Dear Friend,

This week we celebrate Tu B'Shvat, the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat that the Torah ordains the New Year of the Trees. Tu B'Shvat has come to symbolize renewal in the midst of winter, when growth seems at a standstill and the air around us turns cold so that it's difficult to imagine spring. But the holiday directs our attention to the earliest buds and blossoms, reminding us to focus on new beginnings and bolstering our belief that change is around the corner. The almond trees now blooming throughout Israel, including right near my house in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, herald the long-awaited arrival of spring (though not as long as where many of you live) when it is especially needed.

Last Shabbat, I was horrified to see hostages Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levi, and Eli Sharabi being released from captivity after almost 500 days in such emaciated condition. As for so many in Israel and abroad, their skeletal appearances reminded me of images from darkest times in our history. 

But my initial shock was immediately replaced by rage. First at Hamas, for holding the hostages in such horrific conditions, and then at the Israeli government, whose primary obligation is to secure and protect its citizens, yet it has failed to do so. I remembered how, back in July, Prime Minister Netanyahu told us that "the hostages may be suffering, but they are not dying." Only last month, Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir boasted that they had thwarted a deal to free the hostages time after time over the past year. Some of those hostages have since been murdered by Hamas or killed in IDF bombings.

Now it is being reported that Netanyahu is maneuvering to prevent the second stage of the deal, which would abandon dozens of hostages yet to be released, such as Alon Ohel, whose family just received a sign of life from recently released hostages, who were held with him told his mother that he is suffering from multiple injuries and that he is being held in shackles. If Netanyahu manages to torpedo the agreement, as so many fear he is trying to do,it will be as if he is shedding their blood, as it says in the Shulchan Arukh: "Every moment that one delays the redemption of a captive, it is as if they were to shed their blood."

I am furious because time and time again it turns out that there is an enormous gap between the hostages and their families on one hand, who have demonstrated nobility, strength, resilience, and dedication through an incomprehensibly painful period, and our leadership's unresponsiveness to their calls on the other, demonstrating cruelty and heartlessness. An unbelievable disparity between the people and its government.

Tu B’Shvat also marks the birthday of the Knesset, which convened for the first time on this date in 1949. The Knesset, which is controlled by the government, has always been a difficult arena for us, as the values of equality, tolerance, and pluralism have not always been popular there, especially over the past two years. Every week, IRAC's lawyers attend Knesset committee meetings and participate in difficult discussions about bills being advanced by the government that endanger democracy and human rights. Instead of safeguarding them, as is its duty, the government seeks to expand its power and placate the special interests of its constituent parties. Very often, committee chairs do not guide substantive debate, but silence dissenting voices. Our attorneys have been refused opportunities to speak, cut short, been disparaged, and even removed from the room in the middle of their testimony.

Yet despite these difficult circumstances, we will not abdicate our work there. Because we know how critical it is to ensure that a liberal Jewish voice is heard in the Knesset, especially as the government seems to have forgotten that all of us were created in the image of God and therefore all worthy of equality and dignity.

Our government must remember that its first duty is to redeem captives, bring everyone home, and then do whatever it can to bring about a better future for the two peoples who live on this piece of land. This includes emphatically rejecting horrible ideas like Trump's recent proposal to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza.

The prophet Ezekiel relays God's promise that even when things seem stagnant and hopeless Spring is coming to reinvigorate us: And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you: I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh (36:26).

Our leadership's hardheartedness does not reflect the solidarity that nourishes Israeli society, shared by so many of you overseas. Our deep sense of concern for the hostages is captured by Moti Hamer's song "Rikmah Enoshit Ahat" (One Human Tapestry), which was sung famously by Chava Alberstein:

For we all are, yes, we all are,
We all made as one live human tapestry,
And if someone is missing,
 If someone is leaving,
Something will die in us,
Forever will, remain, with him.

We will not give up. We will continue to fight the indifference of our leadership to fundamental rights, fundamental principles and institutions of democracy, and the lives of our hostages above all. We will keep demonstrating in the streets, raising our voices before the courts, and speaking truth to power in the Knesset. We will ensure that the freezing cold that blows through the corridors of government will not keep us from bringing the spring. Buds will blossom. Lifeless hearts of stone will give way to beating hearts of human flesh filled with love. We will yet see signs of life's renewal and bring about a better future.

Yours,

Orly Erez-Likhovski

https://mailchi.mp/irac.org/this-tu-bshvat-we-are-struggling-forrevival

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