I agree that diaspora Jews have played an enormous role in shaping Jewish life and identity over centuries. But October 7 changed something for many of us in the diaspora. I say this personally. I always considered myself very patriotic to both Canada and the United States, having lived in both and holding dual citizenship. After October 7, that feeling changed. I realized how quickly things can shift for Jews living as minorities. I still live here, but the truth is the only place I now see as my real home is Israel — because it is the one place where Jews ultimately control their own fate.
Your statement “The first was a matter of choice. The Jews were already a global people, many of whom lived outside the Land of Israel by decision, not compulsion, while maintaining a deep attachment to Zion — a historical and religious homeland.”—
My readings from various sources indicate that your reference to the people above mentioned: those people were descendants of others who had been forcibly deported from Jerusalem and from Israel generations prior.
Diaspora Jews are even more wishy-washy than Israeli Jews. The latter at least fight back when they are being bombarded, but even they do not move on to take the steps to eradicate the problem posed by their Palestinian enemies and their hypocritical Arab Muslim neighbours. Israeli elites have absorbed quite a bit of diaspora Jewish mentality. Just look at their pathetic judicial and electoral systems, whose origins can be traced right back to the Bible.
"Many Jews in the diaspora see a Palestinian family whose flock is being looted, whose door is being battered, whose sons are beaten by Far-Right settlers — and they see more than a moral injustice. Even unconsciously, as a minority, they sense an echo of a nightmare that could happen to them".
The exilic memory of the Jews is foundational. The commandment that appears the most in the Torah, is the prohibition to mistreat the foreigner, כִּי גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: "for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt" - and so you should know the feeling. This commandment appears 36 times at least (some count 46).
To some, I suppose that that makes the Torah "leftist".
And thank you for reminding us, between all the political and military commentary, of the fundamentals of why we are here.
Regarding your next description “The second was exile in the full sense of the word. It shaped much of the Jewish People’s spiritual and historical character, and it was not chosen. It unfolded under constraint, marked by extraordinary religious, economic, and cultural achievements, but also by degradation, persecution, pogroms and, ultimately, the near-total catastrophe of the Holocaust.
In this second condition, Jews had no option but to exist as a minority. In the first, they elected to do so as free people. Such a distinction is crucial.”——
This description fits not only the century prior to our present one, but it also describes the same and similar treatments of Jewish people at the time the First Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem,
As well as five hundred years later when the Second Temple was destroyed;
Therefore, any diaspora group of Jewish people had cause either physically forcibly or mentally and emotionally forcibly to emigrate from Jerusalem Israel.
Even the ten men Moses sent into the Land originally, felt fear and pressure to leave.
“Our Rabbis taught: One should always live in the Land of Israel, even in a city with a population that is primarily non-Jewish, rather than in a city outside of the Land in which there is a majority of Jews. Whoever lives outside the Land of Israel is as one who does not have God.” (Babylonian Talmud , ).
Judaism is inherently meant to be practiced in Judea. The entire point of Judaism is to build a society there.
But the centrality of living in Israel to Judaism is pretty clear. You cannot practice Judaism and deny that. There are verses that are central to Judaism and can only be fulfilled in the state.
The Passover Seder ends with next Year in Jerusalem.
A Jewish wedding has several mentions of Jerusalem.
Jewish Prayer is done in the direction of Jerusalem.
Therefore, anti-Zionist Judaism is like Christianity without Jesus or Islam without Muhammad.
Here are just some of the verses that show Zionism (Jewish self-determination) is the core of Judaism.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
DEUTERONOMY 11:12
It is a Land that the Lord your God seeks out; the eyes of the Lord your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
DEUTERONOMY (26:9)
He brought us to this place and He gave us this Land, a Land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.
EZEKIEL 47:14 This Land shall become yours as an inheritance.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
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.
Abraham, our Patriarch, was a Zionist
Genesis makes it clear that Zionism is central to Abraham’s new religious mission.
Abraham becomes a Jew and a Zionist at the same time. The first command he receives is “Go from your country [lech lecha], your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Abraham’s religious journey begins with a pilgrimage to Israel. Israel is an ever-present theme in the text; when Abraham and Sarah abandon Israel in search of food, it is seen by some, such as the Ramban, as a “major sin.” Their entire lives focus on the dream of building a nation in the land. When Sarah dies, the Bible depicts the intense effort Abraham makes to bury her in Israel. As Ibn Ezra notes, the purchase of a burial plot for her marks the beginning of the future Jewish state.
