How does one move on with life after being struck by tragedy? It’s a question many people face at the darkest moments in their lives. And, for some, life pretty much shuts down as they sink into a state of depression.
This was a question that the family of Israeli, Ben Zussman, have had to contend with in recent months. Killed in battle late last year, Ben was just 22 when the events of October 7th occurred. Fired up to defend his people and to bring the hostages back — and, in fact, as his mother says, “to fight for good against evil” — he was determined to join in military action to defend his country, even though he was due to start a course of study during October.
Ben’s parents, Zvi and Sarit Zussman, took the decision to use their experience of extreme sorrow to spread messages of hope. “We decided to live. To fight — not with weapons but with words, and through telling stories,” says Ben’s mother, Sarit, who visited Cape Town during May to talk at two events organised by the SAZF Cape Council.
Sarit makes no bones about what the current conflict is about. The big picture is that this is a world war, a war of good against evil, and that it goes way beyond the Israel-Palestine conflict. And it is a war on numerous fronts, including a media war. She spoke about the need to fight against the bias demonstrated by the world’s media, and to talk the truth constantly and louder and louder to counter the lies being spewed out in the media and swallowed up by so many people who accept these lies without thinking. As Sarit commented, “People who demonstrate against Israel are demonstrating their own ignorance.”
Giving the Jewish community in South Africa hope, Sarit commented that the voices of Am Yisrael have had a huge impact on Israelis. The solidarity and support of Jewish communities around the world is a crucial part of keeping Israel alive.
Zussman is a member of an Israeli organisation called The Fourth Quarter. The organisation explains its purpose as:
Israel has now started the 4th quarter since its founding in 1948. This is a dangerous time in the life of nations – twice before in history, the Jewish state crumbled before it reached its 100th year. Considering the divisions in Israel prior to October 7th, this seems prophetic. David Ben Gurion said this at the state’s founding: “The test of Zionism will be when Israel turns 75. By then, the children born will no longer meet Holocaust survivors, nor will they know the founding generation. Our belief in the righteousness of our cause will require a renewed definition, not based on what was, but rather on what will be.”
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