Micah Goodman’s Catch-67 was my Tisha B’Av reading this year. I truly regret having put off reading it for as long as I have. If tribalism was one of the causes of the destruction of the Second Jewish Commonwealth as well as the sundering of the First into two kingdoms, then we’ve got a lot of work to do. Micah Goodman points out that the Medina was only formed because of Ben-Gurion’s willingness to compromise on some of his most cherished beliefs about what the character of Israel should be. Many of Israel’s political problems could be solved with a return to the pragmatic approach.
This book deals with the bitter argument between the left and the right regarding the land to the west of the Jordan River that was captured during the Six Day War in 1967. The reason why no progress can be made is because both sides have staked their identity on their chosen ideology. The way forward is to strip away the ideology and see the underlying arguments. Once the arguments of each side are laid bear, it can be seen how both sides are actually mired in a “catch”—both the left and the right’s solution to the problem enters them into another unsolvable problem (read the book for details).Beyond showing the underlying arguments for each side, he offers two paths forward (again, read the book). The key is to not seek total solutions (which result in total problems), but instead to think pragmatically and find partial solutions.
I’m a bit late on reading this book and I haven’t yet read the reviews and analysis that came in its wake. I’m really not sure if this book had a positive impact. Either way, Micah Goodman deserves tremendous applause for a move in the right direction.
To sum up the lessons of this book:
- when ideology becomes identity peace is unattainable
- peace does not equal agreement
- we must be able to make peace with ourselves before we can attain peace in the Middle East
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