I recently read two books
about Israel. Although the books were written from different vantage
points, to my mind they highlighted the maddening, confounding,
paradoxical and holy perfect imperfection of the state of Israel.
The
Making of Modern Zionism: Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State
by Israeli political scientist Shlomo Avineri, discusses exactly what
the title implies. By focusing on the biographies of 18 thinkers from
the 19th and early 20th centuries, Avineri
shows the various ideas that led to the formation of the state.
Ranging from the secular to the religious, from theory to
practicality, from ignoring the local Arabs to recognizing them and
their aspirations, the ideas considered do not easily mesh into a
synthesized whole.
Like
Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers who United Israel and
Divided a Nation by Yossi Klein Halevi comes at the
contradictions inherent in the modern State of Israel from a
different direction. In telling the story of the paratroopers who
conquered East Jerusalem in 1967, Halevi masterfully shows the
different viewpoints of what the reunification of Jerusalem meant to
various parts of the Israeli population. In a book that reads as
almost biblical, fascinating characters from Rosh Yeshiva and
repentant redmptionist Rav Yoel Bin-Nun to Israeli protest-singer
Meir Ariel, we are introduced to individuals and communities and how
they viewed the Six Day War, and all that followed. Particularly for
those of us who have been educated almost exclusively from the
perspective of seeing Israel as a religiously significant, the book
is eye-opening and thought provoking.
Over the span of almost 20
centuries, Israel, Jerusalem and redemption became almost ahistorical
for the Jewish people. Rishonim wrote of Israel's contours without
having seen it, Jerusalem seemed almost to be a metaphor and so often
the redemption seemed either so far away, or superfluous. Although
many Jews yearned to see the Moshiach, his arrival and all that would
come through it, was viewed primarily as something that would happen
to the Jewish people, as opposed to something that would be actively
brought about by the Jewish people.
The Enlightenment,
European Nationalism and the anti-semitism that followed, changed
almost everything. Suddenly, the question became “Why not us?”.
Jews began to wonder why they should remain forever the stranger, at
best on the sidelines, and at worst, the victim of horrible
oppression and attacks. Although some, like Rabbis Kalischer and
Kook, asked these questions from the religious perspective, most
looked at it from the perspective of socialism, communism,
nationalism or some other worldview which did not involve God. While
these views and the debates that followed were at first theoretical,
before long, they became practical, leading to the plethora of
conflicting views of Israel is and what it should be.
Let me now change course
from the perspective of the aloof writer, to the passionate Zionist
that I have again become.
We have been given a gift,
one that comes, I believe, from God. It didn't happen in the way that
our ancestors envisioned it, but suddenly that which was until very
recently seen as ahistorical, has become very real. Jews of all types
are living close to and sometimes amongst those with different
languages, modes of dress, religious and political views, and
perspectives. If this isn't enough, we find ourselves (oh to again be
able to use these terms truthfully about myself and my family) in a
pretty rough regional “neighborhood, with Arabs living among us and
around us. All these years when we prayed, is this what we had in
mind? Can this be the Jerusalem that we mentioned many times a day?
And what of the redemption?
While some might answer
these questions by suggesting that this can not be what God truly
wants for us, and that thus, we must view Israel as just another part
of galus, I can not answer the questions this way. While this is not
the finished product, in many ways it moves in that direction. On the
other hand, I can not accept the approach that says that we have all
we need, either because this is the “Atchalta D'Geula” or because
there is no redemption to follow. I am caught somewhere in the
maddening, confusing and most wonderful middle. How else can I view
Yom Ha'atzmaut, a secular day on the calendar, where Israelis,
religious and secular alike celebrate with tiyulim and barbecues,
which this year, as with most years, will be observed a day late, to
avoid chillul Shabbat? Can I not be amazed at the founding of a
charedi
hesder yeshiva, and not, at the same time wonder why it took so
long to get to this point? How can I not see the holiness in the
bareheaded soldier protecting our land, including its yeshivahs? As I
observe my friends living in communities where there is very real
strife between religious Jews over what it means to be
a religious Jew, how can I not be a bit envious of watching them live
out the messy process of figuring out what a Torah state should look
like? Finally, when visiting my brother's yishuv, how can I not think
about the patch of prime real estate that lays undeveloped in the
middle of the yishuv, as the dispute over its ownership remains
ongoing?
While
this is not the State we might have asked for, it's the one we have
been given. While there are blemishes and imperfections, there is
such incredible beauty, holiness and goodness. As always, God pushes
us to be his partner in creating a holy world, rather than passively
sitting back and waiting for the redemption to come from heaven.
Shehechiyanu V'kiyemanu v'higiyanu lazeman hazeh.
Well written. I also got an emotional shot in the arm from my recent trip to Israel. But I have become fond of saying lately that I am a religious Jew, but a Secular Zionist. I'm not sure if I believe in the classic idea of Mashiach and the Geulah, an idea which, frankly, has undergone many iterations and has evolved considerably.
ReplyDeleteBut I can still espouse a Zionism that is proud of what our people have accomplished. That just in time for the bloody 20th century (but unfortunately not even earlier) we made a place for ourselves in a legendary ancestral land, a place where our people could regroup from genocide and persecution. That we revived a language that was used only for ritual purposes and made it come alive again as a spoken language. That the pattern of the Jewish calendar is the pattern of the entire country.
What is the geulah anyway? Is it really rebuilding an Ancient Near East style temple and bringing sacrifices again? Is it fracturing our unity into tribes again?
Or is it this? Building a homeland where to which we gradually return. Hopefully eventually maturing enough that we are really Or LaGoyim. Becoming a home for Jews of all sorts who understand and learn and keep Torah in myriad different ways.
When I was a kid growing up Orthodox in Brooklyn, I assumed that the geulah meant going back to what we once were. That the prior 19 centuries would have been just an interlude.
But those 19 centuries created Judaism. And Zionism. It was a maturing process. If we hadn't been exiled, and if the chachamim had not made Torah central to our lives, Judaism would have disappeared, just another ancient civilization with quaint practices for a museum. Instead, we are vibrant and with a state of our own.
Sorry about that, I started out actually replying, then went off into a post of my own.
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