regret.
Many of the protest supporters oppose religious coercion, they are in favor of liberalism and want democracy here - but don't touch them on Yom Kippur. It is not. It should be respected
Both politicians, locals facing elections and elected officials at the national level are celebrating what happened and pouring more oil on the fire. Again they misread the map, again they feed the rift in the nation in the hope of a great harvest of seats in the end. Well - no. The silent majority is looking for someone who will get us all out of the difficult feelings and the crisis, not the one who will deepen the rift.
The Arab prayer organized this week by Minister Ben-Gvir in Tel Aviv, for example, is a negative example that illustrates just that. A riot initiated that cannot create peace and unity, but rather stirs things up for a handful of political capital, just as Yair Lapid did in the festive video he released, and as candidates Huldai and Barbivai are entrenched.
So enough, it's time to change direction. The beginning of the Jewish year is a great time to change.
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