Teshuvah means more than repentance. It means return — to memory, to identity, to the courage to become who we were meant to be.
The Jewish people did not survive two thousand years merely to be tolerated. Zionism gave our ancient longing a home, and our hope a responsibility.
“Next year in Jerusalem” is not only a prayer. It is a reminder: a people that remembers where it came from can have the courage to build where it is going.
Zionism is the movement for the Jewish People’s national self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
Zionism stands as a remarkable example of decolonization, in which an oppressed and exiled people returned to their ancestral homeland, revived their ancient language, and built a vibrant democracy.
In an irony that so-called anti-Zionists who spout the latest faculty lounge theories would not appreciate, it is they who have taken the proverbial “vacation from history”. Their entire case against Israel is best summed up by the title of one of Bill Maher’s most incisive routines: “New Rules”.
What passes for new politics is a chump’s game, a rhetorical playing field intentionally tilted against Jews and Israel - a repeat of the Enlightenment offer to Jews whose insincerity was demonstrated along the way, most infamously in the Dreyfus Affair and the Holocaust.
In the end, the continued anxiety the West exhibits toward the Jewish people demonstrates a failure of imagination. Rather than see their remarkable survival as worth understanding and, perish the thought, perhaps even emulating in certain respects, the default has been repeated attempts at extermination - the civilizational equivalent of closing your eyes, stopping up your ears and yelling to make the thing disappear, and yet, as in that childish reaction, the thing remains.
Maybe, just maybe, the “problem” with the Jewish people is that the world sees them as an example of human potential, a bar set that they can’t or won’t try to pass themselves. And it is that fear of failure or, put differently, lack of self-confidence to believe in themselves, that drives their perennial envy and anxiety which we call antisemitism.
Autocrats and centralized governmental systems hate an educated people that can ask questions and who jealously guard their rights, prerogatives and agency. Maybe that’s why we have the leader as shepherd metaphor, the person entrusted with the welfare of the flock as he leads it to slaughter. It’s the opposite of what Judaism teaches.
As an outsider, a non Jew who supports Israel, I cannot comment on Teshuvah or Jewish holidays but I can offer a suggestion based on past experience. Well motivated people including Zionists should avoid the trap of accepting unearned guilt. Yes, you want to correct your errors and be a better person but don't let that impulse inhibit you in any way because you think that you are not yet the best you can be. When I watch the anti Semites, the left and followers of Islam, I see two groups who are not even slightly inhibited by what is, in my view, genuinely foul vicious behavior. I've seen them advocate murdering those with who they disagree, applaud murderers after the fact, and generally tear down the good for being good. Don't let your good nature prevent you from opposing them vigorously.
Zionism is the movement for the Jewish People’s national self-determination in their ancestral homeland. Fact and with that said no one ever protests the self-determination given to Jordan which came to existence at the end of WWI. Before, most of the population here were nomadic tribes with the British providing security for the region. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, also did not exist, all were made up after WWI, their right to self-determination is never questioned. Arab violence prevented only the Jewish homeland from being established after WWI. The British caved to Arab violence when it came to the Jews, this violence is the status quo ever since.
The Brits made a big mistake. They should have allowed the creation of Israel after WW1 along with all the other countries. Jordan IS Palestine. That's it, that's all.
Proudly wear your Magen David, trust in the Lord whose strength and presence it represents, and carry a pistol in your pocket. Oh, and practice, practice, practice.
The only way to end this is to Annex. Once under Israeli control, anyone who wants to live under Israeli governance can stay, everyone else can leave, one way or another. Once that's sorted out, the work of re-education can begin.
Thank you for this. It's true, we can explain Zionism until we are blue in the face and beg to be accepted. It's hard to do, but we have to accept the fact that certain people resent our very existence. Mark Twain said it well. We are still here. My dad said that looking up at the Arch of Titus in Rome. We just have to act proud and for those who don't like our existence Sucks to be them.
One of the things I have to repent for is my inability to resist bellowing at Jew haters I encounter online. Calling them names and getting angry does no good for me, our people or anyone else. Most are trolls or bots and should be blocked. I don't know anyone who I would consider a good faith person who is not fully on the side of Israel who I could try to convince. I do agree that a really good thing we could do is look to trying to get our less educated and therefore less committed fellow Jews to understand the history of Israel and Zionism. So many are woefully ignorant.
FYI: in the New Covenant (spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel), teshuvah is meant to bring about your rebirth in the Messiah—also referred to as born of YHWH. It's a radical transformation. It totally changed my life from a drug-crazed hippy into the occult to being a man of YHWH [though I'm not very good at it yet after 52 years]. >grin<
Teshuvah means more than repentance. It means return — to memory, to identity, to the courage to become who we were meant to be.
The Jewish people did not survive two thousand years merely to be tolerated. Zionism gave our ancient longing a home, and our hope a responsibility.
