We Won — and Thank You

I know these have been difficult years: Jews and lovers of Western civilization have paid an unfathomable price since Oct. 7. Illusions about life have been buried, along with over 900 civilians and at least 913 soldiers killed since that day. Understandings with our neighbors have been shattered, from the college campus celebrations as the slaughter continued to the inevitable, all-too-predictable, Bondi Beach massacre. Two-hundred-fifty-one innocent hostages suffered so much, with 90 of them murdered – including those six loving souls recorded lighting Hanukkah candles in the tunnels two years ago. And we must not forget the 20,000 injured, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and reservists and the millions whose lives have changed since the Hamas massacre. Still, enough with this Judaism of anguish and apologetics! Let’s keep saying, proudly, defiantly — well-aware of the many traumas haunting us and the work still facing us — We Won!!!

We won by surviving, because Hamas terrorists didn’t pursue a two-state solution but their deadly, dastardly, no-Jewish-state, delusion. We won by degrading Hamas, crushing Hezbollah and humiliating Iran, so dousing its deadly ring of fire that Syria’s Assad dictatorship collapsed. And every time we laughed and prayed, danced and sang, whenever we honored the dead and married and started a wartime baby boom – not waiting for postwar! – and whenever we enjoyed a normal day and watched street cleaners clean streets and teachers teach class and parents parent, we won – and keep winning.

True, I grew up singing, in the Young Judaea youth movement, “Shir LaShalom,” a song for peace – wallowing in ambivalence, spurning “the joy of victory and the songs of thanksgiving.” Yet since winning in 1973 but justifiably mourning the 2,688 killed, we’ve so avoided victory celebrations, we risk underestimating our triumphs – and sapping our strength. Even when Israel finally stopped what Palestinians celebrate as “The Second Intifada,” but was Arafat’s War of Palestinian Terror against the Oslo Peace Process, I got into trouble by demanding a victory parade. 

I hate war. I want our kids delighting, not fighting. And I acknowledge the crazy cost we pay – along with the truly innocent on the other side. But, as an historian, I know the power of shaping narratives based on truth, just as I know the importance of maintaining moral clarity, distinguishing Palestinians who resisted peace overtures, started the war, and celebrated the massacre, from Israelis forced to fight aggressively to defend themselves against evil.

And I toast our victory, now, even at the risk of it being premature. It’s my way of thanking all who suffered – especially on Oct. 7. Each person who absorbed the evil blows helped save Israel by slowing the invaders – who ultimately preferred raping and torturing and abusing young and old alike to conquering Israel. Toasting thanks our brave soldiers, self-sacrificing reservists and their resilient families. It thanks Israel’s remarkable homefront supporting those on the battlefront. And it thanks those Jews and non-Jews who cried with us, marched with us, donated to us, visited us, debunked the liars with us and guaranteed that America, under two very different presidents, kept supporting us. And it echoes another youth movement classic – David Broza’s “Yihiyeh Tov” – it will be okay!

So, if you don’t want to cheer Israel’s many triumphs and blessings – don’t invite me to speak. And if you don’t want to celebrate our progress-in-process, stop reading. But since this Simchat Torah, when Hamas finally freed the last 20 living hostages, I keep inviting audiences, as a finale, to rise.

I recall that my grandfather, Leon Gerson, was one of 2 million Eastern European “boat people,” that heroic generation of Jews who escaped the oppressive, impoverished “old country” for the Goldene Medina, America. Living the American dream, while improving America too, they created the miracle of American Jewry. Waking up daily so grateful to be free, Grandpa seized every opportunity to say “shehechiyanu,” blessing God for sustaining us and bringing us to this miraculous moment.

I explain that since Oct. 7, I can’t drink to the 1,200 who died, and the 600-plus soldiers since – it’s overwhelming to think about so many beautiful souls at once. Instead, I honor one person at a time. It could be Ben Mizrachi, the Vancouver-born boy who didn’t run away from the Nova festival, but ran toward the danger to save others. It could be Yosef Guedalia, married shortly before Oct. 7, killed in the battle of Kfar Azza, after saving others too. Or it could be Yosef’s Duvdevan commando comrade, Yona Brief. They and other heroes prove that on Oct. 7, the government failed, the IDF failed, but Zionism succeeded. It raised a generation of patriotic Israelis who saved their country that day.

Injured in May, 2023, Yona fought his way back into good health and full service by September. On Oct. 7, he reached Kfar Azza, fighting fiercely for four hours, only to be ambushed while trying to save his commander. Thirteen bullets ripped into his head, back, liver, legs – he lost both legs.

Nevertheless, for 417 days, Brif fought for life as indomitably as he fought to save his country. Ultimately, tragically, he succumbed to infection. 

While mourning their beloved, youngest, 23-year-old son, his parents, Hazel and David, American olim – immigrants – inspired the nation as much as their son had.

When a reporter asked an admittedly “awful” question, “you had a nightmarish year, do you wish you could have avoided it,” they said “no,” just the opposite. “We kept saying how lucky we were,” David explained. “We knew where he was day after day – with us.” He wasn’t kidnapped – or slaughtered immediately. 

These loving parents had an extra 417 days with their amazing son – and 417 days of love and goodbyes, again and again, unlike those who lost 1,200 others Oct. 7.

I raise a glass of wine, hidden on the side. We bless the wine. We thank God “for keeping us alive and sustaining us.” And we shout “L’chaim,” to life, as I repeat: “We won” and “thank you.”

Why not perform that timely ritual at home, in your synagogue, the next time you gather with Jews and non-Jews alike?

Gil Troy is an American presidential historian and a Senior Fellow at the JPPI, the Global Thinktank of the Jewish People. Last year he published, “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream” and “The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath.” His latest E-book, “The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism and Jew-hatred” was just published and can be downloaded on the JPPI – Jewish People Policy Institute – Website.