Genesis makes it clear that Zionism is central to Abraham’s new religious mission.
Generations of Jews would follow in Abraham’s footsteps. Instead of offering hairsplitting arguments about “the spiritual essence of Judaism,” they turned their hearts toward Zion. Israel was a part of their prayers, part of their Tanakh, part of their studies and stories. At the Seder, they sang “l’shanah haba’ah b’yerushalayim,” “next year in Jerusalem,” with all of their hearts.
They simply couldn’t imagine a Judaism without Zionism.
Jews who knew little else still heard the call of “lech lecha,” and from the furthest reaches of exile would find their way home, just as Abraham and Sarah did so many generations before.
And they never let go of the dream of Israel, even in the worst of times.
"The Jewish people never really left the Holy Land. Certainly, many were killed or expelled at the time of Masada and later, but many Jews continued to live in “Palestine” (the name given by the Romans after the Bar Kochba revolt, 132-135 CE) for a considerable time afterward.
The evidence is clear from the extensive archeological sites visible today, such as those at Beit Alpha, Beit She’arim, Tzippori (Sepphoris), Baram, and many others. Jews formed a majority of the population of Palestine until at least the fifth century CE, and an autonomous Roman-recognized Jewish patriarchate in Palestine existed until 429 CE.
Archeological ruins point to the establishment of more than 80 synagogues, particularly in the Galilee, during the six centuries after the destruction of the Temple. After Masada, the Jewish population was substantial enough for three serious revolts against Roman or Byzantine rule to occur; the last one, against the Emperor Heraclius, was in the seventh century."
"The essence of Eretz Yisrael transcends mere geographical borders, or increasing the population, or building cities and expanding commerce. Even the establishment of autonomous Jewish rule is not enough. You could vanquish the Canaanites and populate the entire territory, and still not appreciate that the land is your heritage. The true identity of Eretz Yisrael lies in its role as the spiritual epicenter and sanctuary of Jewish existence, and that is something that can only ever exist in the heart of a Jew."
well argued. to establish a viable state, besides distrust of diaspora other old ideas need to be discarded such as partition, and exclusion of arabs from citizenship. no state will be viable without the entire integrated territory. driving out or permanent occupation of 40% of the population is now clearly a guarantee of near constant warfare, which is viable in the most minimal sense but not normal viability and not the way anyone wants to live, nor does it allow free expansion of Hebrew capital throughout west Asia and NE Africa. a state that provides a homeland for jews is fully compatible with a state consisting of both Hebrews and Arabs, regardless which one is the majority. Means exist that could be employed: constitutional checks against tyranny of the majority, surveillance systems for every community, IDF defense of foreign borders and Israel enclave control and assurance of integrity of IDF, Gaza enclave self administration. West Bank may need more time and incentives to construct self administration, perhaps contiguous Arab districts and settlements that reach an agreement on administration could be allowed to join self administration. If Israel has to exert near constant violence to maintain separation, better to reunify, give Hamas a stake in unification, and enlist Saudi, Turkiye and Iran to pacify bordering countries. If America relinquishes control over Gulf transit, its interest in Israel will diminish. Jerusalem should be reunified with solid polity ahead of that 8 ball.
A great essay, Nadav, and great to read your post as I usually listen to you discuss issues on Call Me Back. I resonate with what you've said here and would add that the Jewish People would not be more secure if every last Jew lived in Israel, not by a long shot! The Jewish People require people in Israel and people outside of Israel. And, as for threats, both groups of Jews face more than enough threats, which, as you noted, is why the airport has Jews flowing both ways. Both groups should learn how to support each other more effectively, so that the Jewish People overall remain resilient and thrive inside and outside of Israel.
I agree that diaspora Jews have played an enormous role in shaping Jewish life and identity over centuries. But October 7 changed something for many of us in the diaspora. I say this personally. I always considered myself very patriotic to both Canada and the United States, having lived in both and holding dual citizenship. After October 7, that feeling changed. I realized how quickly things can shift for Jews living as minorities. I still live here, but the truth is the only place I now see as my real home is Israel — because it is the one place where Jews ultimately control their own fate.
