Howard Epstein – LETTER FROM ISRAEL Sept. 2021
What images should Kol Nidrei, the eve of Yom Kippur, conjure up? A fleeting, wistful image of apple dipped in honey. Pomegranates? Preparing to bestow forgiveness on those who might have slighted us in the past year?
Or bicycles?
I apologise for the cognitive dissonance but, whilst it may not be obvious in the diaspora, the ubiquity of the push-bike erev Yom Kippur is all too evident in the streets of many – perhaps most – Israeli communities, outside orthodox areas. The reality, absent any traffic movements, of the density of two-wheeled traffic throughout the suburbs and high streets, some of the riders so diminutive their toes barely scrape the ground, makes plain that the children of very large numbers of families know nothing of Yom Kippur other than to take over the highways and bye-ways. Of the wonderful, inspiring Kol Nidrei incantation and, on the morrow, of al cheit, of mussaf with its rich liturgy and melodies brought down from the Heim, there is no awareness. Bichlal! None whatsoever. Not the slightest cognizance by the majority of five to twelve year olds of anything relevant you might put to them, other than possibly the withdrawal of their Bamba snacks.
This year, we were brought up short to learn that one twelve year old boy had been knocked down by that rarest of Kol Nidrei creatures, a motorist (and an intoxicated one at that), and killed. His barmitzvah was to have taken place next month but that was put paid to by (according to an eye witness) a “vehicle [which] arrived at an insane speed.” Another Israeli tragedy in a country that suffers a surfeit of them.
Yet, wayward as many Israeli juniors appear on Yom Kippur, my own experience after tutoring many teenagers in spoken English in their high schools, is that by their late teens they exhibit none of the signs of rebelliousness, of yob culture or of insouciance about society, that are the hallmark of very many teenagers in the West. I find them completely grounded, ambitious, eager to serve in the army and connected to their Israeli heritage in a fierce and proud fashion.
But what of the signs of waywardness we saw after the last conflagration in Gaza in deprived areas – and there are too many deprived areas – where children severely under-achieve? We are told that the education system is poor as compared with other OECD countries, and, just as France has its banlieues, and there is a still-persistent knifing culture in London, so too here there are societal groups that are being left behind and failed by the authorities. Not least in the Arab sector.
Last month was special for Israelis, and even for our Arabs. A budget was presented! “So what?” you may say. “We seem to have them twice a year in Britain.” Well, we have not been so blessed. In fact, in order to prop up himself, but nobody else, former PM Netanyahu deprived us of the pleasure of a budget for three years. The draft budget passed early last month, however, promises NIS 29.5 billion ($9.18 billion) to Israel’s minorities, of which NIS 21.5 billion is to be dedicated to a five-year plan for the Arab sector.
This may well have helped catalyse a spirit of optimism and an elevated sense of belonging to the Jewish State amongst its Arabs. After the embarrassment of the escape of six spoon-wielding tunnellers from a high security prison in the Beit Shean Valley, Israelis were impatiently awaiting good news. It arrived in the form of reports that the first two to be recaptured had been “shopped” by Arab residents of Nazareth. The last two were taken back into custody Motzei Shabbat when, rather than suffer a well-publicised imminent assault from the army, the good people of Jenin (not a phrase you will have read very often) turned them in. Note that Jenin is on what the West calls the West Bank and has not been known for moderation in its dealings with the Israeli authorities before.
It is too early to say but the Abraham Accords may well be operating on the minds of Israeli Arabs and even the Palestinians. After all, the Palestinian leadership has been denying “Israel’s Right to Exist” since there were two million Jews here and the country was very poor. Now there are more than three times that number and the state is an economic and military powerhouse, that looks forward to doing one trillion dollars worth of business with the UAE alone in the next ten years. Israeli companies supply drone defences to the British Ministry of Defence (used to protect the G7 parley in Cornwall last June), a coals-to-Newcastle submarine school to the Royal Navy and a flight school to the Greek air force. There are always at least two submarines with second-strike, nuclear capabilities at or rather under the sea and Israel is in the premier league of nations launching satellites into space – smaller and more effective than the others.
The message may be getting through even to the worst enemies of the Palestinians, their leadership: as you can’t beat us, join us.
Shana Tova to all.
© September 2021 – Howard Epstein
