Ostensibly, there is no new information. Since that Thursday until today, not much light has been shed on the organization, operations, location, or demands of the hijackers. But in fact, there is a lot of new information. About ourselves.
Here is some of what has been revealed here in the last two weeks:
From youth movement members to Druze community dignitaries, from religious leaders to kibbutzniks, Israeli society has demonstrated a record of mutual support in the face of concern for the lives of young people. But this support in particular makes us ask, where does this caring hide all year round? Are we able to direct even a tenth of this concern and embrace to other problems and hardships? After all, many more than three young people lost their lives in the past year in traffic accidents or as a result of juvenile delinquency.
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And speaking of mutual guarantee, it seems to me that it is not expressed in the big events in Rabin Square or at the Western Wall, but rather in the daily routine, which is tinged with sadness.
Last week I happened to be at both a housewarming and a large Bar Mitzvah party, for people who don't know the families personally. Something in the groove of every event like this changes. In the speeches, in the songs, in the small talk between people. Whoever opens the event with words always apologizes a little to the audience, as if it's not at all pleasant to celebrate these days.
This week's Torah portion, "Hukot," also speaks of the unity that transcends borders that is revealed among the people. After the passing of Aaron the Priest, it is said that for 30 days, "the whole house of Israel" mourned him together. Rashi explains why the whole people felt grief: "Because Aaron was a peace-seeker and a lover between quarreling husbands and between a man and his wife." Many commentators have focused on the phrase "peace-seeker.".
How is persecution related to peace? After all, a person who desires peace is supposedly one who sits quietly and does not quarrel with anyone. For Aharon the priest, peace was an active matter; he went from one to another and took pains to reconcile people.
And back to the atmosphere of reconciliation and peace here: the main beneficiaries of this consensus around the military operation are Meir Sheetrit, Fuad Ben-Eliezer, Gabi Ashkenazi, and Nochi Dankner. The criminal cases involving all of the above would normally become headlines and resound.
The main victim of the kidnapping taking over the agenda is Uri Lupoliansky. The founder of the ailing "Yad Sarah" was sentenced to six years in prison last week, in a decision that has already been described by senior jurists as "delusional.".
Lupolianski hopes that the injustice will be corrected in an appeal to the Supreme Court, but perhaps the main victim is not himself but the war on corruption. The Holyland affair is no longer synonymous with a stubborn fight against the corrupt, but also a symbol of a lack of judgment.
Many media consultants have reached out to the families of the kidnapped these days. Some have suggested that they start attacking the government. "Netanyahu's interest and your interest are not the same," they were told, "Stop saying thank you and being so stately, you should only worry about your children.".
So, this is advice that goes against the DNA of these people. They are not table turners, certainly not when there are soldiers in the field.
Other strategists suggested a more secular, more Tel Avivian branding. "You don't need to be sectoral, you need, like Gilad Shalit, to convey that this is 'the children of all of us,' not just religious Zionism.".
Regarding this advice, one of the relatives told me: "Judaism, in our opinion, is not a sector. We cannot change the fact that we are people of faith. On the contrary, we see that many connect with our message and that it is actually the most Israeli.".
All the publicists and all the family members agree on one thing: the story is moving down the agenda. Soon the families will have to make more of an effort to keep the issue burning in our public consciousness.
Along the way, deep debates about Israeli-Jewish identity were revealed here, especially around prayer. Among thousands of security commentators who innovate nothing, is it possible to bring a rabbi to the morning program to recite Tehillim? Is the very appeal to the spiritual option primitive, or on the contrary, does it reveal another level in us?
And in that context, Rachel Frankel's most important words were not spoken at the UN assembly but at the Western Wall. Upon leaving a meeting at the President's House, the parents went to the Western Wall, where a group of children from an elementary school approached her. "We prayed for your child!" they told her with sweet innocence and confidence, and Rachel bent down to them, caressed them, and said: "I want to tell you something, children. I believe they will come back, but whatever happens, God doesn't work with us, okay? Don't be broken if, God forbid, something else happens, okay?""
""We need to differentiate between running 100 meters and running a marathon," said Rabbi Gideon Binyamin last Monday, at a conference of the "Barkai" rabbinical organization.
Rabbi Binyamin, the rabbi of the Nof Ayalon settlement where the Frankel family lives, told the audience about the communal struggle: "A 100-meter runner throws himself with all his strength to the maximum, and then, after 15 seconds, can rest and stop. A marathon runner needs to save his strength for a long run. We are now moving from a 100-meter run to a marathon. We need to return to routine, to work, but still remain with all the emotion and alertness.".
Rabbi Avi Levy, the rabbi of Eyal Yifrach El-Ad, told of his conversations with the youth even at three in the morning. Rabbi Binyamin also told of a nighttime conversation with Naftali's classmates: "One friend asked how this happened to the best, most gentle, and most learned boy. Another boy asked how it was possible to sit here with cookies and Coca-Cola, while they were dying somewhere. Many questions arise about personal providence, about faith, about evil in the world. These are questions that have been discussed for thousands of years in Jewish philosophical books, but now they are practical and closest to us.".
And it was precisely in such an abnormal situation that we discovered such normal people. And there is something unusual about that. For two weeks now we have been with the families and all the thousands who surround them, good people halfway through.
The constant criticisms against the media (from reality shows to news programs) include the claim that negative phenomena and negative people are almost always covered on screen. Provocative and problematic fringe characters are often cast on screen. The question arises as to what would happen if reality shows had chosen positive people into the format, people we would look up to rather than down on.
They will be the ones who will be told by an invisible hand to band together, in a group dynamic, to take on difficult to impossible tasks, while the entire country watches how they cope. In a way, that is exactly what happened here.
Jewish status:""He was one of Aaron's disciples. He loved peace and pursued peace, he loved people and brought them closer to the Torah" (Tractate Avot)
• Sivan Rahav Meir's column is published in Yedioth Ahronoth
