I recommend reading Asher Ostrin’s new biography, Soviet Jewry Reborn, A Personal Journey. The book is a pathway to answering the question dominating the international political landscape: What happens in Gaza the day after?
“The day after” has evolved from a question to a meme. It refers to the end of the Israel-Hamas war when Hamas will be eradicated from Gaza. The term was first made famous by the 1983 film of the same name. As people go about their daily lives, nuclear bombs drop on a small town in Kansas, and the residents must cope the day after to survive a nuclear winter. Parts of Gaza resemble images of a war-ravaged wasteland, with thousands killed and wounded.
Gaza’s civilian survivors must choose between acting as barbarians or as Samaritans. They will have an opportunity to build a peace-loving community in rhyme with Soviet Jewry’s successful choices following generations of oppression. “The day after” Gazans can take a page from the once impoverished Jewish survivors, as Ostrin observes, “who had undergone incomprehensible suffering” for generations; the Jews chose to “flourish and make contributions to Jewish life and scholarship.” We decided to rebuild the community in the Jewish state.
Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” With Hamas likely to still be in control “the day after,” the task may seem daunting and wrenching. Upheavals are turning points for nations. They adapt or die.
The Greek Empire became a culturally emboldened nation-state. The Roman Empire morphed into an organized, wealthy church, building a powerful religion that brought comfort and spiritual peace to its followers. Americans turned inward after Vietnam by addressing its social mores, military prowess, and civil rights. Europe and the Asia-Pacific rebuilt physically, economically, and justice-wise after two world wars.
Ostrin tells the stories of dozens of Jewish communities and individuals with whom he engaged over decades when he was working for the Joint Distribution Committee. The Jews “who live in FSU countries still ruled by dictators and despots” make choices to prosper. They choose to prioritize peace and prosperity. Ostrin and aid agency staff found they “could not escape the welfare issue… (welfare services) would serve as the foundation of our community-building efforts.” Food deliveries were not the end but “a means for creating community.”
How Israel has been changing since October 7
Israel began changing the day after October 7. The Holocaust never ended for Jews. October 7, 2023, was the latest burst of violent Jew hatred and savagery by creatures out to eradicate the Jewish people. One long war against the Jews rages with hardly an intermission. It rages on from the open gates of concentration camps to an unending war of independence. Tactics changed to terror attacks, and missiles were aimed at city centers. The barbaric violence on October 7 shattered the relative peace and good life on quiet kibbutzim and at a fun-filled music festival. Israel changed that day. Israel has to decide what the new Israel will look like.
Post-October 7, Israel’s public is:
- Less trusting of IDF leadership, the cornerstone of the social contract
- Many doubt politicians are working in the public’s best interests or their sectarian own
- Doubts rage if Israel is any longer or can be a lasting democracy
- Dissatisfaction abounds for the politicians who self-describe as Mr. Security when for years rockets and bombs sent Israelis into shelters
- Dismay, at best, characterizes the Israeli mindset that leaders take no accountability and have no shame, which ought to trigger resignations
- Faith in religious leaders dives as they bicker over how much money they can squeeze from the treasury, hide from military service, and blackmail colleagues for power positions in the government
- The public’s anger was energized and evidenced by mass street demonstrations which have continued daily for 16 months
- IAF pilots threatened to ground their aircraft
- Reservists refused to serve after repeated call-ups
- Family and friends of hostages kidnapped by Hamas are invading and excoriating Knesset members in cabinet committee meetings and outside their private homes.
Domestic media and an angry public are furious with politicians and military leaders for allegedly betraying the hallmark of transparency, denying each other’s facts, impugning motives, fraying patriotism, and undermining a free press.
Israelis will have to dig deep to maintain their dynamic character. Their social norms are progressive, the economy robust, and Israeli culture peppy. This conglomeration of Jewish nationalities, races, and ethnicities makes Israel the poster child for diversity, equality, and inclusion. But Israel must resolve its conflicts with Palestinians and its conflicting policies that are inimical to its being a Jewish state rather than a democracy. The country is straining under the weight of it all.
The current war collapsed Israel’s traditional domestic alliances. It frayed the balanced relationship between time-honored institutions and the public. This war pits the young against an aged leadership, the religious against secularists like never before, and the powerful sniping at one another worse than school boys and mean girls. The country feels rudderless.
In the meantime, it was the young who stepped up. Gen Z blossomed. Ayelet Frish writing in The Jerusalem Post captured the wonder of former generations: “This generation, Gen Z, has often been criticized for being superficial, shallow, misinformed, and social media-obsessed. Here in Israel, we doubted that they had the same warrior spirit of Israel’s great founders and military leaders who historically sacrificed their lives to lead Israel to victory. We suspected that the social media age influenced their commitment to our land, the one and only home of the Jewish people. We were wrong.” Young people are near the majority of both Gaza and Israel; hope lies with them.
Asher Ostrin’s memoir offers them guidance in the reflection of history. In the book, he uses creative nonfiction to tell personal stories of tragedy and restoration to prosperous and spiritually uplifting lives. His warning is: Don’t rely on governments or old generation leaders. His Afterword is a caveat for Gaza, Israel, and all other self-deluding nations: Soviet Russia “had a large army, nuclear weapons, near-total control of the lives of its citizens….” The Soviet Union disintegrated rapidly and profoundly. Do not be complacent. “The arc of Soviet history and its aftermath” bent in the direction of repression and sacrifice of its youth. Shape your history, identity, and culture. Ostrin concludes from his life-long community development experiences, “And that is the true miracle of (Jewry’s) rebirth.”■
Harold Goldmeier teaches international university students at Touro College Jerusalem. He is an award-winning entrepreneur who received the Governor’s Award (Illinois) for family investment programs in the workplace from the Commission on the Status of Women. He was a research and teaching fellow at Harvard, worked for four governors, and recently sold his business in Chicago. He is a managing partner of an investment firm, a business management consultant, and a public speaker on business, social, and public policy issues.
- Soviet Jewry Reborn, A Personal Journey
- Asher Ostrin
- Gefen Publishing, 2024
- 228 pages; $30