Order from Chaos

Zionism is Dead, Long Live Zionism

Most of the citizens of Israel are suffering from major fatigue. People have been living in a state of war since before its inception. Many have fought in three or four major conflicts which have truly threatened the existence of the state and the well-being of its inhabitants. All citizens are required to spend a goodly portion of their developmental years in active duty – both men and women. During this time, they are exposed to major risk of injury or death. It does not matter that the proportion compared to, say auto accidents is small, because behind the deaths while defending the country is a heinous motive from a hateful enemy. There is always the very real risk that this will accelerate into another major conflagration. Though this battle may be worldwide, everyone knows the brunt will be borne by the Jewish State.

It is no wonder that the government is committed to pulling back into a defensive perimeter in order to be prepared for this possibility. In fact, considering this scenario, one may truly question the sanity of anyone who would object to such a move. The smart money goes to self-protection. Everyone recognizes the unfairness of uprooting citizens to do so, but it is no different than a wolf chewing off his foot which got caught in a trap.

But who are the insane who demand to remain in their homes for a motive either poorly understood or considered ludicrous by the majority who elected the present government? Mostly they are dreamers of a grand past made manifest by Israel’s reincarnation. They believe in invisible forces controlled by an unknown power driving the world to a fantastic destiny.

Both sides are Zionists, but one is tired and the other is new and untried. They are two different kinds of Zionists. The tired ones are those who have lived with a failed idea- secular Zionism. By examining the movement we can see why it was doomed for the long haul even while it had such power and impetus at its onset. Make no mistake. Secular Zionism created and built the state which is now Israel. It was not done by the religious, nor could it have been.

In 1895, Theodore Herzl wrote a pamphlet called “The Jewish State”. He emphasized that Jews around the world were in constant danger, even in his enlightened period. Herzl believed that Anti-Semitism arose out of a disrespect for a people who though maintaining their identity had no state. Immigrants from Italy, Germany and Russia could derive their origins from their native country, wherever they were, thus maintained both respect and a sense of power. Jews had no state, so could be preyed upon regardless of the place they resided. If Jews had a state, they would be respected as a nation, peer to nations.

Israel would be a state that would accept all Jews from the oppression of the countries of the world and elevate them to safety, security and respect. All the work of the founders was to establish Israel as one which could defend itself, proffering respect, and simultaneously, as one who would give of itself and its resources, proffering gratitude and love.
Ultimately, Israel’s self-respect would depend on the attitude given to it by others. For a while, despite rigorous opposition from regional forces, it did indeed get the recognition it craved. In its early years, Israel was lauded as a miracle- an underdog who prevailed. The affection did not last long. It is called a pariah state, an apartheid state, an oppressor and occupier. It receives almost weekly sanctions from one official body or another. It is the victim of boycotts, even from respectable academic institutions. It is reviled in many liberal newspapers and broadcast media. It is the subject of conferences on many college campuses, whose sole agenda is to vilify it and plot to undermine it. It is the only country in the world whose legitimacy as a nation is put into question.

It is no wonder that those Zionists who depended on the world’s opinion for their own well-being should be depressed and fatigued. They should be disillusioned. Further, they should question their premises. If the creation of a Jewish state is to bring respect and honor among nations, and it does not, why should it exist? By depending on external acceptance to gain ones own self-respect, the present inhabitants of Israel, present and former Secular Zionists, have painted themselves into a corner.

Obviously, they are not going to conclude that they should no longer exist. But absent world approbation, they slink into a defensive position and wait for the attack. This is the mark of a doomed country. This is how Greece, Rome and Byzantium fell. If it were the only belief in Israel, it would be the source of Israel’s demise- a suicidal depression. Many from this group say that Zionism is dead. From their point of view, it is.

This is not the only Zionism in Israel. The other predates Herzl’s by 3000+ years. Today it is called Religious Zionism. It’s essential premise is that Hashem ( a word used to identify God- It means “the name”) exists and He gave us this land. Period. Rashi’s commentary on the Torah begins with a justification of Israel’s existence, written almost 1000 years ago. His comments regarding Hashem’s creating the world is that the world is perforce Hashem’s and He can do what He wants with it. Hashem gave the land where Israel now stands to the Jews, His chosen people. It was not said once, but numerous times in the Tanach (Torah, Prophets and Writings); emphasized time and time again that its possession did not depend on other nations, but on the Jews’ behavior, and His own Will. This is the same Torah which is considered holy and true by Christians and Moslems alike.

To those who do not subscribe to the existence of Hashem, this is ludicrous, anachronistic, and suicidal; the latter because the adherent is likely to take risky and potentially garrulous chances. It embarrasses many Jews and Israelis to be called ‘chosen’, and it angers many others. Its detractors claim that this philosophy is no different than the radical Islamists Israel is fighting, and justify all the villainous claims against it.

But the facts must be recognized.

