Israel’s Hardened Heart and Pharaonic Indifference in the Aftermath of the Iran Attack
After Iran’s attack on us in Israel with a swarm of missiles and drones, which miraculously led to next to no harm at all, a moment of fear was followed by a sigh of relief. Very quickly, everything went back to normal and we once again sank back into ourselves.
Imagine if, instead of this reassuring news that replaced the anxiety, we would have heard reports that Iran’s cluster of projectiles was just a warm up, and that it was to be followed by a heavy bomb, and around ninety percent of Israelis were going to perish by the end of the week. How would we feel then? It is likely that even if that was the case, some of us would not leave the dishes for more than a few minutes.
The level of indifference that has covered us Israelis over the years has already crossed a certain threshold. It is a tangible example of the situation about which it is written in our sources, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart’” (Exodus 10:1). That is, the Creator says to Moses, I hardened the heart of Pharaoh, i.e., the human egoistic nature that focuses itself entirely on self-benefit. In other words, we experience an increasingly tightening preoccupation with ourselves until we become completely indifferent. That is why more and more Israelis immerse themselves into their own comforts and cannot look at themselves from aside for a moment to ask why: Why do we behave the way we do? Why does the whole world constantly concern itself with our existence? And more generally, why are we even here, what do we exist for?
Our egoistic nature, i.e., the Pharaoh in us, does not like these questions. If we let such questions bother us, then we might end up seeking their answers, escaping from the shackles of our self-preoccupation, and entering into the bosom of the love of others. What will then happen to our “self,” our ego, our Pharaoh?
These are a few of the insights that befell us on the night Iran attacked us, as well as other long nights that preceded it: a pharaonic indifference to our situation, an opacity that does not let us question our very existence.
On the other end of this spectrum, we require a mass mobilization of inner forces to help us overcome the lethargy that sets in our organs, to shake us out of our hearts’ heaviness. Otherwise, we will remain enslaved within our egoistic shells, submissive to Pharaoh — a psychological state that invites an increasing amount of hostilities from the world to us. Such a setup will only lead to more and more threats, anxieties and eventually also torments that intend to prod us to eventually flee from our selfish nature. In this regard, suffering will do what we fail to do with our own efforts, but it is in no way the desirable path of progress to a better state.
The desirable path is for us to wake up on our own. For the time being, we have to be grateful for the results of the aftermath of Iran’s attack and the ensuing defensive victory. We should, however, consider that the results of the missile barrages — with the widespread Western support, the innovations in Israeli armaments and the Jewish mind — could have been completely different.
From a more global perspective, we can see that there is a certain tilt of kindness and mercy working in our favor in this present moment. While we should be grateful for it, we also need to awaken with a request. It should not be a request to stop the threat of further existential threats, but a request to remove the egoistic shell that has hardened over us, which causes our internal divisions. If we manage to summon this request to the force that operates beyond our very perception and sensation, we will experience an opening of our hearts and wake up to a new emotion: a longing for the truth. We will then be able to grasp our state and start clarifying what we need to do, and how we should respond in the most effective way possible to our current situation.
While the feeling of Israeli pride once again fills our chests, we would be wise to raise life’s essential questions to public discourse: Who are we, the people of Israel? What do we exist for? What does the world really want from us? Also, how, instead of coming together for a short time every time we are on the receiving end of yet another existential threat, can we learn to anticipate a blow and preemptively “strike” by creating an atmosphere of mutual support, encouragement, kindness and care? If we fail to take any steps in this latter direction, awakening the positive forces dwelling in nature through our own initiative, then it is quite possible that future threats will not work out as favorably for us.