Titled “Protecting the Third Temple,” in reference to the State of Israel being the third period of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, the panel was hosted by Tzohar head Rabbi David Stav, and participated by Israeli commentator Ben-Dror Yemeni, leader of the Har Etzion Hesder Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Meidan, KAN journalist Orit Navon, and author and philosopher Dr. Micah Goodman from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Stav opened the event by discussing the miracles in modern state of Israel, but remarking that “something has changed recently.”

“We are already ten months into the war and our brothers and sisters have not returned home.”

Turning to the panel, he asked: “What is different about the pain of Tisha B’Av this year?”

Yemini answered by taking a more global approach, addressing growing polarization between people from different sides of the political spectrum in Israel and abroad, but highlighting a silver lining for the Jewish state.

“We are significantly different,” Yemini said, “We have a huge middle… around 80% of the public.”

Dr. Goodman agreed, pointing out that “when we were growing up, everyone wanted to be like the United States. But the question today is ‘How to be prevent ourselves from being like them?’” This being in reference to mass political polarization in America today.

Dr. Goodman added that in the case of Jewish history, we have examples of how internal fighting brings about destruction, such as the case of baseless hatred and infighting causing the fall of the Second Temple. Dr. Goodman called on the people of Israel to “not be like the Jews of the past,” though he laments that we saw a taste of that in the days leading up to October 7.

Calling it the “psychology of the Second Temple,” he says we overcame this with former prime minister, then-leader of the Etzel underground paramilitary group, Menachem Begin, with not starting a civil war after the sinking of the Altalena, and instead rallying his group around the newly founded Israel Defense Forces. 

In general, he believes, like Yemini, that the country’s majority centric-thinking public can drive the country forward.

Rabbi Meidan analyzed our current reality through the writings of the Biblical prophets Jeremiah and Zechariah, saying from his perspective our time is more like Zechariah, in the sense that we have the ability to fix our country. “There is so much to fix,” he said, “Kibbutz Be’eri, Kfar Azza, and others will be greater than before.”

Rabbi Meidan also pointed out that “Everyone that has changed for the worse can change for the better,” offering a hopeful message about bridging unity for the future.

Navon, admitted that throughout the war she has “been a bit scared,” as well as the fact that there are still hostages being held in Gaza, asking “What if I was taken hostage?” as it relates to government action.

For them all, though, they pushed back on fears of Israelis leaving the country and collectively, even if they have disagreements on a day to day, saw a positive future for Israel.