I agree with you completely. Now is the time to come together as one. It is essential that you pull together as a nation and encompass those of you in the diaspora. A common purpose must be everything! Israel is an extraordinary place! I have spent a lot of time in your beautiful Country. Please, all of you pull together and you will become an unstoppable force.
I’m not Jewish but I think we’re learning why Jewish ppl need a state more than ever, cause they keep being told “go back to where you came from” in contexts in which it makes no sense, and ppl keep saying it in whatever country they happen to be in.
I wonder if Jewish ppl have learned the defense mechanism of “fawning,” or appeasement. Cause there are so many “anti-Zionist” Jews (and they all end up on Piers Morgan.)
Sir Lawrence, I imagine that your pride in being a Jew extends to being proud of what Israel is and what Israelis are accomplishing every single day. If you have not already been to Israel, I encourage you to go. It will clarify a lot for you. I bet you know enough history to understand the importance of its existence. I don’t happen to like the term nationalism, because, like so many other ‘isms, it has done a lot of damage to the world, but pride in and support of one’s community should help it to remain viable and strong. I still proudly use the term Zionism for what I feel and do. Being a citizen of both the US and Canada, I appreciate the good things about both countries, and am disgusted by some of the bad things. I am grateful to have lived in both, and even more grateful that Israel is what it is.
Here in Canada pretty much all the other ethnic demographics are extremely nationalistic. Growing up in the Jewish community was like being trapped in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
All the other kids were very patriotic for their homeland and categorized everyone by national background.
Somehow the Jews didn't notice or didn't care? The Jews believed that nationalism was a primitive belief system that would disappear with "progress" and that all people would blend into one general humanity. The Jews generally supplanted nationalism with social justice causes.
The juxtapostion between the attitudes of the other ethnic groups and the Jews really left the Jewish people out of synch and unequipped for the world we all have to live in.
I was going to write something very similar about Jews in the United States, compared to all other nationalities here.
In the United States, every other ethnic/racial group seems to do a great job advocating for their kind. For example, black politicians elected to Congress are always standing up for other black members and the black citizenry writ large. The same with Hispanics. We have a Palestinian and a Somali congresswomen, both of whom seem to be obsessed with citizens of their birth country, even more than citizens in their respective district of any other ethnic group.
Alone stand the Jews in some kind of performative commitment to not show any favoritism to other Jews, or Israel. Witness Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, and Jerry Nadler, for starters. It took representative Elise Stefanik to yell about antisemitism at prevaricating college presidents, some of whom were themselves Jewish. Would a black college president refuse to prosecute students parading around campus in KKK hoods and shouting racial slurs? Of course not.
I honestly believe that these turncoat or Kapo Jews are our own worst enemy. The first thing Hamas supporters do for a protest is get some of these Jews, in the guise of Jewish Choices for Peace (JVP), to participate, thereby giving the protestors cover.
We Jews need to start being the best advocate and supporters of other Jews, because no one else will do as good a job as we can.
Yes, here in Canada the media and government do the same thing with showcasing anti-Israel Jews. I saw a newscast not long ago featuring another pro-Hamas protest. Of course the one Jew they showcase is utterly anti-Israel. And you're right, how can we expect better from the rest of the world when so much of the problem is nesting right at home?
Jews in exile throughout the centuries learned to thrive, but recent generations show a decline in willingness to keep it all going. Yes, we are in quite an abusive relationship with our exile, with Jewish identity itself, especially post Oct 7. We’ve had a land for nearly 80 years, quite long enough for those born in the diaspora since to develop a strong spirit of intergenerational affinity for the land. That hasn’t happened in many families. How to reel in so many now who’ve become anti-Zionists? If truly that’s a manifestation of antisemitism, we have a psyche issue of self-loathing on our hands too pervasive to remedy with anything Jewish. Sad, but we’ll survive.
The Jewish people have to decide on a method for cutting off the Anti-Semitic Jews, and I say such a thing with caution. I believe the Jewish people are far too predisposed to setting up boundaries, barriers between the various segments of the communities, but really, the nation and it's symbols must be sacrosanct.
Agreed. We’ll perhaps keep the path clear for all our people, and just see who follows. I am lucky that my family is together on this, but not with as many friends as I’d like.
The Americans were once the English. North and South Italians are noted as hating each other. Heck the Jews and Samaritans were once the same people. There are many examples of splits and spin offs from one nation forming two or more.
At least public knowledge should know as common knowledge that many Jews are anti-Semites. In place of ethnic nationalism they are anti-Semitic claiming this will assist humanity in becoming a utopia of pluralistic humanity.
You are SO right, Ariel. Israel is the first and best step in rehabilitating the severed limb, but those of us in the Diaspora seem to be a divided lot. Any ideas on how we can get our act together are much appreciated!
