True Unity Must Come From Shared Love, Not Shared Fear

In President Herzog's speech to the nation last night, he spoke about unity. The President elaborated on how the conflicts among Israelis harm the war effort, that the enemy is happy about the division in our people, and that gratuitous hatred between us weakens us against the enemy.

If we think about love out of fear for our future, will it last? Are the different parts of our nation able to maintain unity when the motive is fear of an enemy?

Such a love is not sincere. It is weak. It is not real. It will not last long. We will support each other during the war, peace or at least quiet will return, and then we will feel safe and once again the disputes will arise and drag us back into dark days.

The unity and love in which we are interested are those that are based on a true understanding of the good in each other. It is based on giving each other space to be who they are out of respect for each other's path, with the recognition of each other's right to choose their path - however difficult it may be for us to live with a fundamental difference from our own, and with the understanding that everyone brings their whole self with the intention of sharing the good in them with the others.

It seems that we have already forgotten what happened last Yom Kippur, when there was a group who wanted to bring their faith to the public and another group blocked and fought them. These are exactly the internal wars that drag us backwards.

The Swords of Iron war illustrated how important it is to live in a different reality, a reality of respect between the different parts of Israeli society. There are those who want to eliminate us, if we do not strengthen each other, there will be nothing left. There is no hope when we do not love the other.

No one wants to live in fear, including loving out of fear. If we do not recognize the good in each other, no fearful unity will last. All the talk will not be enough if we Israelis do not make a change in our hearts regarding our attitude towards the different parts of society and our ability to truly respect others and speak for the good of the other. And not because of fear of the enemy, but because we know that we need each other.