Posted on 04/16/2002 3:22:09 PM PDT by DallasDeb
Israel_Spiritual_Symposium_Israel_Independence_Day_Pain_and_Blessings
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Yom Ha'Atzma'ut will be rather painful this year, especially for those of us fortunate enough to live in Israel. |
It is not only that celebrations in the midst of a bloody battle against terrorism will make the day so difficult. Rather, it is the persistence of delusion in Israeli national life. One manifestation of this is the continuing inability of the architects of the ill-fated mirage known as Oslo to admit that they were wrong. Those who foisted this upon us, who willingly gave arms and land to the enemy at our gates, are still at it: still blaming Israel for the present situation, still expressing understanding for Palestinian brutality, still urging Israel to give away more territory in order to appease the hungry lion, still pointing fingers at everyone -- the "settlers," the right-wing, the charedim -- but themselves.
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| The promises of Oslo were built on nothing more solid than a Norwegian fog. | |
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It is clear that the promises of Oslo were built on nothing more solid than a Norwegian fog, and never were real or substantive -- but, as our Sages say, "Even at the gates of Hell," certain people can never admit their errors. The human capacity for self-delusion is infinite.
And there is second source of distress, related to the first. The collapse of Oslo has been marked by intensified incitement against Jews around the world. Beyond the immediate threat to Jewish security, this, too, marks the collapse of one of the major ideological underpinnings of secular Zionism; that once we have our own homeland, flag and army, we will become a normalized people; that anti-Semitism will cease, because we will then be no different from anyone else.
The secular Yom Ha'Atzma'ut speeches will ignore the new reality of our times, and will gloss over the bankruptcy of the original secular Zionist ideology -- a delusion that is especially painful. The new reality is that the State of Israel has become the contemporary counterpart of the old European Jewish shtetl. In Europe, the thugs of the region, in complicity with the authorities, would incite pogroms against the Jews; and today, so-called civilized nations, with the complicity of world authorities like the United Nations and the European Union, vilify and demonize the Jewish state and stand idly by as bombings and murders are committed upon its people by the neighborhood thugs.
(Interesting how the world clucks its mild disapproval of suicide bombers who kill innocent Jews at random, but then mobilizes all its wrath against the Israelis who move into the areas which house those terrorists.)
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| Once upon a time the world wished there were no Jews; today it wishes there were no Jewish state. | |
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Nothing much has changed: once upon a time the world wished there were no Jews; today it wishes there were no Jewish state. How ironic it is that Western Jewish youth groups will visit Auschwitz this spring in perfect safety, but will avoid Israel because of the supposed security risks.
So the twin towers of secular Zionism -- Oslo and its phony promise of peace, and Zionism and its siren song of Jewish normalcy -- have exploded from without and imploded from within.
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But why should we point figures at the delusions of others when we ourselves, in and out of Israel, religious and non-religious, also find it so difficult to change our ways -- not our political ways, but our spiritual ways? We are quick to point fingers at others, but perhaps we share some blame as well in our current situation.
Even Jews who like to call themselves religious, who observe the mitzvot, are not yet fully aware that the present Jewish predicament is a wakeup call to all of us -- a reminder that it is time to begin to reach out to God in a much more serious fashion. If we continue blithely along our normal routine; if we maintain our status quo with the One Above; if our prayers to Him are as perfunctory and mechanical as they always have been; if our consciousness as Jews has not intensified; if our relationship to our Torah has remained static; if we have not once said an urgent personal prayer or passionately read a chapter of Psalms -- if, in a word, this crisis has not affected our Jewishness, then in what way are we better than the pathetic architects of Oslo and believers in secular Zionism who also find it difficult to change their ways?
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| The ability to change course, to acknowledge errors, is the true sign of a mature person. | |
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The ability to change course, to acknowledge errors, is the true sign of a mature person. What better time for this than now, when the Jewish people are in crisis, not only in the State but throughout the world? Beyond the current difficulties in Israel, we face alarming rates of assimilation and intermarriage throughout the world, plus abysmal levels of Jewish ignorance and illiteracy, coupled with the recrudescence of anti-Semitism.
We cannot simply sit idly by, but yet are not sure what we can do to help. Of course, we can continue to support Israel in the various lands in which we live; we can resolutely visit the State; we can help her financially and emotionally; we can support intensive Jewish education for young and old.
But one vital aspect of our Jewishness must not be overlooked: the need for a bit of personal introspection. God is tapping us on the shoulder and reminding us that He is still our Creator. There are a number of things we can do:
Change is never easy, but a small beginning can be made.
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I began by saying that we are fortunate to be living in Israel right now. At a time when daily security is an issue, when few people are visiting Israel, when even pro-Jewish groups are canceling scheduled trips for themselves and their young people, it must seem strange to consider oneself fortunate to be here during such times.
But in a profound sense this is so. For one does not always have a chance to be an eyewitness to history as it unfolds before our very eyes. Yes, we ache when we hear the almost daily reports of bombings and murders, and we listen anxiously to every newscast. Yes, we worry when our youngsters leave for school in the morning. And we choose carefully the places where we shop, or eat, or travel, lest we encounter a murderer whose religion teaches him that the quickest ticket to his heaven lies in his ability to murder as many children of Abraham as possible.
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| We are fortunate to suffer with the Land of Israel within the Land of Israel. | |
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But we are fortunate to suffer with the Land of Israel within the Land of Israel and not from the outside. Living here in these times, one feels connected with the people Israel horizontally -- across the world today -- and vertically -- through Jewish history past, present and future. Jewish suffering is not just an abstraction; it becomes our suffering. Jewish triumph becomes our triumph. Jewish destiny becomes our destiny.
The Talmud reminds us that Kol hamit-abel al Yerushalayim zocheh v'roeh besimhatah -- "Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will be worthy to witness her jubilation" (Baba Batra 60b; Taanit 30b). We are, then, in a deeply spiritual sense, the fortunate ones: living in the Holy Land during her time of travail, we are assured that we will also be found worthy enough to witness her jubilation. And this is not a delusion.
This thought makes it possible to bear the painful aspects of this Yom Ha'Atzma'ut.
The Israel Spiritual Symposium is a series of essays exploring the deeper underpinnings of the current Arab-Israeli conflict.
Rabbi Emanuel Feldman, a resident of Jerusalem, was rabbi of Atlanta's Congregation Beth Jacob for almost 40 years. Ordained by Baltimore's Ner Israel, he also holds the Ph.d from Emory University. He has just retired as editor in chief of Tradition Magazine, and is the author of seven books, including the best-selling "Tales Out of Shul," and "On Judaism, " and, most recently, "The Shul Without a Clock." He serves as editor in chief of the Ariel Chumash project, which translates Rashi and other commentaries on the Bible into English.
Secular Zionists have been the root cause of caving in to the Palestinians and Arab nations. Maybe current events are a wake up call for them.
Secular Zionists can be just as hardline in demanding security for Israel. They might have less interest in the territories, but that's a different matter. Plenty of secular Zionists rejected Barak for Sharon.
Sortta' lets us all know what we're up against.
L'Chaim.
We all, in the West, can hear quite well. The problem we have is not with ears but another organ altogether: we no longer have guts; they atrophied in our prosperity.
But I've still got this Vietnam platoon leader sense about Bush's leadership. Even as old as he and I are both now getting.
Even despite some certain moral relativism, I'm yet with him.
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