1.
Last column before the elections. In previous campaigns, I prepared for this column in advance. I knew exactly what I wanted to say just before the polls opened, who it was important for me to write for and who it was against.
This time the picture is less clear.
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I admit that these elections confused me. Not ideologically, just personally. After all, a moment ago Ben-Gvir was running with Smotrich and Rabbi Rafi, and together they attacked Bennett and Shaked, who together with them attacked Feiglin, who attacked Netanyahu, who attacked him back. And now, within a few weeks, everything turned upside down.
So what is still clear to me, at the end of this puzzling saga called "Elections 2019, Second Term"? It's clear to me that we need to go and vote, despite everything. The desperate voices I hear, of people who have no power, are people who actually have a lot of power: If they don't go to the polls, it's as if they went to the polls enthusiastically and cast a ballot for Stav Shafir and Ayman Odeh together.
What else? It's clear to me that one should vote for a religious party. It's also clear to me that the front of the Land of Israel, thank God, is burning less and that the Jewish front, unfortunately, is burning more (after all, there is no Palestinian partner right now, but there is a partner who is working hard to erode everything related to the Jewishness of the country. Ask Rabbi Naumburg).
Oh, and it's clear to me that you should vote for the party that definitely passes the threshold. This campaign is too important to take risks.
2.
These strange elections also left professional political commentators without explanations. Not that they were silent, God forbid, they interpreted with all their might and said a lot of words, but without much meaning. Except for one. He is not connected to the political or media world in any way. Quite the opposite, even. He is an artist. Adi Ran.
The last few months have brought out fascinating insights from singer-songwriter Brelsbar. Between songs, he often writes statuses about the political system, its intrigues and twists, but from a different perspective. He wrote about politics in the most non-political way possible (and also the most politically incorrect), and that's precisely why I found some comfort in him, some meaning and explanation, in everything that's happening here.
Just before it ends - and we pray that it ends well and with blessings - here are some tastes from the perspective, from the mirror, of Adi Ran.
And before we get started, it's important for me to say that this week I'm just the collector. The ideas, and especially their style, are the sole responsibility of the writer. I don't really agree with him on everything. But I do get inspiration and food for thought from everything.
Shall we start?
3.
""Don't you find it strange that it's impossible to defeat Bibi, just to prevent him from working?" asks Adi Ran, explaining: "You can persecute him (the media), slander and fabricate cases for him (the legal mafia and their assistants), betray him and the right (Lieberman), sabotage schemes (Gideon Sa'ar and his associates), hurle contempt and frightening evil at him (Boogie, Lapid, Ehud Barak and their assistants), and in the meantime the people elect him time and time again while he wriggles between a blitz of unbridled initiatives designed to distort his election.".
About Netanyahu's most vocal opponent, Ran writes: "Only in a world of lies could such a bold-faced person as Ehud Barak come and suggest that we return to the glory days when buses exploded on the streets of big cities, with ZAKA members running among the rubble to collect body parts of our dear people.".
""Armed with a guy like Yair Golan (the one with his comparisons between what's happening in Israel now and what happened in Germany in the 1930s) who, fortunately, blurted out his nonsense a minute before he almost became Chief of Staff (usually they do it later). Only a brazen.
4.
And about American politics, Ran also writes: "The Democratic Party is becoming increasingly anti-Semitic and anti-American. That's interesting. Why is that? Well, the believing Jews get their knowledge from the Torah, which teaches us to distinguish between good and evil, and that's why they support Trump and his party.".
""But it's still difficult, because it's clear to everyone that Trump is the most sympathetic president Israel has ever had, and the candidates who competed against him for party leadership were all clear supporters of Israel. In contrast, the Democrats have guys around who are each crazier than the other, and they allow their party members, members of Congress, to go wild in their efforts to defame Israel. So how is it that such a simple situation is not enough to make the right choice, and we need the holy Torah to teach us to choose between such simple good and evil?
""After all, every non-Jewish person in the world will support a president and a party that sympathizes with his people and his historical homeland, so how is it that most Jews in the United States support and contribute to a party that is gradually becoming more alienated from the Jewish state? The answer is that not only does the Torah teach us to distinguish between good and evil, but that distancing ourselves from the Torah and abandoning it produces mental mutations that defy all logic, including the natural instinct of a person or a people to protect themselves and their interests.".
