So now we can answer the question: What did I do on the eve of Tisha B'Av at the President's House?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five years ago, Tisha B'Av. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The days, shortly after the election of Yitzhak Herzog as President of the State of Israel. In a phone call from the President's Office, I was invited to an event on Tisha B'Av - the purpose of which was: to bridge the divides between the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone who knows me knows that I was born into a 'bridge.' The building where I grew up, at 3 Sokolov Street in Kiryat Ata, was an island of sanity and coexistence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This building has grown out of it, among others, a judge in the Haifa District Court (Ofra Atias-Hamo, religious-nationalist, an amazing woman!), a Haredi Talmud Torah director in Tel Aviv (Noam Stern, one of the best directors in the Haredi community - and ask Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, whose children study with him), Eyal Pais (secular, formerly in the Navy in Haifa) and me (a Haredi journalist).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that when they discharged me from the hospital, at 3 days old, my father began to mutter in my ear: 'Be good to everyone, don't judge, don't differentiate between Sephardim and Ashkenazim, between secular and ultra-Orthodox.' He was a figure who was all bridge. He was a Jew dressed in black and white, with a long beard, the chairman of Degel Hatorah in Kiryat Ata and also the director of the local ultra-Orthodox Talmud Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a child, I remember MK Moshe Gafni coming to our house, and also the secular neighbor who came, from time to time, to ask my father various questions - and was always answered with a friendly smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I'm going to refuse an invitation that's all a bridge? No way. With canvas shoes on my feet, I made my way to the President's House (forget the road, finding parking is the significant difficulty), I listened, I told him too, and I thought to myself: 'Well, nothing will come of this.'.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About three years later, another phone call came. The president asked me to join a group that would try to bring peace among us. That I would refuse an offer of mediation? No way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is time, there is no time, I devoted many hours to traveling to meetings, to the meetings themselves, to thinking, to discussions - some time ago we found out that there were other groups parallel to us (ultra-Orthodox and secular, left and right, Arabs and Jews - groups with a fascinating mix) and on the eve of Tisha B'Av we all met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will this lead anywhere? I want to believe, with all my heart, that it will.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u05d0\u05d6 \u05db\u05e2\u05ea \u05d0\u05e4\u05e9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05e9\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4: \u05de\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 \u05d1\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d0? \u05d7\u05de\u05e9 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05ea\u05e9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1. \u05d4\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e7\u05e6\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dc \u05d9\u05e6\u05d7\u05e7 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05d2 \u05dc\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d0 \u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc. \u05d1\u05e9\u05d9\u05d7\u05ea \u05d8\u05dc\u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d6\u05de\u05e0\u05ea\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2 \u05d1\u05ea\u05e9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 - \u05e9\u05de\u05d8\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5: \u05d2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d7\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd. \u05de\u05d9 \u05e9\u05de\u05db\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2, \u05e9\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05ea\u05d9 \u05dc\u05ea\u05d5\u05da '\u05d2\u05e9\u05e8'. \u05d4\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d5 \u05d2\u05d3\u05dc\u05ea\u05d9, \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05d1 \u05e1\u05d5\u05e7\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d1 3 \u05d1\u05e7\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea […]","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1047931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[3189,4697,920],"class_list":["post-1059547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-138","tag-3189","tag-4697","tag-920"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n