We find ourselves at this time in a strange kind of limbo. Our government, the one that ruled over us and made all the fateful decisions, for better or for worse, in the last four years, is over. Elections will be held in October 27, 2026.

Who, I wonder, is going to take over? Because of our system of government which is based on a ruling coalition, you can vote for one party, only to find yourself ruled by your party’s coalition partners, to whom you may be unalterably opposed. If I vote for the Likud and a continuation of Netanyahu’s rule, then it’s pretty clear that the haredi parties will be in bed with him, sucking the nation dry with its extortionate demands to keep the money flowing to yeshivot whose students refuse to serve in the army – something I absolutely abhor. On the other hand, if I vote for the “change” parties under former Prime Minister, and businessman, Naftali Bennet, who had certain successes as Prime Minister but also included Arab parties in his ruling coalition (a first) betraying his religious-nationalist voter base, or Gadi Eisenkot, the former general who advocates a two-state solution and draft exemptions for a percentage of the haredim, what am I looking at?

Not an appetizing choice. But perhaps the light on this dark horizon is the current formation of smaller parties with a national-religious base who might eventually join together to form a bedrock of votes in any new coalition. I’m keeping my eyes open.

Another limbo is the current pace of the war against the Iranian savages. President Trump has thankfully awakened from his J.D. Vance-induced slumber and is bombing his enemies who want him, and us, and all the free world, dead. Yet Israel, with all its expertise, and raring to go, is being told not to get involved. While this means less danger for our young pilots, it also means a longer war. So, what’s the plan?

Who knows? Thus the limbo. Can we plan a summer vacation, or will it be interrupted by our kids being put on the front lines and hurried trips to bomb shelters? Do we really want to be far from home when and if it starts again? As I said, limbo.

Meanwhile, it’s getting hotter and hotter and the only certainty this week is the fact that we’ll be fasting and thirsty on the Ninth of Av, which commemorates the the fall of the First and Second Temples, the horror that exiled Jews from their homeland for thousands of years, leading to endless pogroms and eventually the Holocaust. Traditionally, this is a day of disasters for the Jewish people, so I’m wary.

Last week I spent a few days in Jerusalem. I accidentally chose a hotel that caters mostly to ultra-Orthodox. To my surprise, instead of the pool being filled with crowds of small children and their haredi parents, it was empty. I had it all to myself! I realized that according to more stringent customs, during the three weeks leading up to the Ninth of Av no swimming is permitted.

I wondered at this stringency. After all, the destruction of the Temple both times is attributed to causeless hatred between Jews. So wouldn’t it be more fitting for these three weeks to be filled with commands to love your neighbor? Unfortunately, what I found in practice was quite the opposite.

When I decided to visit the Western Wall on Rosh Hodesh, I found myself being frisked by guards working for the haredi Rabbi of the Kotel looking for contraband like a Torah scroll which G-d forbid I might be smuggling in to join the Women of the Wall (a group tirelessly fighting for the right to pray together at the Wall at the beginning of each month). For some reason, this group, which does nothing but pray together, has aroused the ire of the haredim, who have done whatever they can to undermine them. Once when I was there fanatic haredi women were blowing ear-piercing whistles to interrupt the women. Unfortunately, they interrupted everyone else there as well, including a Bar Mitzva party of which I was a member. I finally grabbed the whistle and threw it into the crowd. Only that, apparently, aroused the guard who came over to warn me, not the whistle blowers. This time, a group of haredi men gathered at the entrance to the women’s section “praying” on top of their lungs. The Women of the Wall responded by praying on top of their lungs. I responded to both by taking off my hearing aids.

I could just imagine what our dear Lord was thinking as He took in this disgraceful scene. Perhaps there is an inkling in this week’s Haphtorah, from Isaiah 1: 14 “Your new moons and appointed festivals my soul hateth. They have become a burden unto me. I am weary to hear them.”

For all the horrors of anti-Semitic acts being committed against Jews all over the world, the real danger facing the Jewish people comes from within. If we don’t learn to love each other, to give, to nurture, then we cannot face what the world is hurling at us.

It is my prayer that those who cannot, or will not, understand this simple truth, will finally cease to have the power to implement their selfish agenda; that those who think attacking their fellow Jews because of differences in their political or religious beliefs will be thrown out of the consensus, isolated and condemned. I can’t see any other way forward.

The Knesset must pave the way. Instead, in a disgraceful blitz of new legislation just before going out of power, a law was passed to suspend the arrests of yeshiva students who avoid military conscription. At the same time, another law was passed to extend compulsory military service to 32 months. This because there are not enough soldiers.

May God help us.

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