Jewish unity is the silver lining of the Israel-Hamas War - opinion

On October 8, and for a few weeks after, Israelis were drunk with the elixir of unity to blunt some of the horror and the extreme pain of Hamas’s October 7 heinous action and the (unconscious) betrayal of our most sacred institutions.

In the face of the brutal and terrifying hatred of the enemy, our own dissensions and internal enmities took the right proportions, and we cared about each other as one body, one soul. Whether we were secular, atheist, or religious, Right or Left. There was so much to do and so many to care for and heal.

The need for unity

Pain and our enemy’s hatred united us and reminded us that we belong to the same fabric and that nothing can tear us apart, no matter how much sometimes we lose our way. Now, more than five months later, we are starting to forget that we belong to each other. Polarization is starting to show its ugly and traumatic head. However, the need for unity is not over. It must be unquestionable! Let us remember what happened less than five months ago.

Not only is the enemy not gone, but several others are also knocking at the door. We cannot afford to have our unity out of the door. Certainly, the political situation has not changed, and many may harbor lingering anger, resentment, distrust, and even despair toward our current leadership. But it is imperative that we prioritize unity and solidarity.

We do not have the luxury nor the right to indulge in this right now. Rather than allowing ourselves to be torn apart by internal conflicts, we must trust the process, trust our government, which is an emergency unity government, to do the best they can to navigate us through these trying times. We must trust the IDF, no matter how bad the mistakes are, because we know it is the most ethical army in the world, and our soldiers are our cherished loved ones, decent and humane. The military is taking care of its soldiers’ mental well-being in a most admirable way. We must trust ourselves as a people that has survived and overcome for 4,000 years, bound by a shared history and destiny. 

The hostages are tearing at our hearts, and the brutality against our captive women is filling us with rage. We must make sure to channel our rage against the enemy and pressure it through diplomatic insistence and military victory and stand together as one people. Pressuring our government only strengthens the enemy, and now we irremediably know how determined and ferocious the enemy is.

It is diabolical in its intent. This enemy is not only invested in our demise, but it has cleverly calculated how to harm and destabilize us psychologically by provoking our weakest and tenderest spots. The hostages are their trump cards. We cannot allow them to do it.

Families who go to the US, the UN, or the European Union parliament are knocking on the right doors. We need to touch their hearts and let them know what the truth is.

At the Kirya defense headquarters, they do not need it. They know the truth. They do not want anything more than to bring back the hostages. They know what they need to do, and it only weakens their hand when we pressure them or accuse them of malfeasance.

Let us find hope in the Purim story and draw inspiration from our collective heritage and our legendary ability to survive and overcome during the most untenable situations. The amount of danger facing us requires that we become heroes, like Queen Esther, and wise, like Mordechai. 

It requires that we unite in our spirit and soul and contribute to maintaining or restoring our unity. It requires that we remain steadfast and courageous, always in touch with our immeasurable capacity for compassion and heart-fullness and the importance we give to the sacredness of life. And to also understand the greater call we have, not only for the survival of our country but also for being on the front lines of saving the free world, which has gone blind again, but hopefully not totally blind this time.

We must stand up to the blindness of part of the free world, to its lack of moral clarity and of courage, fueled by fear. We are the only ones to decide and choose our destiny. But we must make them understand how much their own destiny is entwined with ours. They will not attain their survival by sacrificing us but by battling next to us. It is their battle just as much as it is ours.

To attend to this incredibly difficult and challenging call, we have to operate at our very best. For this, we must release the anger behind our prior disunity, which is trying to surge again. We must learn to release our negative feelings, our anxiety, our traumas and remain self-regulated by using all the available psychological tools.

We must direct all our energies to the highest level of functioning and unity. Let us not wait for more attacks to do so. Let us strive to overcome our differences and engage in constructive dialogue with one another. Let us listen to diverse perspectives with empathy and respect. Let us understand that each part of our social matrix holds a crucial role for our people. Let each one of us think how to integrate the other’s point of view into the solutions to our problems. 

We have so far focused on taking the right and constructive actions toward a collective commitment to resilience by volunteering, reaching out to those in need, and reaching out to each other across the various political and social aisles. This is how we can continue to make a difference and save our country. Only by standing together in solidarity can we overcome the tremendous challenges facing us and emerge stronger as a nation.

Unifying the Jewish people, fighting for a brighter future, and saving humanity (by fighting terror) may still be the silver lining coming out of Hamas’s insanity.■

Gina Ross, MFCT, is the founder and president of the International Trauma-Healing Institute USA and ITI-Israel.