I am writing this as I go back and forth with my wife and younger boys to our neighborhood bomb shelter in Jerusalem today, as the missile alerts and sirens pop up every few hours.The sirens have become part of the rhythm of our days, and yet, in this strange and difficult moment, it is not fear I feel but something different: pride.Pride in our soldiers. One of whom is my son, who was called up once again for the fifth time in the past year. Pride in our people, who carry on with their daily routine, keeping sane while madness is spinning around us.And yes — pride in our Prime Minister, who had the clarity and courage to make this miracle happen, to strike Iran, to change the course of history, and to restore something essential that we had lost.There is a sense that we are living in Biblical times. As such I am naturally drawn to this week’s parsha — the story of the Golden Calf.
I can’t help but think about our own national “original sin.” The sin wasn’t just idolatry. It was arrogance. It was complacency. It was the belief that we were untouchable, that nothing truly bad could happen to us, that we could afford to look away from danger because we were too strong, too smart, too secure to fall.For decades, we lived with our own Golden Calf — the illusion that our enemies could be managed, contained, deterred, or ignored. Sometimes we were too sure of ourselves. Sometimes we were too afraid. Sometimes we simply didn’t do what was needed to be done.
And on October 7, we learned the price of that arrogance in the most brutal way imaginable.But something else happened after October 7. We learned that all the voices telling us what we are incapable of doing, warning us that Iran was too mighty, too powerful, too dangerous to confront — were wrong. Not just wrong, but defeatist. We learned that the “inevitable” was never inevitable. We learned that the monster could be struck, that the regime could be shaken, that the myth of Iranian invincibility was just that — a myth.And so, as we read about the Golden Calf this week, I think the message is painfully clear: stop repeating the sins of the past. Stop worshipping illusions. Stop bowing to fear, to arrogance, to complacency. Stop convincing ourselves that we are powerless or that our enemies are unstoppable.Instead, trust HaShem. Trust the IDF. Trust our leadership when it shows courage and vision. Trust the extraordinary strength of this nation — a strength that has revealed itself again and again in the darkest moments.We are living through a time of judgment, a time of reckoning, a time when the old idols are being shattered. The only question now is whether we will learn the lesson the Golden Calf was meant to teach us: that survival requires faith, clarity, unity, and the willingness to act.This time, let’s get it right. This time, let’s win.
Danny Seamen is Director of MEF-Israel and a 31-year veteran of the Israeli government, having served as Director of the Government Press Office and Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs. Since retiring from government, Mr. Seaman has been a media consultant and worked as bureau chief of Voice of Israel, an English language Talk Radio station, as well as editor of English language content at Mida.org.il, an online conservative Israeli current affairs and opinion magazine. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the City University of New York, Hunter College.
