April 30, 2004

"One Nation Under G-d"

Ariel Sharon walked away happy from the White House. President Bush gave him almost everything he wanted. But Sharon shouldn't have been happy because he didn't get what Israel’s needs most, which is not peace—although peace is critically important—or money or rain—both essential to the economy and well-being of our people. What Israel needs most is a common ideology among its Jews.

An end to terror and war is a priority, but what happens after the terror is ended and a modicum of peace is established between Jew and Arab? Fear of an enemy obsessed with hate has brought most Jews in Israel together, but Israel’s fratricide is worse than ever. Political parties are internally conflicted and the religious communities are divided. A nation must have a national philosophy and purpose. The United States, for example, glories in its national principle of "Liberty and justice for all." This is more than words to Americans. Republicans and Democrats, save but a few on the fringe, believe that democracy and equality are ideals to foster among all people. Critics of Bush may have argued against the war in Iraq, but few of them argued against the principle of bringing democracy to the Middle East.

Israel began as a state with a national mission to "be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem." "To be free" meant to be free of Hitler and antisemitism. "In our land" meant the land that G-d gave in the Torah to the people He freed from bondage. Religious Jews, from the haredim to the religious Zionists, believe that every speck of Israeli soil is hallowed and that it is our inheritance from G-d, while secular Jews believe that the land is theirs the way that France belongs to the French and Spain to the Spanish.

Secular and religious Zionists once shared the common commitment to nationalism. Jewish peoplehood was the principle underlying divergent views. "What we are, we are, but we are Jews." These were the words of an old Yiddish folk song. It spoke volumes, for regardless of our divergent views and practices, we respected a common objective, which was to live as Jews. But the secularists no longer believe in our common peoplehood. They wonder why they are fighting in the West Bank to defend a people they feel no connection with.

The religious Zionists living there are alone in their mission of practicing historic Zionism: to inherit and occupy the land. These settlers in Gaza, Samaria, and Judea appear to the haredim and secularists to have an agenda devoid of any national purpose. But these settlers, committed to retaining every inch of Israel’s hallowed soil, are what is left of historic Zionism. Agree or disagree with them, these men, women, and children deserve our respect and affection. Their passion is the spirit of fiery old Jewish heroes who made the desert bloom and the dream of returning to the land of our fathers a reality.

I believe that we will survive terror’s agony, but then what? Some say there will be a major civil war, a war between Jew and Jew. The secularists will do battle against the religious. A rage of pent-up hatred will explode against those who impose the laws of Shabbat observance, kashrut, and forbidden marriage. Has the divide between Jew and Jew become a chasm so wide and deep? If it has, may G-d forgive us for this great sin. Our enemies killed our old and our young, they burned our synagogues, they stole our homes and institutions. We survived to claim our land and together took the oath "never again," but the oath wasn't enough.

The new Jewish generation in secular Israel shares neither a common past nor future with the Zionist idealists. The kibbutz, the shrine of secular Zionism, metamorphosed into a capitalistic moneymaking machine. Marxism became a lie as this generation's parents hired laborers in the collective settlements. The children were left bereft of the ideology and dream of rebuilding the land. When they come of age today, they receive a gun and a uniform and instructions to defend the land. But they're not sure the land is theirs because the Palestinians are claiming it. To link these secularist young soldiers with their past, the government gives them a sixty-minute tour of the Diaspora Museum and tells them, “This is your past—now fight.” The young soldiers fight, but as soon as they finish their three years in the military, they board an airplane for another land and another life.

There is a national mission for Israel. It is to preserve the Jewish people as G-d’s light to all nations. The deed of the land of Israel is recorded on the pages of the holy Torah. G-d gave the land to Israel, and while Americans will debate whether theirs is a nation “under G-d”, there can be no debate about whether Israel is a nation under G-d. As a nation and land, it must remain indivisible.

Shabbat Shalom