“Die situation ist verzweifelt, aber nicht ernst.”

This Viennese slogan from a century ago was on my mind during my recent trip to Israel. “The situation is desperate, but not serious.” That is, the matzav (situation) is serious, but people do not act as if they were in a serious matzav.

Things are not looking great in the Middle East for Israel. Well, perhaps they never are, but it looks to me worse than usual. As I landed, Hamas was shooting rockets into the South, including Beersheva as well as Ashkelon and Ashdod, where my cousins from Russia live, and the rockets