Meir Shalev
Shauli Shem-Tov
Western Wall tears
Some tears more important than those shed by paratroopers who liberated Jerusalem
Earlier this week, our Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, said
that for the sake of peace we must cede some parts of the Land of Israel. However, she promise that when she returns to the negotiations table she would make sure not to forget the tears of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in Jerusalem in the Six-Day War.
As the Western wall is a site where many Jews have been crying at, or because of, for 2,000 years at least, and because rivers of tears have already been shed over it throughout history, I am left to ponder one question: Why did the foreign minister choose the tears of the paratroopers of all tears?
In my opinion, when it comes to all the tears that were shed at the Western Wall, on the Western Wall, near the Western Wall, and because of the Western Wall, the paratroopers’ tears are the least significant.
I do not belittle the tears shed by the paratroopers, of course. I think they stemmed from an genuinely touched heart. But what can we do, the Western Wall has already been soaked by more important tears. Some of them were actually shed by Jews who did not liberate it and who did not even visit it.
Remember tears of bereavement
These tears were shed during periods where a sense of longing was still an essential component of the Jewish identity. They shed tears because of their longing to the Land of Israel, and because of their sorrow over the destruction of the Temple.They also shed tears – and this is something that our leaders today, including our foreign minister, would do well to remember – because of their regret over the foolishness and extremism that caused the Temple’s destruction.
However, the tears of longing and mourning that came before the tears shed by the paratroopers are not the only tears that pertain to the negotiations which the foreign minister intends to engage in. Rather, the tears that were shed later on are also relevant to the talks.
Ever since the great victory of 1967, many more tears had been shed by us. Those were tears of sorrow and pain, regret and bereavement.
It is those tears, rather than the tears of the paratroopers, which the foreign minister should keep in mind while engaging in peace talks.