“Next year in Jerusalem” is not only a prayer. It is a reminder: a people that remembers where it came from can have the courage to build where it is going.
Am Yisrael Chai. 🇮🇱✡️
👏👏
Zionism is the movement for the Jewish People’s national self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
Zionism stands as a remarkable example of decolonization, in which an oppressed and exiled people returned to their ancestral homeland, revived their ancient language, and built a vibrant democracy.
Josh. Thank you again for posting my article .. let’s do more together in the coming year!
In an irony that so-called anti-Zionists who spout the latest faculty lounge theories would not appreciate, it is they who have taken the proverbial “vacation from history”. Their entire case against Israel is best summed up by the title of one of Bill Maher’s most incisive routines: “New Rules”.
What passes for new politics is a chump’s game, a rhetorical playing field intentionally tilted against Jews and Israel - a repeat of the Enlightenment offer to Jews whose insincerity was demonstrated along the way, most infamously in the Dreyfus Affair and the Holocaust.
In the end, the continued anxiety the West exhibits toward the Jewish people demonstrates a failure of imagination. Rather than see their remarkable survival as worth understanding and, perish the thought, perhaps even emulating in certain respects, the default has been repeated attempts at extermination - the civilizational equivalent of closing your eyes, stopping up your ears and yelling to make the thing disappear, and yet, as in that childish reaction, the thing remains.
Maybe, just maybe, the “problem” with the Jewish people is that the world sees them as an example of human potential, a bar set that they can’t or won’t try to pass themselves. And it is that fear of failure or, put differently, lack of self-confidence to believe in themselves, that drives their perennial envy and anxiety which we call antisemitism.
Autocrats and centralized governmental systems hate an educated people that can ask questions and who jealously guard their rights, prerogatives and agency. Maybe that’s why we have the leader as shepherd metaphor, the person entrusted with the welfare of the flock as he leads it to slaughter. It’s the opposite of what Judaism teaches.
As an outsider, a non Jew who supports Israel, I cannot comment on Teshuvah or Jewish holidays but I can offer a suggestion based on past experience. Well motivated people including Zionists should avoid the trap of accepting unearned guilt. Yes, you want to correct your errors and be a better person but don't let that impulse inhibit you in any way because you think that you are not yet the best you can be. When I watch the anti Semites, the left and followers of Islam, I see two groups who are not even slightly inhibited by what is, in my view, genuinely foul vicious behavior. I've seen them advocate murdering those with who they disagree, applaud murderers after the fact, and generally tear down the good for being good. Don't let your good nature prevent you from opposing them vigorously.
Zionism is the movement for the Jewish People’s national self-determination in their ancestral homeland. Fact and with that said no one ever protests the self-determination given to Jordan which came to existence at the end of WWI. Before, most of the population here were nomadic tribes with the British providing security for the region. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, also did not exist, all were made up after WWI, their right to self-determination is never questioned. Arab violence prevented only the Jewish homeland from being established after WWI. The British caved to Arab violence when it came to the Jews, this violence is the status quo ever since.
The Brits made a big mistake. They should have allowed the creation of Israel after WW1 along with all the other countries. Jordan IS Palestine. That's it, that's all.
To cover up this huge mistake from WWI the Brits are choosing to embrace jihadism.
Proudly wear your Magen David, trust in the Lord whose strength and presence it represents, and carry a pistol in your pocket. Oh, and practice, practice, practice.
The only way to end this is to Annex. Once under Israeli control, anyone who wants to live under Israeli governance can stay, everyone else can leave, one way or another. Once that's sorted out, the work of re-education can begin.
Thank you for this. It's true, we can explain Zionism until we are blue in the face and beg to be accepted. It's hard to do, but we have to accept the fact that certain people resent our very existence. Mark Twain said it well. We are still here. My dad said that looking up at the Arch of Titus in Rome. We just have to act proud and for those who don't like our existence Sucks to be them.
Thank you for this. Another essay that leaves me feeling proud to be a Jew, which I wasn’t until I began to learn our history, after 10/7.
Thank you for sharing this
they don't understand it yet but they're embracing Arab supremacy over the ancestral Jewish homeland.
One of the things I have to repent for is my inability to resist bellowing at Jew haters I encounter online. Calling them names and getting angry does no good for me, our people or anyone else. Most are trolls or bots and should be blocked. I don't know anyone who I would consider a good faith person who is not fully on the side of Israel who I could try to convince. I do agree that a really good thing we could do is look to trying to get our less educated and therefore less committed fellow Jews to understand the history of Israel and Zionism. So many are woefully ignorant.
Shana tova metuka!
FYI: in the New Covenant (spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel), teshuvah is meant to bring about your rebirth in the Messiah—also referred to as born of YHWH. It's a radical transformation. It totally changed my life from a drug-crazed hippy into the occult to being a man of YHWH [though I'm not very good at it yet after 52 years]. >grin<
G’mar Chatimah Tova!