From: Imperium et Libertas, A STUDY IN HISTORY AND POLITICS,
BERNARD HOLLAN, LONDON, 1901
"If the independence of nations less conduces to the
security of the weak, the maintenance of justice, and
the peace of the world, yet, on the other hand, active
life, thought, art, energy in making the most of a
land’s resources — in short, every outcome of vivid
citizenship and patriotism — flourish better in small
States than in wide centralised Empires. So, at least,
experience seems so far to show. It is to the burning
vitality of compact independent nations, the strong
heart in the small body, to Judea and to Athens, to
Rome the Republic, to the Free Cities of Italy, Germany,
and Flanders, to France, to Holland, and to England
the island, that we owe the highest achievements in
the things which make life most worth having.
[--] The most real and living nation encountered by the Romans
was that of the Jews, and they as a nation were
irreconcilable. "
________________
From the Treatise on Theology and Politics,
By Baruch Spinoza, chapter 3:
“I’m convinced that this one thing will preserve the Jewish nation for ever. Indeed, if the foundations of their religion hadn’t sapped their courage, I would be perfectly sure that someday, given the opportunity, they [the Jews] would set up their State again and God would favour them all over again. . . .
Finally, if you want to maintain for some reason or other that the Jews have been chosen by God for eternity, I shan’t fight back, as long as you maintain that insofar as this choice—whether temporary or eternal—is exclusive to the Jews, it concerns only their State and physical conditions of life (since that’s all that can distinguish one nation from another), and that God has not selectively chosen any nation on the basis of its intellect and true virtue, because in respect of those no nation is distinguished from any other.”
Consider the following question: is Torah Judaism socialist? Every fifty years, the Torah mandates that land that has been sold should go back to its original owner; that sounds extremely socialist, a powerful measure against landowners. But the high priority placed on personal property would imply the Torah is not socialist.
The answer is that trying to put Torah Judaism into neat little boxes of socialist/non-socialist will fail. Torah is G-d's guide to humanity on the purpose and proper use of the world; no human philosophy can possibly encompass that infinite vastness.
And so, the Haredi position on nationalism is very simple: the Torah defines for Jews something which from one side may resemble nationalism, but from another is ever so much deeper than some notion of nationalism defined by Europeans two centuries ago.
And that is ultimately why Jews find it so difficult to define a European-style Jewish nationalism. Having been steeped for millennia in Torah, Jews - no matter how far from Torah they may be today - instinctively reject the plastic food coloring imitation that is all European-style nationalism can possibly be.
Fascinating to consider the perspective that God created a perfect and wonderful set of laws for governing a people and then engineered a circumstance where for 2000 years the vast majority would be made irrelevant by lack of a Jewish governing authority.
But the laws were never just about governing a people; they were a guideline for proper use of the world at every level - individual, communal/collective and national.
If the purpose of the laws is simply to govern a people, there are any number of strategies to do so, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
For example, theft is ruinous for society, so a society interested in maintaining itself will discourage theft. In the West, the strategy to do so is monetary penalties and limitation of individual freedom. In Arab/Muslim lands, the strategy is amputation. We can discuss the relative effectiveness and cost of each strategy, but the purpose is the same: effective governance.
But the Torah's penalties for stealing are orthogonal to governance; and when they impede governance, they are suspended in favor of measures that will create effective governance. Rather, the Torah's penalties are an expression of the relative severity of the crime: theft (monetary compensation) is less severe than eating pig (lashes) which in turn is less severe than violating Shabbat.
It seems to me that this ‘true nationalism’ is patriotism. It ought to be incumbent upon everyone who lives in a place to seek the best possible future for it and to help develop it. If one finds oneself unable to do that, emigration rather than undermining is the proper response. In the case of Israel, there certainly ought to be clear delineations between those who are wish to harm the nation (Hamas/Islamist supporters) and those who are buttresses of the nation, among the second is included a substantial amount of non-Jews. Proper caution should be taken that rhetoric intended to strengthen the nation doesn’t end up excluding those elements arbitrarily.
I agree with you completely. Now is the time to come together as one. It is essential that you pull together as a nation and encompass those of you in the diaspora. A common purpose must be everything! Israel is an extraordinary place! I have spent a lot of time in your beautiful Country. Please, all of you pull together and you will become an unstoppable force.
Excellent article.
I’m not Jewish but I think we’re learning why Jewish ppl need a state more than ever, cause they keep being told “go back to where you came from” in contexts in which it makes no sense, and ppl keep saying it in whatever country they happen to be in.
I wonder if Jewish ppl have learned the defense mechanism of “fawning,” or appeasement. Cause there are so many “anti-Zionist” Jews (and they all end up on Piers Morgan.)
