Chaim Nahman Bialik is the national poet of the Jewish people. In his famous poem, he sought to tell Jews that being powerless is an unnatural condition and being sitting ducks for the enemy flies in the face of human nature. Its natural to want to be alive and remember why you're fighting the enemy. All of that has been forgotten today in Israel. In a strange sort of transmogrification, the Jews have been transformed into the type of people Bialik lamented about the Jews. A century after he wrote his famous poem, one thing is clear: you can take the Jew out of the Galut but you can't easily take the Galut out of the Jew. Centuries old habits learned as a minority are going to be hard to erase. Above all, until Jews figure out who they are and why they live in Israel and why they should defend it, the truth is more Jews are going to die. As all of that is happening, its not going to be a fun country to live in as a country is founded for a serious purpose. Bialik and Nathan Alterman knew why the Jewish people had to have a homeland. The question can be answered only when the Jews in Israel will awaken from their national amnesia and recall why they are there.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Thank you so much for posting this. I was absolutely spellbound as I read it. I have also signed up for his dispatches and e-mailed him about my reaction to his writing. I had never heard of him before, and so I appreciate your introducing me to his writing.
Carolyn