And from here Ran returns to the elections in Israel: "The more heretical the left is, the more destructive opinions it adopts against the nation and against its own personal interests.
""For example, why is a leftist motivated to do everything to remove the best manager our common business, the State of Israel, has ever had? After all, everyone is supposed to prioritize prosperity, security, and international ties. They are willing to risk everything so that some pale man like Gantz or a babbler without a backbone, method, or vision like Lapid can stand, not to mention all those to their left. Some of them may have personal gain that comes from all sorts of elements hostile to Israel, but why do voters fall for the bluff?
""So this is the answer: The further one moves away from the Torah, the more disturbed and destructive thought formations grow in them. And see the example of a prayer leader in the stories of Rabbi Nachman. He lists there a multitude of sects that operate on false beliefs, each with its own. And the trouble, says our Rabbi, is that a promiscuous mind, cut off from the divine source of nourishment, easily surrenders to all kinds of such confused theses.
""So much so that our rabbi writes that there are other sects that adhere to more insane concepts that he no longer wants to detail. People can still adopt them, their chaos and lawlessness could, on the contrary, attract the disconnected. In short, the Holy One, blessed be He, leads the world.".
5.
The main issue in the election campaign was, for some reason, 'religion.' It started with Lapid and Lieberman, moved to the Democratic camp, and at the last minute, in an attempt to grab some anti-Haredi votes, Benny Gantz also joined. Lieberman claimed in response that this was just a political spin designed to weaken him, a spin that was well planned with the Haredi.
""Lieberman is furious," wrote Adi Ran in response, "Blue and White is stealing ultra-Orthodox haters from him. He says that Gantz coordinated this with Litzman and Gafni to harm him. He is essentially saying that the Jew abandons himself to one anti-Semite in order to weaken the other anti-Semite. Interesting. Needs to be studied.".
And more about the ideology of the left that is trying to rebrand itself: "Somehow, in order to survive, it gave up the name left. It became the center. It saw that they took the bluff, so it called itself the sane right. It saw that they took the bluff, so it calls itself the secular right. It saw that the people don't like its northern generals with the screaming torch, so it installs a rude man like Lieberman and a creature like Ron Kobi, the mayor of Tiberias. He also has an energetic imitator, Carmel Shama HaCohen, the mayor of Ramat Gan.".
And here is Adi-Ranit's commentary on the Haredim: "Bnei Brak is the most densely populated and poorest city in the country. What would you expect from such a place? But overall, the life expectancy there is the highest, the crime rate is the lowest, there is the most kindness and concern for the poor, and if you have a health incident, before you even touch the sidewalk, four motorcycles from a rescue organization equipped with the most advanced CPR equipment in the world are already surrounding you and the guys are working on you. And the level of happiness is immeasurably higher than the national and worldly ones.".
""Ten children in a three or four-room apartment, a monthly income that's shameful to say, and all of them are nicely dressed, clean and modest, taking care of their brothers and sisters, one can only envy such a thing. How does this happen, the miracle? The Torah, the Torah!".
But why get excited about every spin? Here are some words of reassurance: "To all those who are shocked by what we see and hear, and there is much to be shocked about, please remember: We are the ones who read here, eh? Remember? But this is a very precious place, because there are diamonds of truth scattered throughout the jeep. We need to pick them up and move on.".
And sometimes – faced with the rising level of populism – even he no longer has the strength to wait: "I thought we could somehow manage without it for the time being. I also agreed that we probably needed to prepare a more comfortable 'landing pad' for it. To prepare hearts. But now I think the waters have reached the soul. The flood of heresies and false beliefs threatens to wash away even God-fearing believers and also swallow their children. We need the Messiah. Above, we decide the timing, but our job is to plead and report what it looks like from here and say this clearly: We need the Messiah now.".
6.
And finally, we are not only in the elections, we are in Elul (although there is a feeling that this year Elul will only begin on the 18th of Elul). Adi Ran also gives some food for thought about these days of desire, as a veteran repentant: "The idea of repenting is a simple thing: I distanced myself from goodness. As a result, I became less good, did inappropriate things, spoke nonsense, etc. Now I have grasped this and I want to return to goodness. Very simple. And since it is almost impossible to hold on to truth and pure goodness all the time - and every second you abandon them, you immediately become worse - then the necessity of doing repentance several thousand and tens of thousands of times a day.
""What it does is it runs the quality control system all the time and guides you to the right one.".
• The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva''
