Be unordinary: The worthy legacy of Peres

1.

There’s a limit to the number of words one person can write about the passing of a great leader. There’s a limit to the number of words one person can read about the passing of a great leader. So today the sorrow of Israelis is turning into mundane worry about today and tomorrow’s small things: how long will it take to get from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, where to park, when is the right time to leave.

Mundane is the opposite of Shimon Peres. Thus the mundane should be postponed for yet another day, as it might make him disappointed by us, the regular people, turning back to being so ordinary so soon. 

2.

There’s a limit to the number of words one person can write about the passing of a great leader. So instead of trying to squeeze an exhausted lemon some more, I will share with you a few paragraphs from two articles that I recently published elsewhere about Peres.

The first one is from more than a week ago – in the New York Times:

What happens when a nation loses its youth? It is unburdened from some of its youthful fixations. It also loses perspective. The perspective of those who, like Mr. Peres, still remember the early days. The perspective of those who, like Mr. Peres, still remember what it is like to have real difficulties, to have to be resourceful and daring.

Israel is already showing signs of an old country’s amnesia: It tends to forget how remarkable was the journey that brought us to today. It has more difficulties appreciating its many great achievements, rather than constantly complaining about its (also many) shortcomings. These achievements were hard to imagine when young Shimon Peres was standing alongside Ben-Gurion and pondering Israel’s future. Or maybe they weren’t hard to imagine for Mr. Peres, a man known mostly for having many dreams.

Here is a legacy worth preserving: Mr. Peres was not just an Israeli leader for so many years, he was also an Israeli dreamer. Chiefly, a dreamer about peace. So as we watch his health deteriorate, and as we begin rewriting his legacy in a way that fits Israel’s current disposition, our pain is obvious: It is the pain of a nation whose dreams about peace were hospitalized.

3.

And this one is from Slate:

Peres earned a knotty reputation by being tireless and prone to political maneuvering and deception. When Yitzhak Rabin was prime minister for the first time in the mid-1970s, his rivalry with Peres—his defense minister and supposed political colleague—resulted in Rabin calling Peres “an indefatigable schemer.” Peres’ battle with Menachem Begin to become prime minister in 1981 was the ugliest campaign in Israel’s history. When Yitzhak Shamir was prime minister, Peres – then finance minister – planned and executed the so-called stinking maneuver: He toppled the government but failed to form a new one under himself.

With that history, along with the highly controversial Oslo Accords with the Palestinians that Peres initiated under the radar and then sold to Rabin (the prime minister at the time), Peres was hardly a beloved politician. In 1996, soon after the assassination of Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu defeated Peres to become prime minister. Three years later Katzav defeated him to become president. Yet, in 2007, with his ascendency to the presidency, Peres managed one last transformation: This above-the-political-fray office gave him the opportunity to master the most unexpected maneuver: He became a man of the people. No longer despised by the masses. No longer ridiculed. Sure, he was still mocked, but this time fondly. His deficiencies were no longer annoying; they were entertaining. His pompous speeches were no longer grating; they were endearingly amusing. His stormy past was gradually transforming to Israeli folk tales.

This rejuvenation of character was distinctively Peres. It was still manipulative. It was still grandiose. It was still tireless. And it worked: When Peres died, having suffered a severe stroke two weeks ago from which he never recovered, Israel was eulogizing him almost without dissent. His great political rivals rushed to the airwaves to share fables and anecdotes. The people who fiercely opposed his agenda described him as one of Israel’s legendary leaders, which he was. The public seemed truly saddened by his death. The great man lived a political life of many intrigues but died as a beloved father figure. Tricky Shimon must be smiling somewhere, having completed yet another impossible feat.