Resilience: hope in unexpected places

Just before October 7, “resilient” would not have been the adjective I would have chosen to describe Israeli society. More apt descriptors would have been divided, angry, or even, “on the cusp of civil war”.

A week before the massacre, Israelis were engaged in a crescendo of civil discord surrounding the proposed judicial overhaul initiated by the Netanyahu government. That Yom Kippur, a small mechitza built for an outdoor minyan that comprised a tiny string with three small Israeli flags was torn down by secular protesters on the night of Kol Nidre, as they felt it was a sign of creeping orthodoxy in the heart of liberal Tel Aviv.

For the next seven days, there was almost nothing in the news other than a lengthy panel discussion about whether what they did was correct or not.

A year on, the notion that the whole country was consumed by the placement of a mechtiza seems laughable. I’m probably not the only Israeli who longs for the days when the issues that divided us could be as tiny as a rope with three small flags separating 20 plastic chairs.

Much of the year has been driven by grief. But amid the trauma there have constant signs of resilience.

From protest to unity

London-born Rabbi Joe Wolfson is an intelligent and likeable 38-year-old father of three. He made Aliyah from Manhattan to Tel Aviv in 2022, and along with his wife Corrine, has been the co-director of the JLIC TLV, a community of young olim.

JLIC, short for Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, is an affiliate of the Orthodox Union that primarily serves students on American college campuses. In recent years, JLIC has expanded its activities to include university students on Israeli campuses and young adults in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.