Last summer's war in Lebanon triggered a process of national soul-searching unlike any that I have experienced in my nearly three decades living in Israel. Nor did that process end with the war. Fueled by revelations of the failures of the war, an unending string of corruption scandals, and the threat to Israel's continued existence posed by Iran that soul-searching has continued unabated.
Interestingly, the sharpest critique during the war came from Ha'aretz, the newspaper of Israel's elites. The war in Lebanon, as portrayed by Ari Shavit and others, was not simply a failure of the political and military echelons; it represented the failure of Israeli society in general.
Yair Sheleg, for instance, wrote that a decadent society is ill-equipped to confront threats to its very existence. Signs of that decadence are everywhere to be found. Hedonism and the pursuit of material goods occupy the adults. Being a celebrity -- regardless of achievements -- is the primary goal of Israeli youth.
Shavit describes a profound "cultural affliction: the relinquishing of ideas, principles, basic beliefs, worldviews, and an overall grasp of reality --... sophistication without a [moral] compass..."
The elites have lost any connection to the Jewish people's unique history, and convinced themselves that Israel can achieve a normal existence amidst a sea of Arabs.
The elites, Shavit charges, have lost any connection to the Jewish people's unique history, and convinced themselves that Israel can achieve a normal existence amidst a sea of Arabs. He accuses them of imagining Tel Aviv to be Manhattan, sounding almost like Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk warning decades before the Holocaust that if the Jews of Berlin continue to mistake Berlin for Jerusalem a great fire will go out from Berlin and consume the entire Jewish world.
To quell any qualms of consciences about their naked pursuit of the good life, the Israeli elites convinced themselves that Israel is so powerful, so insanely strong, that nothing can threaten it. That strength justifies their failure to show up for reserve duty or to send their children to combat units (a trend recently confirmed by the Chief of IDF Manpower Gen. Elazar Stern.)
Meanwhile they set out to undermine every element of national strength: making mincemeat of the old Zionist narrative, while failing to substitute anything else in its place; criticizing Israel's militarism and denigrating military service; making mockery of the old communitarian values.
All this resulted in a loss of national vitality. The name of the game now, writes Shavit, is rebuilding national will, and all national resources must be directed towards that task.
FAILING ENTERPRISE
Daniel Gordis, head of the Mandel Leadership Institute, writes from the traditional Zionist center. Gordis begins a recent account of the loss of the original Zionist hope by recounting an exchange with a doctor he was meeting for the first time. The doctor asks him what he does, and he replies, that he writes. "What do you write about?" the doctor asks. "About the future of Israel," Gordis replies. "Oh, you write short stories," is the doctor's response. Both laugh, but as Gordis notes, "neither of us thought that it was particularly funny."
Next Gordis describes a discussion with an IDF general, who wonders why Israelis have not taken to the street to protest the ongoing series of corruption scandals that have enmeshed so many senior politicians and public officials, including Prime Minister Olmert.
The answer is that Israelis have awakened to the fact that the problem is not just a handful of corrupt leaders or a few lousy generals. Political corruption and military failure reflect on the entire society. Israelis are not taking to the streets, in part, because they understand that they have gotten the leaders they deserve.
Israelis are beginning to wonder, writes Gordis, whether Zionism itself has not failed, despite the booming economy, world class scientific research, still powerful defense forces. He points to two promises that Zionism originally offered: that a Jewish state would prove a safe haven for Jews and the normalization of the Jewish condition. Of late, it has become clear that it has failed to deliver on either promise.
"The summer of 2006," writes Gordis, "put an end to that illusion of safety. For 34 long days, the IDF unleashed enormous potential portions of its (conventional) firepower, but it couldn't stop the firing of Hezbollah's Katyusha's rockets on the North... In the end, the only thing that stopped the shelling of Israel's northern cities was the United Nations." Only 60 years after the Holocaust, more than half the world's Jewish children may soon find themselves in the "crosshairs of a nuclear-armed Iran." In sum, "it is now more dangerous to be a Jew in Israel than in any other place in the world."
Nor has Zionism done any better at delivering on its promise to "normalize the condition of the Jew in the world." The early Zionists believed that once the Jews had a state of their own, the world would "cease its relentless attention to this tiny fraction of the world's population." That manifestly has not happened. Half a million people are slaughtered in Rwanda, another 300,000 in Darfur, and there are 200,000 child soldiers in Sierra Leone alone, and all this merits less attention than one protester run over by an Israeli bulldozer (which could not see her), as she tried to protect tunnels through which arms were being smuggled into Gaza from being destroyed.
