There was no music emanating from the President's Residence on Tuesday, the last day before Simchat Torah.
There were no long lines of parents carrying toddlers and wheeling baby carriages. There were no senior citizens leaning on canes or walkers, but willing to sacrifice comfort in order to get close to the president of Israel and possibly shake his hand. There were no police in the street, and the security guards at the entrance to the residence were members of the president’s regular detail.
In other words, there was no traditional open house this year.
But inside the grounds, scores of youth were gathered in clusters. Nearly all had been displaced from their homes in the north and south of the country. Some were living in places not too far away, and others a considerable distance from all that had been familiar.
They came from as far apart as Eilat in the South and Kiryat Shmone in the north.
Some were already doing National Service; some belonged to Zionist youth groups. There were a few from the Scouts in uniform, and there were also some new immigrants.
In past years, visitors strolled through the giant Sukkah, which the Ministry of Agriculture had helped to decorate with the best of Israel’s horticultural and agricultural products - especially new strains of fruits and vegetables developed by Israeli researchers and farmers.
There was none of that this year. There was a small, sparse Sukkah on the lawn decorated with fake fruit and vegetables. When some of the religious youth wanted to eat inside the Sukkah, they were ushered out by presidential staff, and were thus unable to fulfill one of the most basic commandments of Sukkot.
The purpose of the event was twofold. One was for the young people to be motivated by influencers and the other was for them to share their experiences and their feelings.
In the latter case, they sat around in the grounds on chairs placed in circular formation so that everyone could see each other. There were approximately a dozen such circles. A few of the groups were successful in discussing the concept of building the Israel of tomorrow, but in most cases, the youngsters looked bored, and were not really listening to the group leaders.
On the other hand, when sitting inside the building first with influencers or motivators such as Olympic Judo champion Peter Paltchik and sport mental counselor Avishai Regev, who finished second in the Race for a Million, and who each presented condensed versions of their life stories, the youngsters displayed great interest in what they heard.
After lunch they met with their hosts President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal for an incredibly informal Q&A session in which the youngsters asked questions and the Herzogs answered them,standing not on the stage, but on the floor, moving from one side to the other to make eye contact with whoever asked a question.
The youngsters were not the least bit shy, and hands kept popping up throughout the main hall of the building.
Part of that enthusiasm might be due to Herzog’s youthful appearance. Not an imposing figure, he retains his boyish look, even though he’s already 64. The rapport was almost tangible.
Subjects of questions asked ranged from judicial reform to the Herzogs’ taste in music. There were also questions about whether the Herzogs actually live in the President’s Residence, or whether they go back to their private home in Tel Aviv every night.
There was also a question about the length of presidential tenure, and how the Herzogs felt when they first moved into the residence.
But the most important questions which were asked, related to education. Most of the youngsters had their education disrupted when evacuated from their homes. Some complained that the local authorities in the locations to which they had been assigned, were not helpful in matters related to the education of youth who had been uprooted from their homes and their communities.
The president was asked what he could do about that. Herzog explained that there was nothing that he could personally do, but he had plenty of good connections with people who could do something, and said that he would make them aware of the problem. Michal Herzog acknowledged that there are flaws in the education system.
For the record, the Herzogs like all musical genres; they live at the residence and their living quarters are upstairs.
Herzog said that the President’s Residence did not belong to him, but was the home of all Israelis. This half truth has been repeated over and over by every president of Israel. Other than the fact that the presidential budget comes from taxes paid by the population, no-one other than employees or security personnel can just walk in off the street. Invitations have to be issued or appointments made. There’s a regular week-day prayer quorum whose identities are known to security, but they are the exceptions to the rule.
Herzog made the point that the President’s Residence is also a mini art museum in that it contains unique and diverse works particularly the ceiling which was created by Holocaust survivor Naftali Bezem (who was born in Germany 100 years ago). There are 63 painted squares which tell the story of Jewish survival in the face of oppression beginning with Jacob’s ladder and continuing to Bezem’s own illegal immigration by ship to the Holy Land during the period of the British Mandate. The squares include Jewish symbolism. Herzog also saw the ceiling as reflective of the current situation.
Of his tenure, Herzog said that he was almost half way through his seven-year period, but there was still a lot left to do. Well aware of the trauma that has stricken the nation and will continue to do so, Herzog and his wife have met and visited with bereaved families who have lost loved ones to terrorism or whose loved ones have fallen in battle.
“We know of the pain, bereavement and fear that all of Israel has experienced,” said Herzog. “Many people were unaware of their own capabilities before October 7,” he added, alluding to the many initiatives that had surfaced since then to help evacuees, soldiers, hostage families and people suffering from the traumatic effects of Hamas terrorism.
Looking out across the hall, he told the youngsters, “Some of you may one day be in positions of leadership and one of you may be here as President.
Herzog, who has taken a particular interest in the hostages, mentions them at every opportunity, and did so when concluding his session with the youngsters, and again later in the evening when he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
As for the influencers, who in the morning had excited the interest of the teenagers, Paltchik spoke of how he as an infant had come with his 23 year old mother from the Soviet Union, without language, without family, and without friends. They were joined some time later by his grandparents. His mother moved to the US, and he remained with his grandparents who raised him. He was an underweight child who did not adjust easily, but decided early on that he would be a fighter.
His grandfather enrolled him in a judo club and came with him to every training session and to every contest.
Since then, he has telephoned his grandfather from wherever he is in competitions around the world.
When Paltchik went to the Tokyo Olympics, he was sure that he would return with a gold medal. He failed. It was a severe blow to his ego. He had not only disappointed himself, but also his family, his fans, his friends and his sponsors.
Realizing that he had to change his attitude, his focus when he went to the Paris Olympics was to think of his responsibility to the six member judo team of three men and three women. “Nothing is more Israeli than being responsible for each other,” he said.
“I came to Tokyo like a horse with blinkers, and failed,” he continued. In Paris everything was different. The team had arrived in the midst of Israel’s worst ever crisis, and Paltchik was determined to tell Israel’s story wherever and whenever he could. He was also subjected to numerous threats on social media, and could not go anywhere without a bunch of security guards. Every morning, he and a security guard would go through the latest batch of threats. His wife had told him not to be a hero if anyone shot at him.
In the final analysis, he won his gold medal, and he produced it at the President’s Residence, to an ear-splitting cheer reverberating in the hall.
“This is the best answer to those who want to humiliate you, because it enables you to demonstrate what you can do, and to walk proudly with the Israeli flag held high” he said.
Avishai Regev spoke of the many hardships he encountered in Race for a Million, which elsewhere in the world is called The Amazing Race.
He commented that this illustrated the difference between the Israeli mentality and that of the rest of the world. In Israel the first thought was money and not overcoming fear of heights or extreme sports. “How many of you would risk bungee jumping?” he asked. “What are you prepared to do for money? What are your limits?”
Referring to his fellow contestants, he said that most people come for the experience rather than the money.
“Those who come only for the money, miss out on a lot, and in the end, most don’t win.“ Though initially attracted by the money, he was able to prove to himself that he could withstand “below zero temperatures, rope climbing in the air and other challenges. “If it was only the money, I would have dropped out midway,” he said. “The story is never to give up. Victory is to overcome your own difficulties and to enjoy what you’re doing.”