Has anyone considered that true unification is possible only in HaShem? Please reflect:
Deuteronomy 7:6
"The LORD your G-d has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession".
Genesis 12
G-d promised Abraham, “I will make you a great nation (Israel), and I will bless you and make your name great”.
Exodus 19:5–6
"You shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation
It seems a forgotten concept that the earth and all that is in it belongs to G-d. Cf. Psalm 24.
This is the best view possible.
I'm a proud Jew but, born and raised in the USA, not an Israeli. Does Jewish nationalism extend to diaspora jewry?
Why not?
Sir Lawrence, I imagine that your pride in being a Jew extends to being proud of what Israel is and what Israelis are accomplishing every single day. If you have not already been to Israel, I encourage you to go. It will clarify a lot for you. I bet you know enough history to understand the importance of its existence. I don’t happen to like the term nationalism, because, like so many other ‘isms, it has done a lot of damage to the world, but pride in and support of one’s community should help it to remain viable and strong. I still proudly use the term Zionism for what I feel and do. Being a citizen of both the US and Canada, I appreciate the good things about both countries, and am disgusted by some of the bad things. I am grateful to have lived in both, and even more grateful that Israel is what it is.
This is very good
Here in Canada pretty much all the other ethnic demographics are extremely nationalistic. Growing up in the Jewish community was like being trapped in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
All the other kids were very patriotic for their homeland and categorized everyone by national background.
Somehow the Jews didn't notice or didn't care? The Jews believed that nationalism was a primitive belief system that would disappear with "progress" and that all people would blend into one general humanity. The Jews generally supplanted nationalism with social justice causes.
The juxtapostion between the attitudes of the other ethnic groups and the Jews really left the Jewish people out of synch and unequipped for the world we all have to live in.
I was going to write something very similar about Jews in the United States, compared to all other nationalities here.
In the United States, every other ethnic/racial group seems to do a great job advocating for their kind. For example, black politicians elected to Congress are always standing up for other black members and the black citizenry writ large. The same with Hispanics. We have a Palestinian and a Somali congresswomen, both of whom seem to be obsessed with citizens of their birth country, even more than citizens in their respective district of any other ethnic group.
Alone stand the Jews in some kind of performative commitment to not show any favoritism to other Jews, or Israel. Witness Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, and Jerry Nadler, for starters. It took representative Elise Stefanik to yell about antisemitism at prevaricating college presidents, some of whom were themselves Jewish. Would a black college president refuse to prosecute students parading around campus in KKK hoods and shouting racial slurs? Of course not.
I honestly believe that these turncoat or Kapo Jews are our own worst enemy. The first thing Hamas supporters do for a protest is get some of these Jews, in the guise of Jewish Choices for Peace (JVP), to participate, thereby giving the protestors cover.
We Jews need to start being the best advocate and supporters of other Jews, because no one else will do as good a job as we can.
Yes, here in Canada the media and government do the same thing with showcasing anti-Israel Jews. I saw a newscast not long ago featuring another pro-Hamas protest. Of course the one Jew they showcase is utterly anti-Israel. And you're right, how can we expect better from the rest of the world when so much of the problem is nesting right at home?
Interesting
Jews in exile throughout the centuries learned to thrive, but recent generations show a decline in willingness to keep it all going. Yes, we are in quite an abusive relationship with our exile, with Jewish identity itself, especially post Oct 7. We’ve had a land for nearly 80 years, quite long enough for those born in the diaspora since to develop a strong spirit of intergenerational affinity for the land. That hasn’t happened in many families. How to reel in so many now who’ve become anti-Zionists? If truly that’s a manifestation of antisemitism, we have a psyche issue of self-loathing on our hands too pervasive to remedy with anything Jewish. Sad, but we’ll survive.
The Jewish people have to decide on a method for cutting off the Anti-Semitic Jews, and I say such a thing with caution. I believe the Jewish people are far too predisposed to setting up boundaries, barriers between the various segments of the communities, but really, the nation and it's symbols must be sacrosanct.
Agreed. We’ll perhaps keep the path clear for all our people, and just see who follows. I am lucky that my family is together on this, but not with as many friends as I’d like.
The Americans were once the English. North and South Italians are noted as hating each other. Heck the Jews and Samaritans were once the same people. There are many examples of splits and spin offs from one nation forming two or more.
At least public knowledge should know as common knowledge that many Jews are anti-Semites. In place of ethnic nationalism they are anti-Semitic claiming this will assist humanity in becoming a utopia of pluralistic humanity.
You are SO right, Ariel. Israel is the first and best step in rehabilitating the severed limb, but those of us in the Diaspora seem to be a divided lot. Any ideas on how we can get our act together are much appreciated!
Make Aliya!