Your statement “The first was a matter of choice. The Jews were already a global people, many of whom lived outside the Land of Israel by decision, not compulsion, while maintaining a deep attachment to Zion — a historical and religious homeland.”—
My readings from various sources indicate that your reference to the people above mentioned: those people were descendants of others who had been forcibly deported from Jerusalem and from Israel generations prior.
Ouy more gobble-de-goop from the Israeli left. Spare us
Why not post a solid argument against the essay instead of this meaningless troll comment
Diaspora Jews are even more wishy-washy than Israeli Jews. The latter at least fight back when they are being bombarded, but even they do not move on to take the steps to eradicate the problem posed by their Palestinian enemies and their hypocritical Arab Muslim neighbours. Israeli elites have absorbed quite a bit of diaspora Jewish mentality. Just look at their pathetic judicial and electoral systems, whose origins can be traced right back to the Bible.
"Diaspora Jews are even more wishy-washy than Israeli Jews."
2024 Election:
Israeli Jews according to the Israel Democracy Institute Poll
Trump 72%
Harris 11%
United States
Jews
Trump 30%
Harris 70%
Israeli Jews are not wishy - washy. They appear to be 1,000,000 times smarter than American Jews. Maybe its not even that close.
Israeli Jews: "You Marxist, Woke Jews: Please stay in America."
Americans: "You Marxist, Woke Jews: Please go to France."
More left-wing anti-"settler" bullshit.
There is no future for Jews in the diaspora.
....................................................................................................................................................................................................
"Many Jews in the diaspora see a Palestinian family whose flock is being looted, whose door is being battered, whose sons are beaten by Far-Right settlers — and they see more than a moral injustice. Even unconsciously, as a minority, they sense an echo of a nightmare that could happen to them".
The exilic memory of the Jews is foundational. The commandment that appears the most in the Torah, is the prohibition to mistreat the foreigner, כִּי גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: "for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt" - and so you should know the feeling. This commandment appears 36 times at least (some count 46).
To some, I suppose that that makes the Torah "leftist".
And thank you for reminding us, between all the political and military commentary, of the fundamentals of why we are here.
What is the diaspora going to teach Israel? How to be Jews with trembling knees?
Regarding your next description “The second was exile in the full sense of the word. It shaped much of the Jewish People’s spiritual and historical character, and it was not chosen. It unfolded under constraint, marked by extraordinary religious, economic, and cultural achievements, but also by degradation, persecution, pogroms and, ultimately, the near-total catastrophe of the Holocaust.
In this second condition, Jews had no option but to exist as a minority. In the first, they elected to do so as free people. Such a distinction is crucial.”——
This description fits not only the century prior to our present one, but it also describes the same and similar treatments of Jewish people at the time the First Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem,
As well as five hundred years later when the Second Temple was destroyed;
Therefore, any diaspora group of Jewish people had cause either physically forcibly or mentally and emotionally forcibly to emigrate from Jerusalem Israel.
Even the ten men Moses sent into the Land originally, felt fear and pressure to leave.
“Our Rabbis taught: One should always live in the Land of Israel, even in a city with a population that is primarily non-Jewish, rather than in a city outside of the Land in which there is a majority of Jews. Whoever lives outside the Land of Israel is as one who does not have God.” (Babylonian Talmud , ).
Judaism is inherently meant to be practiced in Judea. The entire point of Judaism is to build a society there.
But the centrality of living in Israel to Judaism is pretty clear. You cannot practice Judaism and deny that. There are verses that are central to Judaism and can only be fulfilled in the state.
The Passover Seder ends with next Year in Jerusalem.
A Jewish wedding has several mentions of Jerusalem.
Jewish Prayer is done in the direction of Jerusalem.
Therefore, anti-Zionist Judaism is like Christianity without Jesus or Islam without Muhammad.
Here are just some of the verses that show Zionism (Jewish self-determination) is the core of Judaism.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
DEUTERONOMY 11:12
It is a Land that the Lord your God seeks out; the eyes of the Lord your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
DEUTERONOMY (26:9)
He brought us to this place and He gave us this Land, a Land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.
EZEKIEL 47:14 This Land shall become yours as an inheritance.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
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.
Abraham, our Patriarch, was a Zionist
Genesis makes it clear that Zionism is central to Abraham’s new religious mission.
