In the little time that has passed since the announcement of a peace accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (and Bahrain), we have been hearing a lot of similar stories. The predominantly Moslem European country of Kosova is going to establish relations with Israel and put its Israeli embassy in Jerusalem. Serbia, which already had relations with Israel, will likely be moving its embassy to Jerusalem, and there is a chance that the Czech Republic and perhaps even Austria will be moving their embassies to Jerusalem as well.

I hope this finds you all well in these uncertain times. Someone from Baltimore asked me, about five weeks ago, to explain about President Trump’s “Deal of the Century.” Below is what I knew then, with a few words at the end about what we know now. I tried to provide my answer without badmouthing anybody. The truth is that Trump and Kushner and Friedman and Netanyahu all seem like fine people, although I’ve never had a Shabbos meal with any of them, that being my main way of meeting new people. They’re all welcome to join us for Shabbos and receive my Chevron tour (after Corona is over).

In the meantime, the Deal seems to have fallen out of the news in Israel, replaced almost entirely by a preoccupation with Israel’s returning Corona virus. Still, it could come back at any time, in the format I describe below, for better or worse, with Trump or with another president. After you read what I wrote, perhaps you will be able to formulate an opinion about whether or not you want it to return.

February 19 I went to a friend’s wedding in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem. Not a large wedding, but a wedding. (You remember those, don’t you?) Israel had its third election in one year scheduled for March 1, and I was asking my 92-year-old mother every day whether she wanted to vote. Some days she said yes, and some days she said no. Since she is wheelchair bound, cannot really use her hands, and can mostly only respond to yes-no questions, this was going to pose a challenge. But if she wanted to vote, it would be good for her and meaningful for her to do so.

I was trying to describe to my mother’s foreign worker, a woman from the Philippines, the political issues facing Israel, and I asked her if she was following those things at all. She responded, patiently, “The main issue that concerns most people I know is the virus that has struck China.” And I said to myself, “What? Oh, I heard about that.” On February 23, there was indeed something in the news about 200 South Korean tourists to Israel, some of whom had come down with the coronavirus. A safe route was being found for them to leave the country, and I said to myself, “Good, so let them leave.” I still wasn’t listening.

It’s a tale of twos, a story of firsts and of seconds. This Shabbos, two days ago, was the first of two Shabbosim during the Nine Days, during which we mourn the loss of the two Temples. Shabbos morning, in Daf Yomi, Temura 15, we learned about the Jews who came up to the Land of Israel with Ezra the Scribe following 70 years of exile. Some of those men were old enough to recall the idolatry the led to that exile, and the gemarIt’s a says they wept over it.

If those men could weep over the idolatry they witnessed in their childhood, idolatry that led to their 70-year exile, I can weep over the political missteps taken 27 years ago during the 1992 Israeli elections, political missteps in which I took a modest part.

Back in September of 2016 I wrote an article for WWW, “Vote Trump and Feel Good about It.” I think the things Donald Trump has done during the past 18 months have proven me right.

Fifty years from now, when people look back at the decade that began in 2010, and they ask what was most special about that decade for Israel, I think three things will come to mind: the train line now being completed that is going to put Tel Aviv just 28 minutes from Jerusalem; American’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; and America’s recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli.

The 28-minute train between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will forge a link between Israel’s two largest city centers, one largely spiritual and the other largely material, enriching both, and making Israel much stronger. Jerusalemites will be able to lead a spiritual, Jerusalem-based life and find work, 28 minutes away.

April 9, 2019, Israel is going to hold its 21st national elections, seven months before they would have happened anyway. In a parliamentary democracy such as England or Israel, it is the right of a ruling coalition to decide to schedule elections early if they think they cannot continue to function or if they think the timing is good for “producing a new first down,” to borrow an expression from football. If by holding the elections now they think they might win, with favorable results, and waiting seven months for the scheduled time, they might lose, they will sometimes hold the elections early.

Under the present circumstances, Netanyahu decided to hold elections early for any of the following reasons: 1) There is pressure right now from the Supreme Court to pass laws that will make army deferments for chareidi Torah learners a smidgeon harder to attain. Netanyahu wanted to avoid that through elections, this being the main type of protection Netanyahu offers the chareidim in exchange for their voting with the coalition on other issues. 2) Netanyahu has criminal charges hanging in the air, charges he denies, and he wants to try to squeeze in elections before possible indictments make him less popular. 3) In April, Netanyahu will still be under 70 years old, and 69 sounds younger than 70.