Not yet a year in office, and having served in the IDF a half a century ago, during which time his highest rank was that of platoon leader in the Paratroopers Brigade, Defense Minister Israel Katz can hardly claim to know more than Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir about which former high ranking army officers are suitable for specific appointments.
His childish attempt to humiliate Zamir and prove who’s boss quickly backfired on him, judging by the reactions of prominent Israeli figures along with journalists who cover the Defense Ministry and the IDF. Zamir, who holds the highest of Israel’s military ranks, has served in the IDF for more than forty years. It stands to reason that he is better equipped than Katz to make decisions about IDF appointments.
Even worse than Katz’s behavior is that of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has come very close to contempt of court by changing the locks in his ministry in order to bar Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara from entry. The building is not his private domain – it belongs to the state. Levin is not a declared misogynist, but his witch-hunt of the attorney-general suggests that he may be. In addition, the insults that he has heaped on her over the past year are not only rude and professionally uncouth, but also irresponsible.
Among the theories put forward as to why Hamas succeeded in its exercise of evil on October 7, one is that it was under the impression that due to the sharp rifts in Israeli society, the nation was no longer strong.
Both Katz and Levin are contributing to making that rift ever wider.
They seem to have learned very little from history.
Because people and circumstances change, history does repeat itself, and sometimes it imitates itself. Earlier this month, we commemorated Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple in which the humiliating story of Kamsa and Bar Kamsa is given as a reason for the Temple’s destruction.
The Knesset museum
At the beginning of this week, the Knesset museum was officially opened, and speakers stressed the need for Knesset members and others to be courteous and respectful of each other, even though they may disagree on everything. None of that has had any impact on Katz and Levin, nor apparently are they concerned that in the not-too-distant future, the Likud may not be the party running the government. The elections are due to be held next year, and if Likud ministers continue to embarrass the public, the more moderate Likud voters will change gears and move towards Naftali Bennett.
■ APROPOS THE opening of the Knesset, among the people present were bereaved parents including Shira and Moshe Shapira, the parents of Nova hero, off duty soldier Staff Sgt. Aner Shapira, who lost his life while saving the lives of others. Aner was the great grandson of Haim Moshe Shapira, one of the signatories to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, a member of the first Knesset, and a minister holding various ministerial portfolios until his death in office in July 1970. In mentioning him in his address at the Knesset Museum, President Isaac Herzog, who very often mentions one or more of his famous relatives, let it slip that Haim Moshe Shapira had been the sandek (godfather) at Herzog’s circumcision, when the president was a baby.
■ IN ADVANCE of the new school year, it is customary in Israel for school bags to be distributed to children from low-income families.
In an emotional event held last week, the management of Emunah Bet Sabah Elazraki Children’s Home in Netanya distributed 17 brand new school bags to children entering first grade, all of them the children of some of the home’s alumni.
This special gift symbolized not only a new starting point for the next generation, but also the deep, ongoing bond between the home and its graduates, long after they have left the educational framework.
Among the recipients were Yonatan, son of Ortal Hillel Marzouk, who graduated from the Children’s Home in 2006, and Elkana, son of Asia Peer Hadad, who graduated in 2010. Both mothers now work as part of the educational team at the Children’s Home: Ortal as deputy director of the Day Intervention Center, and Asia, who previously worked as alumni coordinator, is now a respected teacher on staff.
Children’s Home Director Yehuda Kohn emphasized the background to the event:
“We are not an educational institution where the connection ends upon graduation. We are a family. We continue to accompany our graduates every step of the way, during their military or national service, their academic studies, starting a family, and throughout life. We are there when they need help with a scholarship, emotional support, or simply a listening ear. Their children, whom we see as our grandchildren, receive the same attention and love.”
Kohn added: “This moment, when the children of our graduates enter first grade, is the clearest expression of the life cycles that are woven here, lives of giving, connection, and continuity. Seeing Ortal and Asia, who once walked the paths of this campus as children, now returning as graduates and staff members, is moving. It proves that our work here bears fruit not only in the short term, but for generations to come.”
Kohn also thanked the Social Welfare Ministry for its important cooperation over the years. “This is a true partnership based on a shared mission to provide at-risk children with an educational and value-based framework that serves as a foundation for a better future.”
■ PARTICIPANTS ON Birthright visits to Israel have been known to meet, fall in love and get married, take on Hebrew names, and celebrate bar and bat mitzvot at a somewhat later time than the proscribed age, because they missed out back home.
Among the recent bat mitzvah celebrations was that of 19-year-old Lindsay Chetkof, who this month celebrated hers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
A junior at Duke University majoring in electrical engineering and computer science, Chetkof was on her first trip to Israel – a nearly two-month experience as part of the highly selective Birthright Israel Excel Fellowship, which brought together 80 outstanding young Jewish leaders from 14 countries. During the summer, she did an internship at Nvidia as a software developer.
Chetkof, who graduated from Oceanside High School and grew up in a secular family in Oceanside, Long Island, did not have a bat mitzvah at age 12, and her connection to Jewish tradition was distant. But through her Excel fellowship, she experienced a powerful spiritual and emotional transformation.
“Being in Israel for the first time and going through this amazing, life-changing fellowship felt like I was part of something bigger than me for the first time in my life,” she said. “It was powerful and emotional in a way I can’t even express in words.”
What she experienced led her to make the decision to have a better-late-than-never bat mitzvah.
The Birthright Israel Excel team made it happen – organizing a joyful ceremony with the participation of Chetkof’s peers. Just before Shabbat, Rabbi Eitiel Goldwicht officiated at the ceremony with all 79 fellows in attendance, dressed in white.
“It felt like more than just my personal celebration. It felt like a celebration of my Jewishness – of being part of the Jewish people,” the new bat mitzvah girl said. “I was overwhelmed with joy and totally grateful for this honor.”
Tears flowed freely among the fellows, many of whom had also come from secular backgrounds. They too felt a new sense of belonging as they witnessed her laying claim to her heritage.
This year’s Excel Fellowship cohort was the largest in its 15-year history. Fifty-three participants were from the United States, while 27 came from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Panama, and Russia. Thirteen percent of the participants were visiting Israel for the first time.
Each year, the program carefully selects top students from hundreds of applicants for the lifelong Excel Fellowship, which begins with summer internships at leading business and tech companies in Tel Aviv.
After completing a summer business or tech internship in Israel, the Excel community provides immersive opportunities in professional development, networking, personal growth, Israel engagement, and Jewish identity.
The fellowship also includes a Micro Communities Meet-Up focused on discussing diversity within Israeli society.
“Lindsay, like all of the fellows, represents the future of Jewish business leadership,” said Idit Rubin, Executive Director of Birthright Israel Excel. “We are so proud to have given her the opportunity to celebrate her bat mitzvah and reconnect with her Jewish identity in such a powerful and meaningful way.”
■ BEN GURION University President Prof. Daniel Chaimovitz is angry with the government for its failure to honor its promises and obligations to the Negev.
The Negev is one of the few places in Israel where there is ample room to grow and to build an infrastructure for new communities. Chaimovitz contends that the government is more or less ignoring the Negev, despite what it suffered on and since October 7. In his own university, more than a third of staff and students have been called to the reserves, and some have fallen in battle. Transport services between the center of the country and the Negev are limited. The university’s president is furious that people from the Negev who went by public transport to a concert in Tel Aviv had no way of getting back home, because there are no night trains between Tel Aviv and the Negev.
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