Yisrael Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council and governor of the Binyamin region, delivered the following speech during a central rally titled “United for Their Return” held on Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, on Aug. 12 at Hostages’ Square in Tel Aviv.
Organized by the Yesha Council, the Nahal Oz community, and the Besheva and Nifgashim movements, the event took place in the presence of the families of the kidnapped and bereaved others. It included testimonies and discussions with the families, and the evening began with an evening prayer and the reading of Eicha, the book of Lamentations.
The themes of the event and the speeches were on unity, reflecting on the significance of Tisha B’Av in the present day and the ongoing efforts to bring home the hostages.
Full Text of “The New Jerusalem” speech by Yisrael Ganz:
“Exactly 1,956 years ago, the spiritual center of the Jewish people was destroyed, hundreds of thousands of Jews, including women and children, were murdered, and we were exiled from our land for thousands of years.
“Back then, in the old Jerusalem of 1,956 years ago, two ‘lovers’ from the same people found themselves turning love into enmity, inviting the true enemy inside their home.
“Today, 2,000 years later, we can and must live differently. We must learn from that generation so as not to fall into the same danger. And the truth is, we have it within us—when our home was destroyed upon us 10½ months ago, we rushed together.
“We knew how to risk our lives for one another because our shared love and eternal brotherhood proved stronger than anything else. On a clear and dark morning when the truth of life and death was upon us, everything collapsed at once, and we united.
“For a long period, we knew how to argue and fight, but when the moment came, we didn’t ask who you were or what your opinion was compared to mine. The settlers rushed to defend the communities in the Gaza Envelope, the city dwellers enlisted and traveled to the south, hilltop youths drove on Shabbat to bring supplies to tanks, and no one asked where you were from or what you thought. You are a Jew—you are ‘the people of Israel’ who wandered together for 2,000 years, and I am willing to die so that you may live.
“Even today, the people of Israel have different and varied positions, conflicting opinions, polarized worldviews, and some opinions that seem more correct or less correct, depending on the observer.
“When it happened then, in old Jerusalem, we paid the price with 2,000 years of persecution, as a persecuted people with no shelter and no protection.
“Today, the reality is different—we have a whole people, we have a state, we have an army and an economy. And we have discovered that we also have love, which we must nurture and promote even in routine times when each one continues on their path.
“Each of us will continue to uphold our beliefs, and there may be others who oppose them and try to advance their worldviews. But in the New Jerusalem, we must do this as brothers and partners, with a covenant sealed between us. Wherever we go and wherever we turn, it will be together. In fierce debates about beliefs and opinions, in clashes between worldviews and statements—but never apart. We will never turn love into enmity. We will never be estranged from one another.
“ ‘New Jerusalem,’ which has known 2,000 years of exile, still knows bumps and upheavals in the life of society, security and the state. But one lesson has been learned—from now on, everything will be done out of a strong covenant of brotherhood.
“We pray together for the return of all the kidnapped, imprisoned and missing, and we will do everything to bring them back. Together we pray for the healing of all the wounded and the success of our sons and daughters—our brothers and sisters, the soldiers. We will continue to fight and strike the enemy until we defeat them. Because only together, with God’s help, will we win!”
