Recognizing that disappointment is not despair

I have written about this before, and unfortunately it is time to revisit it again.

We had been living through constant attacks from Iran, from Hezbollah in Lebanon, periodic clashes with Hamas in Gaza and occasional salvos from the Houthis in Yemen. However, with the onset of the American Operation Epic Fury in concert with Israel’s Roaring Lion, it appeared the evil Iranian ayatollah regime — the bankroller and mastermind of all the proxy terrorist threats — was near its end.

It was the final Yom Tov of Pesach in Israel. President Trump had issued an ultimatum to Iran: Open the Straits of Hormuz by 3 am Israel time and capitulate or face total annihilation.

At 1:15 am, we were awakened by sirens and a particularly vicious, loud interception of incoming Iranian missiles that shook the windows and sent us scrambling to the miklat. There I was informed by my son-in-law (he had kept his cellphone on to hear the alerts, as permitted despite the chag) that Trump had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran to allow it to comply.

The overwhelming feeling of disappointment that descended upon us in Israel, as well as supporters of Israel around the world, was beyond measure.

• • •

At the time, I wrote about how in Hebrew the word for disappointment is meuchsav, from the same root as the word kozev, liar. This is a word we had been reciting in Hallel every day since Pesach began. We read aloud David HaMelech’s words, which have their origin in Tehillim 116:11: “Ani amarti b’chafzi kol ha’adam kozev (I said in my haste all men are liars).”

Kozev, a liar, and meuchsav, disappointment, are both related to expecting one result and getting another. If we expect truth and get a lie, we are disappointed. If we expect a beneficial result and get a harmful one, we start to think everything is a lie and everyone is a liar.

Did I think Trump was a liar?

As a confirmed Trump supporter, grateful for his unparalleled backing of the Jewish state, I argued no. Bombastic, capable of hyperbole like no one else, yes. But as a true friend and ally of both Israel and the Jewish people, he had surpassed any president in history, and perhaps any foreign leader in any era. I believed he was nobody’s fool, would correct the mistakes of the great King Cyrus — Koresh — whom he emulated in his support for the Jews, suppress his inner Achashverush, and quickly realize whether his so-called “deal” was legitimate or not, and act accordingly.

Now, more than three months later, I’m not so sure. Because liars can exist in two forms: those who lie to others and those who lie to themselves.

P

resident Trump seems to firmly believe what he says, but he appears to be lying to himself. He has said in the past that you don’t negotiate with terrorists, that you can’t trust the Iranian regime, and that he will never accept a nuclear Iran. When he said those things, he was telling the truth.

Yet his current words and actions negate those very statements, pointing to the exact contrary. This cognitive dissonance — holding two conflicting ideas in one’s head at the same time — is the definition of lying to oneself.

For evidence of this, we see clearly in Parshat Shelach, where the nesiim (the princes or presidents of the tribes of Israel), with the exception of Yehoshua and Calev, convince themselves they cannot conquer and inherit the land.

This despite witnessing the Exodus from Egypt, the mightiest empire of the time. Despite the numerous open miracles performed by G-d for them all to see — from the plagues to the splitting of the sea, to routing the evil Amalekites, to providing constant water and mana in the desert, and even providing real meat when they complained and wanted it. And, of course, the most miraculous of all: Hashem Himself came down to the mountaintop of Har Sinai and spoke to them directly, at least for the first two commandments.

And yet they didn’t. They couldn’t. They wouldn’t believe.

“We can’t go up to the land,” they said. Yes, it’s beautiful, flowing with milk and honey and enormous fruit. But the people are giants, too strong, the city fortifications too powerful. We can’t do it. G-d can’t do it.

They lied to themselves and demoralized everyone else.

• • •

We who have been through 3,000 years of Jewish history should not be surprised. In fact, Dovid HaMelech in Tehillim has told us, “al tivtechu banedivim, b’ven adam she’en lo teshua (put not your faith in nobles, for in human beings there is no salvation) (Tehillim 146:3).

We must only put our faith in Hashem.

We must be like Calev and Yehoshua, who said respectively, “alo naaleh v’yarashnu ota, ki yachol nuchal la (we shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we can surely do it!)” (13:30); and “tova ha-Aretz, me’od, me’od (the Land is very, very good” (14:7).

We must not — we dare not — despair.

We must urge our leaders, whether they be Trump or Netanyahu or others: Remove the evil from those who have caused so many die — Jews and Israelis, and also Americans and Iranians — to suffer and die.

Finish the job. Now.

Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com