Once in a while someone writes a piece that encapsulates the
reasons why Jews never got it right in nearly 4,000 years of yearning and
struggles that often end in tragedy. When you see writing like that, you cannot
help but recall Samuel Beckett's stage play Waiting for Godot.
This is the story of two men, Vladimir and Estragon, who
await the arrival of someone named Godot, but he never comes. Most people
interpret the title and the unfolding of the play to represent the story of the
Jews who are waiting for the arrival of a Messiah (God) they believe will bring
them salvation at last. But it seems after this length of time that the wait
has been an exercise in futility because Godot will never come.
It must be said that Samuel Beckett repeatedly denied this
is what he meant to convey by writing this play. The trouble, however, is that
he also admitted he was never certain what it is he was trying to say. And so,
the popular interpretation persists. Make of it what you want.
This time, it is a column written by Cal Thomas which
invokes memories of Beckett's play. The column came under the title:
“U.S.-Israel relations on the mend” and the subtitle: “Obama's wishful thinking
that favored Iran
is about to end.” It was published on December 7, 2016 in The Washington Times.
What should strike the reader as vintage Judaism is right there in the
subtitle. Thomas speaks of “Obama's wishful thinking” when in reality, it is
the Thomas column that is a pundit's reformulation of Beckett's wishful Waiting
for a Godot.
This time, we have two men, Cal Thomas and Zalman Shoval
talking to each other, with the latter heralding the good news that “the
relationship between the Jewish state [Israel] and the United States [America]
is going to improve.” Why? Because the cabinet picks of Donald Trump (is this
the new Godot?) “have a more realistic view of the Middle
East than President Obama.” Was he another discarded Godot that
failed to deliver?
There came a number of Godots who also failed to deliver to
the Jews the full salvation they crave, though each threw them a bone that kept
the dream alive before it was dashed and replaced by another dream. First,
there was uncle Joe Stalin who gave them hope and nothing more. Then came Guy
Mollet and Anthony Eden who showed them how to invade a neighbor's territory
before getting booted out. And then came George W. Bush who apparently promised
to give them what belongs to a third party but never delivered on the promise.
And now the Jews are pinning their hopes on Donald Trump to deliver what no one
else did.
But what exactly do they expect from the new awaited Godot?
They hope for two things. First, having gotten their hands on Palestine , they want him to acknowledge their
ownership of it by pretending that what they are doing is not thievery. This,
in their view, will maintain the status quo long enough for them to complete
the ethnic cleansing they have been conducting for half a century.
Second, having been bosom buddies with Iran in the hope of
turning the leaders of that country into an anti-Arab Godot that will work to
serve Israel's ambitions in the Middle East, the Jews now realize they made a
colossal mistake, and wish to see America fix the problem they created by
destroying an Iran that grew so powerful it makes them feel uneasy.
The Jews fear two trends. One is expressed as follows: “Mr.
Shoval says he hopes Trump realizes that Iran
cannot be a partner with the United States
in the Middle East even if from time to time it seems like that because of
what's happening in Syria .”
The other trend is expressed as follows: “Jimmy Carter has a different
worldview. He called on Obama to recognize a Palestinian state before he leaves
office, and called on the UN to pass a resolution setting the parameters for
resolving the conflict”.
And these are the two issues they hope the new Godot, Donald
Trump, will resolve in their favor despite the developing trends. Here is how
Cal Thomas expresses that hope: “I believe in miracles … Mr. Carter continues to
trade off his one success, but getting one thing right is like an astrologer
wanting credit for one prediction that came true while ignoring hundreds that
didn't”.
In the view of Cal Thomas, that's as much wishful thinking
as Obama's wishful thinking. In fact, Judaism teaches that getting things right
is not enough. What's more important than doing things is saying things,
according to the wisdom of the Talmud.
Thus, Thomas rejects the Carter approach of having done
something, in favor of what Trump's pick to head the National Security Council
did, which is that he said something: “I find it incredible that an American
president believes an alliance with Iran to be more attractive than our embrace
of Israel”.
To Jews, saying something in the abstract is more reassuring
than forging a peace treaty with Egypt that has endured four decades
already and remains as solid as ever.