Abraham becomes a Jew and a Zionist at the same time. The first command he receives is “Go from your country [lech lecha], your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Abraham’s religious journey begins with a pilgrimage to Israel. Israel is an ever-present theme in the text; when Abraham and Sarah abandon Israel in search of food, it is seen by some, such as the Ramban, as a “major sin.” Their entire lives focus on the dream of building a nation in the land. When Sarah dies, the Bible depicts the intense effort Abraham makes to bury her in Israel. As Ibn Ezra notes, the purchase of a burial plot for her marks the beginning of the future Jewish state.
Genesis makes it clear that Zionism is central to Abraham’s new religious mission.
Generations of Jews would follow in Abraham’s footsteps. Instead of offering hairsplitting arguments about “the spiritual essence of Judaism,” they turned their hearts toward Zion. Israel was a part of their prayers, part of their Tanakh, part of their studies and stories. At the Seder, they sang “l’shanah haba’ah b’yerushalayim,” “next year in Jerusalem,” with all of their hearts.
They simply couldn’t imagine a Judaism without Zionism.
Jews who knew little else still heard the call of “lech lecha,” and from the furthest reaches of exile would find their way home, just as Abraham and Sarah did so many generations before.
And they never let go of the dream of Israel, even in the worst of times.
"The Jewish people never really left the Holy Land. Certainly, many were killed or expelled at the time of Masada and later, but many Jews continued to live in “Palestine” (the name given by the Romans after the Bar Kochba revolt, 132-135 CE) for a considerable time afterward.
The evidence is clear from the extensive archeological sites visible today, such as those at Beit Alpha, Beit She’arim, Tzippori (Sepphoris), Baram, and many others. Jews formed a majority of the population of Palestine until at least the fifth century CE, and an autonomous Roman-recognized Jewish patriarchate in Palestine existed until 429 CE.
Archeological ruins point to the establishment of more than 80 synagogues, particularly in the Galilee, during the six centuries after the destruction of the Temple. After Masada, the Jewish population was substantial enough for three serious revolts against Roman or Byzantine rule to occur; the last one, against the Emperor Heraclius, was in the seventh century."
An Inconvenient Truth,
The Jewish People Never Left the Land of Israel
https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/10/24/an-inconvenient-truth-the-jewish-people-never-left-the-land-of-israel/
"The essence of Eretz Yisrael transcends mere geographical borders, or increasing the population, or building cities and expanding commerce. Even the establishment of autonomous Jewish rule is not enough. You could vanquish the Canaanites and populate the entire territory, and still not appreciate that the land is your heritage. The true identity of Eretz Yisrael lies in its role as the spiritual epicenter and sanctuary of Jewish existence, and that is something that can only ever exist in the heart of a Jew."
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/09/01/the-land-of-israel-defies-any-borders/
Very true and very important. Thank you Nadav!
well argued. to establish a viable state, besides distrust of diaspora other old ideas need to be discarded such as partition, and exclusion of arabs from citizenship. no state will be viable without the entire integrated territory. driving out or permanent occupation of 40% of the population is now clearly a guarantee of near constant warfare, which is viable in the most minimal sense but not normal viability and not the way anyone wants to live, nor does it allow free expansion of Hebrew capital throughout west Asia and NE Africa. a state that provides a homeland for jews is fully compatible with a state consisting of both Hebrews and Arabs, regardless which one is the majority. Means exist that could be employed: constitutional checks against tyranny of the majority, surveillance systems for every community, IDF defense of foreign borders and Israel enclave control and assurance of integrity of IDF, Gaza enclave self administration. West Bank may need more time and incentives to construct self administration, perhaps contiguous Arab districts and settlements that reach an agreement on administration could be allowed to join self administration. If Israel has to exert near constant violence to maintain separation, better to reunify, give Hamas a stake in unification, and enlist Saudi, Turkiye and Iran to pacify bordering countries. If America relinquishes control over Gulf transit, its interest in Israel will diminish. Jerusalem should be reunified with solid polity ahead of that 8 ball.
A great essay, Nadav, and great to read your post as I usually listen to you discuss issues on Call Me Back. I resonate with what you've said here and would add that the Jewish People would not be more secure if every last Jew lived in Israel, not by a long shot! The Jewish People require people in Israel and people outside of Israel. And, as for threats, both groups of Jews face more than enough threats, which, as you noted, is why the airport has Jews flowing both ways. Both groups should learn how to support each other more effectively, so that the Jewish People overall remain resilient and thrive inside and outside of Israel.