|
August 30, 2005
America's Orthodox
Zionists ask: What now?
STEPHEN SAVITSKY & NATHAN DIAMENT, THE JERUSALEM
POST Aug. 30, 2005
Perhaps it was all too
appropriate that the locations at which the "last stand" of
those resisting the implementation of Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's disengagement plan were the synagogues of the Gaza
communities. The creation and growth of Jewish communities over
the last decades in Gaza, Judea and Samaria was largely, though
not exclusively, fueled by religious Zionism and its adherents.
Israelis inspired by the Torah's accounts of Jewish life in the
Holy Land were those most willing to build communities in
difficult locales, in a manner akin to those – secular and
religious – who were modern Israel's founding pioneers.
And those in America who were the most connected to Israel and
Zionism through their religious commitment most closely
identified with the settlers and offered them financial, moral
and political support if they could not make aliya to those
communities themselves. It should not be lost on anyone that so
many of the voices of opposition in Israel to the disengagement
speak with a clearly American accent.
Now, as we move toward the post-disengagement era, the critical
conversations about the nature and role of religious Zionism
generated by this initiative in newspaper essays and
street-corner conversations must accelerate and encompass a
broad scope of participants – including religious Zionists from
outside Israel.
The disengagement plan let loose forces which called into
question long-standing assumptions among religious Zionists:
about the scope of participation in the secular state, the
nature of service in the IDF, the role of rabbis in society and
the balance of the imperative to settle the land with other
Jewish values. How debates over these fundamental questions are
resolved is critical to the future not only of religious
Zionism, but of all Jews in Israel and throughout the world.
MANY RELIGIOUS Zionist Jews in America were deeply conflicted
about our proper role in the debates over disengagement. Even
many who personally opposed the plan felt it was inappropriate
for them to oppose that which a majority of Jews living in
Israel and their government had decided because, at bottom, it
was a national security decision and those with their lives on
the line must be deferred to.
Thus, as the largest dati leumi (national religious) umbrella
organization in the US, our organization the OU walked a
difficult path and neither opposed nor endorsed the
disengagement plan despite the misgivings and pressure of so
many of our members.
But the discussion associated with the nature of religious
Zionism and its role in society – and thus the future character
of the State of Israel which we are all connected to – is one in
which we all have a direct stake, no matter where we live
currently. It will shape our future interactions with the state,
our religious identity, the role of our rabbis in our synagogues
and what is taught in our schools to our children.
The aliya rate from North American has risen in recent years in
no small measure because the educational content of American
Modern Orthodox day schools has become more intertwined with
religious Zionist teachings in Israel.
For these reasons, the OU will seek to facilitate and
participate in this discussion. We have rabbis and members, in
Israel and the US, who over the past months have taken starkly
opposing positions on disengagement, on the questions of refusal
by religious soldiers, and on whether the fundamental
partnership between religious and secular Zionists has been
shattered by this episode. Beyond the religious community we
have kept open lines of communication to the Yesha Council as
well as to the prime minister and both secular and right-wing
activist organizations.
From this vantage point, we will appeal to others who have
maintained unity even among divided ranks and we will seek to
partner with other leading religious Zionist institutions – Bar-Ilan
and Yeshiva universities, hesder yeshivot, the Rabbinical
Council of America and Bnei Akiva – to convene private meetings
and town-hall discussions regarding the critical questions on
the table.
Decades ago, at the founding of the modern State of Israel,
religious Zionist leaders debated the religious significance of
this new entity, never foretold by the prophets, in the context
of crafting a prayer for the welfare of the state. Anticipating
that even the founding of a state for the Jews would not yield a
clear and linear path to peace and redemption but would be
fraught with setbacks and uncertainty, the rabbinate formulated
the phrase "the beginning of the seeds of our redemption" to
describe the religious perspective on the state.
The prayer then beseeches God's blessing for the state's leaders
and defenders. The synagogues of Gaza will no longer echo with
this prayer. But it is incumbent upon those who recite it in
synagogues elsewhere to discuss and debate its meaning today and
work toward Jewish unity and redemption in the weeks and months
ahead.
Savitsky is president, and Diament director of public policy, at
the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
|