Jewish Grandmother, where do you live? Just wondering, need someone to discuss the divided diaspora with…especially since President Trump’s election.
From: Imperium et Libertas, A STUDY IN HISTORY AND POLITICS,
BERNARD HOLLAN, LONDON, 1901
"If the independence of nations less conduces to the
security of the weak, the maintenance of justice, and
the peace of the world, yet, on the other hand, active
life, thought, art, energy in making the most of a
land’s resources — in short, every outcome of vivid
citizenship and patriotism — flourish better in small
States than in wide centralised Empires. So, at least,
experience seems so far to show. It is to the burning
vitality of compact independent nations, the strong
heart in the small body, to Judea and to Athens, to
Rome the Republic, to the Free Cities of Italy, Germany,
and Flanders, to France, to Holland, and to England
the island, that we owe the highest achievements in
the things which make life most worth having.
[--] The most real and living nation encountered by the Romans
was that of the Jews, and they as a nation were
irreconcilable. "
________________
From the Treatise on Theology and Politics,
By Baruch Spinoza, chapter 3:
“I’m convinced that this one thing will preserve the Jewish nation for ever. Indeed, if the foundations of their religion hadn’t sapped their courage, I would be perfectly sure that someday, given the opportunity, they [the Jews] would set up their State again and God would favour them all over again. . . .
Finally, if you want to maintain for some reason or other that the Jews have been chosen by God for eternity, I shan’t fight back, as long as you maintain that insofar as this choice—whether temporary or eternal—is exclusive to the Jews, it concerns only their State and physical conditions of life (since that’s all that can distinguish one nation from another), and that God has not selectively chosen any nation on the basis of its intellect and true virtue, because in respect of those no nation is distinguished from any other.”
Yes my friend!
From the time that Alexander the Great conquered Israel many Jewish people gradually became Hellenistic in their culture and language.
I had originally thought that Jesus was a translation of the Hebrew, but it's entirely possible that Jesus was called Jesus, his Greek name.
Israel was dominated by the Greeks from the time of Alexander the Great until the Muslim conquest.
So it was only a segment of the Jewish people who wished to remain Hebrew.
You misunderstand the Haredi viewpoint.
Consider the following question: is Torah Judaism socialist? Every fifty years, the Torah mandates that land that has been sold should go back to its original owner; that sounds extremely socialist, a powerful measure against landowners. But the high priority placed on personal property would imply the Torah is not socialist.
The answer is that trying to put Torah Judaism into neat little boxes of socialist/non-socialist will fail. Torah is G-d's guide to humanity on the purpose and proper use of the world; no human philosophy can possibly encompass that infinite vastness.
And so, the Haredi position on nationalism is very simple: the Torah defines for Jews something which from one side may resemble nationalism, but from another is ever so much deeper than some notion of nationalism defined by Europeans two centuries ago.
And that is ultimately why Jews find it so difficult to define a European-style Jewish nationalism. Having been steeped for millennia in Torah, Jews - no matter how far from Torah they may be today - instinctively reject the plastic food coloring imitation that is all European-style nationalism can possibly be.
I was Haredi for quite some time, I understand the position quite well
Fascinating to consider the perspective that God created a perfect and wonderful set of laws for governing a people and then engineered a circumstance where for 2000 years the vast majority would be made irrelevant by lack of a Jewish governing authority.
But the laws were never just about governing a people; they were a guideline for proper use of the world at every level - individual, communal/collective and national.
If the purpose of the laws is simply to govern a people, there are any number of strategies to do so, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
For example, theft is ruinous for society, so a society interested in maintaining itself will discourage theft. In the West, the strategy to do so is monetary penalties and limitation of individual freedom. In Arab/Muslim lands, the strategy is amputation. We can discuss the relative effectiveness and cost of each strategy, but the purpose is the same: effective governance.
But the Torah's penalties for stealing are orthogonal to governance; and when they impede governance, they are suspended in favor of measures that will create effective governance. Rather, the Torah's penalties are an expression of the relative severity of the crime: theft (monetary compensation) is less severe than eating pig (lashes) which in turn is less severe than violating Shabbat.
It seems to me that this ‘true nationalism’ is patriotism. It ought to be incumbent upon everyone who lives in a place to seek the best possible future for it and to help develop it. If one finds oneself unable to do that, emigration rather than undermining is the proper response. In the case of Israel, there certainly ought to be clear delineations between those who are wish to harm the nation (Hamas/Islamist supporters) and those who are buttresses of the nation, among the second is included a substantial amount of non-Jews. Proper caution should be taken that rhetoric intended to strengthen the nation doesn’t end up excluding those elements arbitrarily.
Your perspective hits a sore spot of psychological importance.
Let’s wait and see Trump has lost any patience he might have had either Hamas