Yom Kippur 2023: When Israel Turned Inward, Then United Against Its Enemies
Three years ago, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Israel faced a different kind of crisis. Not from external enemies, but from within. The Yom Kippur of 2023, just 13 days before the brutal October 7 attack on Simchat Torah, exposed a nation dangerously divided. Yet from that fracture emerged a profound lesson: our enemies see our divisions, but they underestimate our unity.
What happened on Yom Kippur 2023 in Tel Aviv?
The scene in Dizengoff Square became a symbol of national discord. A makeshift mechitza, or partition, erected for Orthodox prayer in the public space, sparked fury. Prayer books were thrown into the fountain, tallitot were cast to the ground, and the solemn Kol Nidre service was pierced by whistles and shouts of Shame, shame.
Jews fought Jews. Brothers argued with brothers. The High Court ruling permitting the prayer space became a flashpoint for deeper societal tensions over the judicial reform debate. Scuffles broke out, tears flowed, and the images haunted the nation for days.
For Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, watching from Gaza, this spectacle must have looked like an invitation. A nation at each other's throats appeared incapable of rallying against a mortal threat.
Why internal division emboldens Israel's enemies
That Yom Kippur stands as tragic proof of a timeless truth: when we tear ourselves apart from within, we leave ourselves dangerously exposed to enemies from without. So obsessed with finding fault in one another, we ignored the wolf at the gates.
The High Holy Days call for introspection, for examining our own faults rather than our neighbor's. The anger that erupted that day came from certainty, not reflection. Each camp in the judicial reform debate was convinced of its own infallibility, leaving no room for compromise or understanding.
As the Yom Kippur liturgy reminds us: We have sinned, we have acted treacherously, we have robbed, we have spoken slander. This confession is a testament to our fallibility. Yet in 2023, both sides abandoned humility for absolutism.
How October 7 restored Israel's collective 'we'
Some argue we learned nothing, that Israeli society is right back at each other's throats. The same certitudes, the same divisions, the same portrayal of ideological rivals as enemies.
But that is not the whole picture.
We are in an election season, and elections worldwide amplify our worst instincts. Politicians on both sides sow division for political gain. Yet the bitter rhetoric of leaders does not reflect the quieter, more measured mood of the country.
October 7 changed things fundamentally. It forced a recognition that however deeply we differ, our fate is shared.
What unites Israeli soldiers across political divides?
Over the last three years, Israel's airwaves have been filled with interviews with wounded soldiers, bereaved families, released hostages, and relatives of those who never came home. Across these heart-wrenching stories, one theme emerges: a nation whose sons and daughters, religious and secular, from Right and Left, sleep together in the same tent in Syria, fight in the same tank in Lebanon, patrol in the same jeep in the West Bank, and clear the same tunnels in Gaza, should be able to live together in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv without tearing itself apart.
These soldiers embody the collective we that runs through the Yom Kippur liturgy. Their sacrifice leaves no room for us and them.
As the prophet Ezekiel taught, a nation divided against itself cannot stand. But a nation that remembers its shared destiny, that honors the memory of its fallen, and that stands united against external threats, will endure. The lesson of Yom Kippur 2023 and October 7 is clear: our strength lies not in our divisions, but in our unity as one people, one nation, one destiny.