Time Will Tell

As elections go, if the news is bad, I take a philosophical approach: time will tell.

If the news is good, I celebrate. And then I step back and remember: time will tell.

Our own recent election was full of drama, suspense, high emotions. The Israeli elections were also treated with high drama, as commentators speculated on the results with dire forecasts.

All in all, I felt great relief when I heard the election results from Israel this week.

Here are some reasons why.

The best news of the Israeli elections was the voter turnout. One of the highest in recent history, 67.7 percent of the citizens voted.

More good news: 53 of the members of Knesset (MKs) are new, including 26 women, among them 

• Pnina Tamano-Shata, the first Ethiopian woman elected to the Knesset.

• Activist Stav Shaffir, catalyst for the 2011 movement for social change and, at 27, the youngest MK in the Knesset, joined on the Labor list.

• Our Boston-Haifa partner, former Mayor Amram Mitzna and former chair of the Labor party, is returning to the Knesset on Tzipi Livni's Hatenua List.

• Long time Jewish educator and advocate for religious-secular dialogue, Ruth Calderone, was voted in on the immensely successful Yesh Atid (There is a future) list.

Imagine what it would mean for half of the House of Representatives to be voted out of office, bringing in new voices? (Click for more details about the new MKs)

Elections make everything feel very urgent. The language of campaigns, and those who cover them, conveys a sense of ultimate threat or messianic promise-neither of which any democratically-elected government can fulfill.

Israel, like any country, is a complicated place. We can be smarter than the analysts and prognosticators and remember that the lives and thoughts of citizens will produce far messier - or you might say more interesting - results than headlines or sound bytes.

As we have been discussing in our Engaging Israel class, there is much more to Israel than the left-right divide, or the religious-secular divide. While the results show the Knesset split down the middle, with 61 votes for the parties on the right and 59 votes for the parties on the left, Israel is not a polarized society.

In fact, the big winner in this election was the center. Many who voted for Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish home) were actually secular centrists. Many who voted for Yesh Atid (there is a future) were actually religious centrists. Russian immigrants who had supported Yisrael Beiteinu (the right wing party, Israel is our home) in the past, fled the combined Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu party to vote for Yesh Atid. Sound complicated? That's the point. The multi-party system in Israel thrives on the demographic stew of Israel's population and adjusts at every election as lives change.

For a ten-point summary of the complex lessons of this election, I recommend David Horowitz in the Times of Israel.

The following statement from New Israel Fund CEO Daniel Sokatch affirms my hope that change is possible and bolsters my belief that continued vigilance is necessary:

"Israelis went to the polls yesterday to elect a new parliament. Congratulations are due to all who were elected. The task of guiding Israel at this time will not be easy. The challenges they face -- social, economic, and security -- are immense.

"There is reason for hope. Widespread predictions of a shift to a harder right-wing coalition have been upset by a surge in support for parties at the political center. Moreover, Israelis elected a number of progressive champions whose track records show their determination to upholding equality and democracy. On election night, spokespersons from all major parties spoke of their determination to promote social justice.

"There is also reason for concern. The next Knesset will still include members who have supported legislation to constrict minority rights, to repress freedom of speech and conscience, or to trammel the independent judiciary and media.  The New Israel Fund will remain vigilant in our efforts to protect these core democratic principles and to ensure that Israel remains a free society.

"In September, on Meet the Press, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke eloquently about his support for human rights, for the rights of women, for freedom of religion, for freedom of speech, and for tolerance.  If Netanyahu is indeed charged with forming a new government, it's vital that he puts those words into action and incorporates those values into the governing coalition."

So I take a philosophical, or even spiritual, approach to these events. This too shall pass. Nothing lasts forever. My approach to Israeli politics (and to all electoral politics) stems from a place of humility. Humility calls us to recognize the limit of our knowledge and urges us not to judge too quickly. Humility also insists that we not abdicate our power, but, with patient attention, use it effectively. Time will tell.