Israel is the only nation which existed in former times, in fact ancient times, was totally destroyed and its inhabitants scattered throughout the globe, maintained its identity as before and came together again as a new nation. Even at its inception, one can see only a three year window, at best, where they would have been given world recognition, as they received from the UN. Many voted out of guilt for the Holocaust. It was the only time the US and the USSR voted in concert for anything. After 1949, the Cold War began, and the time for acceptance of the Jewish State would have ended. The UN’s generosity towards Israel has vanished

It fought several wars, whose campaigns border on the miraculous. There were no less than five battles Israel fought during the ’48 war where the opposing armies retreated after the defenders were down literally to the last bullet. The onset of the ’67 war saw Israel’s airspace virtually devoid of defensive aircraft, all of which were sent to destroy enemy airfields. Had any group of enemy aircraft taken to the air during that time, Israel would have been defenseless, and would have been destroyed. The ’73 war saw a 47/1 ratio of tanks in the Golan, yet they were able to maintain a defensive line for two weeks, before being able to take the offensive. Any break in the line would have allowed the enemy to move unopposed to Haifa and Tel Aviv. West Point teaches the campaigns of Judah Maccabe , but will not teach the campaigns of modern Israel. It is not due to prejudice. Their analysts cannot see the military logic in them. They see the campaigns as long shots and they are not prone to taking unnecessary risks, certainly not disposed to teaching them.

In its nascent years, Israel accepted three times its population from Yemen, Iraq, Europe and many other parts of the world. To illustrate the enormity of this endeavor, it would be like the United States accepting and absorbing 780 million people. The Israelis did this over a ten year period. Later it was to do it again for over 1 million Russians, and tens of thousands of Ethiopians.

During all these times, despite a humongous military budget, Israel’s economy has greatly expanded, and is considered one of the most robust in the world. It is at the forefront of development in agriculture and water use, medical and hospital systems, pharmaceuticals, banking, development of towns and settlements, hotel management, general construction, computer and communications technologies, and military advances.

Many do not even recognize these developments, seeing only the superficial, sometimes scurrilous media reports. But recognize the slanderous reportage to be the result of a jealous reaction to a too successful society which everyone expected to die in its infancy.

Religious Zionism recognizes these developments as a natural and miraculous outcome of Hashem’s promise to give Jews the Land. It embodies within it all the predictions and conditions set down in Torah. Among them are the ingathering of Jews to Israel, which is presently happening. Those conditions include anti-Semitism which is expected to persist until the coming of the Messiah. We can hasten his coming by following the Torah’s directions, or it will happen in Hashem’s time- but he will come.

The religious Zionists are ‘fresh troops’. They are not afraid to say “this is our land”, like the intrepid grandfathers of today’s majority. They are willing to stand by that statement. Whereas the older Zionists have gotten weary, the newer ones are ready to raise the flagging banner. They fill the army’s ranks, are counted in public affairs, including politics, and contribute to the general welfare in many ways.

On the one hand it could be said that they are at the beginning of the road to defend and support Israel. They have not been tested by coming up to the pressures that beset the leader whose responsibility lies the very lives of his countrymen. It could be said the religious Zionists are naïve and act in dangerous and risky ways – permissible perhaps for a fringe group in a free society, but not fitting for responsible leadership.

On the other hand, the religious Zionists have been around for far longer than the secular Zionists- at least 1800 years longer, depending how you define them. I define them as those Jews who though in exile, never gave up on the belief that Hashem gave the Land to them, and because of their own evil actions, He took it away. But He promised to give it back in our time, or His.

They have survived through this belief in Hashem in situations much more harrowing than today. They maintained their belief in Hashem and His promises through numerous edicts restricting their movement, lifestyle and freedom. They suffered from expulsions from many countries, after being systematically looted of their possessions. They endured massacres during the crusades and other wars throughout the centuries including the Holocaust when one third of their whole number were brutally tortured and killed. In each case, the remnant took up in another place, and thrived. In fact, were it not for the staying power of the religious Zionists, there would have been no secular Zionists to create the state at all.

Religious Zionists are from all walks of life, usually olim, new immigrants, who have come to Israel because they are drawn there by their belief. Today, they do not come from places of oppression, but from places that are free and convenient to live in. They are usually well educated, middle class, and responsible members of both the communities they came from and those in which they now reside. Usually, they must take a step down in their standard of living to be in Israel. This speaks more of a hearty and capable group than its opposite.

They believe that the state should not follow the currents of world opinion, but follow the rule of law according to Torah. Most do not see this rule as a theocracy, but as a guide in which all people will be given Torah education, while having personal freedom to do as he wishes within the parameters of any civilized society. They would allow the wisdom of the Torah to be its own self-evident truth as an ideal to follow. Above all, they believe it is time to proclaim to the world that their existence on the land as a sovereign Jewish state is not negotiable, and opposition to it will be met measure for measure.

Since, they are coming in continuous and greater numbers, raising children at a greater rate than the average secular Israeli, and are not prone to leave the land to find opportunities elsewhere, as so many indigenous Israelis are doing, it will not take too many generations before they will rule the state.
However, since the ruling parties and the constituencies they represent admit their exhaustion, it is in everyone’s best interest that they resign to hand over the mantle to the more robust. By doing so, they will promote both the well-being of Israel and the world in which it resides, in truth and ultimate peace.

posted by Tiresias in Israel @ 11:16 PM