Like much of the rest of the world, we have been keeping watch in my household. We are concerned, politically and personally. Ariel Sharon is hanging on to life, and Israel is holding on tight to him.

My husband, Craig, heard one report that I missed. Apparently, there was an interview on NPR with a “man in the street” in Israel. He praised Sharon as a great leader, a visionary, a strong man, and a keen general. The interviewer asked rhetorically: “So you voted for him?” And the man replied, taken aback: “Oh, no, I didn’t vote for him.”

I couldn’t track down the interview on the Internet to hear all the background and details, but just this snippet inspired me. One of the wonderful things about Israel is that people who passionately disagree about politics talk to one another, debate one another, respect one another, love one another, and are often related to one another. In the United States, a couple like James Carville and Mary Matalin makes headlines. In Israel, you can find couples who disagree on that scale on almost every block.

Sometimes even from here, at this safe distance, I can hardly bear to keep up with the news in the Middle East. But people in Israel stop on the hour to listen to the updates, they remain active, and they try to make a difference. What’s even more impressive is that political passions are not only engaged in Israel, they are almost always subsumed, thank God, to the love of State and neighbor. At critical times, you see this priority in bold relief. You saw it, for example, when settlers and the soldiers who were evacuating them prayed together. You see it now, as a country prays for and properly values a great and controversial leader.

May a speedy and complete healing come to Ariel Sharon. May he, together with all his friends, rivals, and neighbors in Israel, be blessed. May this historic leader recover to argue again – in the grand tradition of the Talmud and of everyday heroes throughout the Holy Land.