"Since the world began there have been but two methods of obtaining anything. These two methods may be succinctly stated in the words: Take or ask for it.
"We are neither in a position nor desire to take anything so we are thrown back upon the second method, that of asking. It is strange, but literally true, that before the rise of Zionism we absolutely did not ask. Among ourselves we heaved deep sighs, expressed longing desires in prose and verse, pressed each other's hands with significant looks, but we have never stood before the powers, and in an unequivocal form openly and distinctly stated what we wanted. We can neither reproach ourselves nor others on that account. The Jewish people was in a state of chaos; it was unorganized; it was a human swarm; it did not even know itself what it wanted; it had no representatives competent to speak in its name - and as it did not know itself what it wanted, it was only natural that the governments remained in ignorance. To have altered all that appears little, but in reality it is very much. We asked!"
Max Nordau -1903
Individualism, History and National Consciousness
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"Zionism is nothing more - but also nothing less - than the Jewish people's sense of origin and destination in the land linked eternally with its name. It is also the instrument whereby the Jewish nation seeks an authentic fulfillment of itself."
Abba Eban |
To be a Jew is to be claimed by three thousand years of history. The individual is the carrier of a legacy of a covenantal promise by the Jewish people to become a holy nation.
The Jewish family, therefore, was always imbued with a national purpose: to mediate the founding memories of the Jewish people for the next generation.
Aliyah is predicated on the premise that the I, the individual, can shape and be shaped by the we, the nation. The drama of community informs the drama of self-fulfillment. For aliyah to become a serious option, the notion of the individual must become more relational and community oriented. Individual self-realization must be informed by notions of shared history and memory.
The Privilege of Aliyah
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"For me... it was extraordinary enough to insist that Zionism should switch from militarism to peace, from settling the land so that we can reclaim it to settling among disadvantaged people so that we can make a social difference ... Zionism is not a certified top-down process; it now has to grow from the bottom up, and allow its structures to change accordingly. It is not a clearly articulated theory; it is a confusing coming-together of the philosophies of different Jews."
Leah Shakdiel |
The message of aliyah conveys the idea of privilege. As a Jew who lives and loves Jerusalem, who feels privileged to have brought his family here, I can testify to the excitement and authenticity of living in a nation still involved in shaping its future identity. In contrast to my religious life in the Diaspora, my celebration of the Sabbath and Jewish festivals does not place my identity in opposition to my environment. On Yom Kippur the streets of Jerusalem mirror the inner sanctity of the day. Here my public self talks to my private self, my outer world shapes - and is shaped by - my inner world.
There is something authentic about being Jewish when you are living in the midst of a nation shaping its future. It is the privilege of bringing up children with a sense of history, with a sense that something is asked of you. The public discourse is part of my intimate world. When I wake up in the morning and read the newspaper, I often get angry: pained and angry but very much alive. I am facing the crisis of a nation that does not know who it is yet.
The issue of aliyah, then, is: Who are we going to be? Jews who value pluralism and tolerance, who understand the meaning of freedom of conscience, or Jews who returned to their own country only to act as if they never heard about democracy or fought to preserve the rights of minorities? A society can be no more than the people who live in it.
Israel is not normalcy. Israel's goal is to fulfill the dream of Moses in a new way. If you want a country that will in some way reflect your values, you have to fight for it. You have to build institutions dedicated to fighting for it. Jews are creating a country and it is important for Diaspora Jews to realize that we are still in the middle of the ball game. You have to come and get your hands dirty.
A Boomerang Effect
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"All I can really say is: what there is for you in Israel is the experience of being here, of being part of a Jewish people living in its own land, building its own society, determining its own fate-and desperately needing you, because that fate will be determined among other things, by whether you are here or not. Is that too little for you? It seems to me a lot."
Hillel Halkin, "Letters to an American Friend," 1977 |
Moreover, the future of Diaspora Jews will be defined by the type of Jewishness we build here. If we move deeper into backwardness, Diaspora Jews will not be able to pick their heads up. I don't care how rich or interesting a Jewish community like Toronto is; you will not be able to speak a message of Judaism there, if here we raise Yigal Amirs. If fanaticism and religious fundamentalism grow, if the delegitimization of others grows, if human rights and democracy does not grow, then Jews cannot speak anymore about the ethical soul of the Jewish people. Israel is the public face of the Jewish people. Aliyah is a call to shape that public face. The final chapter of our people's spiritual drama has not yet been written.
Rabbi David Hartman is founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
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