For Israel, A Different Kind Of Victory

by Francine Klagsbrun
Special To The Jewish Week

We were at the Camp Ramah Zimriyah, the songfest, when word came that the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, had returned to their country in caskets, to be buried by a grieving nation. A young camper at this day camp in Nyack made the announcement and reminded the large audience of family and friends that at the same event last year we prayed for the safety of these men and of Gilad Shalit, still held captive by Hamas. Now we said a prayer for the dead soldiers and their bereaved families.

The next morning I cringed when I saw the front page of The New York Times with its parallel photographs. One showed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert embracing

Goldwasser’s widow before a coffin draped in an Israeli flag; in the other, jubilant Hezbollah members embraced convicted terrorist Samir Kuntar, released by Israel in exchange for the soldiers. And when I read later about the hundreds of thousands of people who lined the road to salute the fallen Israelis on their journey home, I wept.
How can this be, I thought. Why is Israel swapping a murderer who smashed a child’s head for two dead bodies? I was not alone in my query, of course. The issue of that exchange has raised serious debate in Israel, with many people insisting that the price the country paid for the soldiers’ remains was too high. On balance, I don’t think that is so, although this has been a wrenching episode in the nation’s history.
I don’t think it is so, not just because of the Israeli military’s longstanding principle of bringing back its soldiers. Even more important, perhaps, the swap turned a sharp light on the contrast between the morality of Islamist terrorists and that of a Jewish state. What, in the end, did Hezbollah celebrate? The release of a baby killer, who murdered two adults along with that little girl, and who caused the death of another child, accidentally smothered when her mother tried to quiet her. They celebrated their sadistic toying with the Israeli families’ emotions when they refused to reveal whether the soldiers were alive or dead. They celebrated the disdain with which — I learned later — their men threw down the Israeli caskets at the border, where the exchange took place.

Who celebrates such things? Only a people that is morally bankrupt.
My mind slips back to Camp Ramah and the children that evening singing their hearts out with songs of peace, of the beauty of the Land of Israel and of gratitude for the earth’s bounty. I think about the sleep-away Camp Ramah my 9-year-old granddaughter is attending this month. Yes, it would be nice if she remembered to hang out her wet towel after she went swimming or found time to write more than a one-line letter home. But what really matters is what she is learning along with the usual camp skills. In informal classes the campers and counselors study biblical stories, talk about Israel and debate Jewish ideas. They feel free to disagree with accepted viewpoints and to think for themselves even while they absorb the values of their religion and people. Those values include the significance of every human life, respect for the dead and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Certainly, many fine Jewish camps and schools educate their students in the ethics and values of Judaism. I speak of Camp Ramah because I know it well. When the camp director asked members of the audience that evening to raise their hands if they had been to the camp themselves, hands shot up all over. My husband I met at Camp Ramah in the Poconos; my daughter and son-in-law at Ramah in the Berkshires, where my granddaughter is now. This camp and others pass on Jewish morals from one generation to the next.
What teachings do Hezbollah, Hamas and those like them pass on to their children? The teachings of hatred and murder and of blaming others for their own inadequacies. They teach them to dream of destroying the world instead of building up their own society, its economy, its education system and its health care structure. Two years ago, during the second Lebanon war, Israeli bombs demolished Dahiya, a suburb of Beirut and Hezbollah stronghold. Little has been rebuilt; the rubble lies about. The extremist leaders prefer to celebrate empty victories than help their young fill true needs or aspire to true goals.

We can argue about whether Israel made a mistake in its asymmetrical deal. But consider this. When Israel trades hundreds of prisoners for one Israeli soldier — or two dead bodies — it is telling the world that the life, or death, of a single Israeli is worth more than hundreds of people on the other side. That’s real victory. n

Francine Klagsbrun’s most recent book is “The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day.”

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization