THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

insurrection against the Israelis. But Leibowich was right, as the lesson of theGermany in which he grew up never escaped his mind.The centrality of the armed forces in our lives, the role of language in legitimizingthe illegitimate, the infiltration of a right-wing narrative into the mainstream and theindifference of the passive majority—these are the major players that allow racism tocontaminate our world. Moreover, in the painful comparisons between Israel todayand the Germany that preceded Hitler, we have not yet considered the importancethat both nations placed on national mythology and blood-earth relationships. Wehave not delved into the role of youth movements in the forming of a new breed ofyouth, either in the reforming of German society or in Israeli society today, a youththat rejuvenates the face of Judaism, wears the new Zionist sabra appearance, thenew Jewish person. We did not describe nature’s rituals and holidays or the role offolktales in nationalism. We have not expanded on the roadblocks, propertyexpropriations, land theft, prevention of marriage, settlers’ violence, the army’scapitulation, and the ever-present longing for a strong leader. Recent surveys showthat one out of four Israelis has been a victim of violence. Anarchy is an importantfeature of the new coercive, violent and dictatorial order. The list is very long andshameful, and the similarities to the German situation persist. Do we still see theoriginal Jewish point from which we evolved? Or are we too entrenched in ourfrightening similarity with those from whom we fled? In both cases, the nationaltraumas and humiliation competed with the new spirit of liberty, freedom, equality,openness, and democracy. In Germany of the 1930s, the former ideas won. WillIsrael choose the latter for the future?I cannot end such a sad chapter without thinking of something optimistic. I reflecton the question in Psalms: “Where from will come my helper?” Some layers of theold language make me hopeful. There are words that will never be erased andconcepts so strong that their very existence in everyday speech testifies to theexistence of a healthy, undefeated consciousness. When my Israel still debates theGreen Line (the 1949 Armistice lines established between Israel and its neighbors—Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria—after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War), withpassion, forty years later, it means that people have not yet erased the invisibleboundary. It is not drawn in a field, and you cannot see it when you drive along theJewish reality-bypass roads. Since the Six-Day War, the state’s population has morethan doubled and the vast majority of Israelis were born here or emigrated after the