Ari Fuld was my friend. Not a close friend but someone with whom I enjoyed a brief word or two on Shabbat. He davened with his two sons a few rows ahead of me in synagogue.
Fuld stood out as one of those big strong alpha males. He always had an M-16 rifle with him, as he was part of the home guard in our settlement, Efrat.
While he never put on any religious airs, he always had a Talmud in his hands while spending “downtime” in synagogue learning.
His sons who sat with him in shul stood out as well. The younger, a really sweet kid, was always on time for shul, so he was frequently drafted to lead the unglorified first part of the Shabbat morning davening. The older son was startlingly tall and handsome. He reminded me of the biblical description of King Saul who stood head and shoulders above the crowd.
Ari Fuld was murdered 30 days ago this week. The 30-day period of mourning holds significance in Jewish thought and practice.
He was killed at the local shopping center by a Palestinian terrorist who cowardly stabbed him in the back. Though mortally wounded, Ari, one of the toughest and proudest Jews I ever knew, chased after the terrorist, hopping a fence and shooting at him. One of the local shopkeepers credits Ari with saving her life. Finally, the loss of blood was too much; Ari literally toppled over and collapsed. While all victims of terrorism die as martyrs, Ari Fuld died a hero.
But that’s not what impresses me. What impresses me more is that he lived as a hero – a far more difficult task. Like many of us, Ari was a passionate Zionist and lover of the Jewish people. But what separated Ari from the rest of us was that he actually did something about it.
He was an activist. I used to see his many Facebook posts from the comfort of my bed at night and wonder to myself, Who the hell does this? He had frequent appearances on different TV programs where he defended Israel and his right-wing nationalist positions. He would constantly broadcast himself, often at the Western Wall and all over Israel, reporting about what was going on from the field.
And what did I do? I just swiped right past his post, looking for the next funny cat video.
IT’S NOT that I disagreed with Ari and his brand of Zionism, but I was – and hopefully will not remain – too damned comfortable to do anything about it. It’s almost as if I believed I did my job by making aliyah and serving my short stint in the IDF. And now my Zionism consists of squeezing out a monthly salary and paying a third of it to taxes. It’s as if I have this notion that I did my bit for God and country and now I can relax.
Ari’s life was a testament to how wrong I was. Ari’s life was dedicated to the notion that Zionism is not over with the establishment of our state, nor does our aliyah end when we move to Israel.
A Jewish life is an active life. Jewish law never lets you “sleep in.” There are no days off in Judaism. Our days of rest are anything but. Our holidays are filled with religious and social activities and obligations – so much so that we often need a holiday from our holidays. The mitzvot, rhythm and pace of Judaism are supposed to make you mindful and aware. Sleep is for the dead and activity is for the living. The Torah commands us: “You shall choose life!”
I remember seeing Ari’s live posts from all over Israel and the world advocating the cause of the Jewish people and its state, and thinking to myself, “Wouldn’t he rather be home watching Netflix?” And of course the answer for him was no.
Those of us who knew Ari were at first taken aback by him being labeled a hero. We just knew him as a regular guy with whom we liked to share a laugh. Unfortunately, it took his murder to make us realize that it was this very character of a regular guy doing extraordinary things that made him a hero.
Perhaps one of the most difficult things the Fuld family will have to deal with is the reconciliation of the ordinary man they knew with the national image of him as a Jewish hero. But both portraits are true.
I think that the lesson we can learn is the following: The difference between Ari Fuld and the rest of us is that Ari made Zionism and Israel advocacy his own personal responsibility. That’s what made Ari a hero.
The writer holds a doctorate in Jewish philosophy and teaches in post-high-school yeshivot and midrashot in Jerusalem.
