On the Mark

Shema Yisroel - When the Heart Cries

Israelis have had many important and meaningful songs which have gone viral throughout the world. For example, Hatikvah, the national anthem of Israel, and Jerusalem of Gold. Daniel Gordis in his “Israel on the Inside” report observes that “it’s really impossible to understand Israel without knowing its sound track”. Since the horrific October 7th Massacre, one song has expressed the deep and abiding sorrow of Israelis and Jews everywhere. It is “Shema Yisrael” (“When the Heart Cries” “Kshehalev Boche”) originally written in 2000 after the brutal lynching of two reserve soldiers in Ramallah, and made famous by Sarit Hadad, one of Israel’s beloved and iconic singers. Gordis compares the concert by Sarit Hadad singing “Shema Yisrael” in July 2023 before the October 7th massacre, and Sarit’s concert in 2024 singing the same song on Yom Hazikaron after October 7th ---one sees the lively enthusiasm in the faces of Israelis at the 2023 concert, and the deeply sad faces listening to these beautiful and powerful words in 2024. Gordis also includes a beautiful video of one of the hostages telling Sarit that when she was held captive, her captors happened to turn on Israeli radio and she heard Sarit signing “Shema Yisrael” -- that God is the mighty one, this gave her hope, and strengthened her knowing that someone was watching over her.
(https://danielgordis.substack.com/p/when-the-heart-cries-only-god-hears).

To me, this song also personifies what Israelis and Jews the world over have gone through as a result of Hamas’ crimes, namely, the pain we all feel (in the song, “the pain that rises out of the soul”) and that of being alone with nowhere to run. However, we do feel strength from the idea that we can reach out to God for strength and salvation. Indeed, would anyone have believed that Israel would have attacked Hezbollah with exploding pagers, been able to strike Hamas, eliminate key leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and inflict a tremendous blow against Iran and Syria? We still must get the hostages back – that is essential, and President (elect) Trump’s statement that “all hell will break loose” if the hostages are not released by the time of the inauguration will hopefully lead to the freedom of the hostages from these brutal monsters.

To turn to the future, we also need to ask ourselves, however, what do we Jews in America do going forward? In a brilliant essay (“If Israel Is Alone, What Do We Do About It?” Commentary, November 2024)(reviewing Bernard-Henri Levy’s book, Israel Alone), Bret Stephens decries what he calls the “ingratiation” which has characterized Jewish-American politics, namely that “[w]ith noteworthy exceptions, the Jewish strategy in America has been to make ourselves likeable: funny, vulnerable, generous, accessible, transparent, neurotic, individually successful but always at the side of the needy. When we tell our story, we tend to emphasize what’s universal to it, not what’s unique”. For Stephens, “a politics that mainly seeks to curry favor through a combination of conspicuous achievement and constant self-effacement can generate as much envy as it does admiration, as much contempt as it does love”.

It is more than that. Our Jewish leaders and institutions pride themselves on “Tikun Olam” fixing the world – but the question is – how is it that after we have helped to repair the world – establish Jewish hospitals and other community institutions -- we have seen the most egregious outpouring of Anti-Semitism in our memories – protesters following Jews to the doors of synagogues, mobs of Anti-Semites marching through the street yelling “From the River to the Sea” arguing for the complete destruction of Israel and no one - absolutely no one – doing anything effective about it. We have a professor at Columbia, an avowed opponent of Israel who called the October 7th massacre “awesome” and “incredible”, teaching the Zionism course – Idiotic? No – Reality! The Oxford Union held a debate – and the original proposition to be debated was worded as follows: “Israel is an Apartheid State Committing Genocide” – that was the original starting point! Guess what they voted – 278 in favor of branding Israel with Apartheid and Genocide -- and 59 opposed. We have the UN, the ICC, the ICJ and all these Potemkin institutions issuing pronouncements against Israel – for example issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. Can you imagine that Poland had to pass a special resolution to allow Netanyahu to attend a memorial at Auschwitz without facing the risk of arrest based on the bogus ICC warrant! Assad, the Butcher of Damascus, sits in Russia free as a bird and the Israel leader must fear arrest when he travels. We live in a truly sick world!

I think we need to stop fixing the world for everybody else and instead figure out how to protect ourselves. Also, we need to remain proud of what Israel and Jews around the world have accomplished. Again, Stephens: “we need a ‘whole of American Jewry’ effort after October 7: to make high-quality Jewish day-school education available and affordable to every Jewish family that wants one; to cut off all giving to colleges and universities that are hostile to open and vibrant Jewish life and Zionist expression… to fund and tell stories on large and small screens that richly and empathetically explore the Jewish experience; to deepen American ties to Israel through corporate and academic partnerships; to expose and shut down the opaque and potentially illicit networks that find and support the anti-Israel student protests”. He further says that “[e]nsuring that we never wind up alone is going to take courage, work, nerve. And a demand for respect”.

So let’s get started on this new path, stand up proudly in support of Israel and let the world know that we love Israel and that we will never, never allow Israelis be harmed again. Never Again means - Never again!