Consider a 'mourning' period

Diesengagement Authority head Yonatan Bassi’s request to delay the pullout from Gaza until after Tisha B’Av in August seemed to have come out of the blue - but it may turn out to be a brilliant way of soothing an overheated situation, if both sides play it right. Bassi said Sunday that the annual three-week mourning period for the loss of the First and Second Temples commemorated by Jews that culminates in Tisha B’Av prohibits, among other things, moving to new homes. This year, Tisha B’Av falls on August 14, about three weeks after the disengagement is supposed to begin on July 20, and hundreds of families would be required to leave their homes for new locales. It’s not surprising that the mostly non-religious political leadership failed to pick up on the time period's significance, but I am amazed that no one in the largely religious leadership of the Yesha Council of settlers' organizations brought this out before. Bassi, who is observant, and who reportedly met with rabbis before making the request, seems to have grasped not only the religious issues, but the symbolic issues, as well. To Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s credit, he didn’t dismiss the matter out of hand, even though he has made clear his intentions of completing the removal of Gaza’s 8,500 Israeli residents by the end of August, in time for the new school year. The issue is set to be brought up in government sessions on Tuesday. 'Three weeks' should be for reflection Sharon and the government should give the matter serious consideration, for a number of reasons. First, from a purely political standpoint, showing understanding and compassion for tradition and settlers’ religious practices could disarm some of their heated rhetoric about his strong-arm tactics (They’re using even stronger wording.). Second, the “Three Weeks” are, or at least should be, not only a period for sober reflection on the loss of the Temples but also for the painful process in which we are engaged. The tradition is that “sinat chinam” (baseless hatred) of Jews for one another was as much a cause of the Temples’ destruction as was enemies from without. And we are facing similar problems at this time. We are going through a painful process, and all sides - really, there are more than two sides to this question - should engage in some introspection and soul-searching about it. The settlers need to think about their future role in Israel, their actions to date in this matter, and the overheated rhetoric of their most outspoken followers. They must ponder the way they have attempted to dehumanize and demonize Palestinians. Their foolhardy rabbis preaching hatred and disobedience of legitimate orders from a democratically elected government must especially look within themselves. Their comments are reprehensible and truly border on the traditional definition of “sinat chinam.” More sober thinkers in this group may want to add the departure from Gaza to the list of national tragedies that has been associated with Tisha B’Av. If that happens, then so be it. There would at least be an orderly process of mourning, and of moving on. Their most extreme opponents on the “left” (a term I use only for want of a better one) must also temper their triumphalism and their minimization of the love for the land that lives in some settlers. There is true Zionism in the hearts of many of them. The majority of Israelis in the middle of those extremes must also give thought to how to move forward, and what it really means to be drawing up and delineating smaller borders. A period of national introspection in the weeks leading up to the beginning of the disengagement process could also prove to cool off the passions and rhetoric on all sides, and lead to a more orderly process when it begins. If that happens, the departure from Gaza may indeed go smoothly enough to allow the children to begin the school year on September 1 in new locales, and not to be caught between the sharp edges of either side.

Consider a 'mourning' period

Proposal to postpone Gaza disengagement until after Tisha B'Av has symbolic power