"North Korea goes nuclear, Iran threatens to do the same and publicly says that Israel should be destroyed, and still, there's only one country in the country in the world whose right to exist is still debated," Gordis astutely observes. Israeli novelist Amos Oz notes that his Polish-born father heard chants of "Jews go to Palestine" when he was a child, and today the world chants, "Jews out of Palestine." The irony is not lost even on this icon of the Israeli Left. The message: "Don't be here. Don't be there. In short, don't be."
The implications for the failure of Zionism to deliver on its major promises, Gordis writes, go far beyond Israel. No one can be so naïve as to believe that without Israel "American Jewish life would simply chug along? It would last a generation, maybe two." Apart from the Orthodox world -- and even there the response would not be uniform -- it is hard to gainsay his conclusion.
Gordis calls for the restoration of Zionist hope -- the kind of hope for the future that once lead Jews to dance with joy upon the completion of the National Water Carrier project. But he offers scant guidance as to how that might be done. Most notably, his powerful essay makes no reference to Torah or to the religion of the Jews of Israel. Absent the Torah's vision of a Jewish future and mission, it is hard to fathom from where such hope could come.
WEARY JEWS
Professor Israel (Robert) Aumann, speaking at last week's Herzliya Conference, began by analyzing the Iranian nuclear threat in terms of the game theory for which he won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics. As serious as the threat from Iran is, however, the internal threat posed to Israel from post-Zionism is far greater, according to Aumann. Without a renewed sense of the Jewish people's bond to Eretz Yisrael and millennial hope of return to the Land, he said, "We will not endure. We will simply no longer be here. Post-Zionism will finish us off."
The Israeli and international press could not get enough of the six nut-cases in Chassidic garb who attended the recent conference of Holocaust denial in Teheran. But however much damage they did to the image of Torah Jews around the world, the actual influence of those six on any segment of Jewry is non-existent. Not so that of hundreds of post-Zionists who fill senior positions in Israeli academia, where they help to shape the views of Israel's young. Ilan Pappe of Haifa University, for instance, has been one of the moving forces behind academic boycotts of Israel around the world.
Israeli post-Zionism was on full display at Tel Aviv University on January 8, when the university law faculty sponsored a conference devoted to the proposition that Palestinian security prisoners are, in fact, political prisoners. Among those warmly welcomed by the audience were Tali Fahima, an Israeli Jew recently released from prison for providing logistical help to the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin, and a former Palestinan security prisoner, jailed for throwing a hand grenade at an Israeli bus. Not one academic paper was presented at the conference, just a series of far-Left speeches denouncing Israel. As Ben-Dror Yemini noted in Ma'ariv, "Hosting those that deny the Zionist enterprise's right to exist at Tel Aviv University is not very different from hosting Holocaust deniers in Teheran."
Aumann went on to discuss the weariness of Israeli Jews -- a weariness to which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave full expression when he described Israel as "tired" -- tired of war, tired of winning, tired of being brave. "We are like a mountain-climber who gets caught in a snowstorm; the night falls, he is cold and tired, and he wants to sleep. If he falls asleep, he will freeze to death. We are in terminal danger because we are tired," said Aumann.
Quoting Churchill -- "If you want peace, prepare for war" -- Aumann argued that Israel's weariness, its various capitulations, gestures, convergence plans have only served to convince our Arab "cousins" that "we no longer have spiritual strength, that we have no time, that we are calling for a time-out."
The only alternative, said Aumann, is to convince the Arabs that "We have time; we have patience; we have stamina." Such a message of "spiritual readiness," he admitted was not just a matter of words, but one that the Israeli Jews must "understand and internalize." How that might be achieved, however, he did not say
Yossi Klein Halevi, writing last week in the Wall Street Journal, focused primarily on Israel's ongoing corruption scandals -- "leading tax authority officials have been arrested for fraud, the finance minister is under investigation, and any of a half-dozen alleged financial scandals could topple Prime Minister Ehud Olmert." He quotes Israelis as telling one another, "There is no judgment and no judge."
Cronyism, known as protekzia, has been part of the woof and weave of Israeli life from the start, and Israel's leaders were not exactly moral paragons. But at least, the population knew "their leaders were devoted to the nation." "The same can hardly be said about today's politicians," writes Halevi, "who absorbed the wiles of the founders but not their self-sacrifice."
"The internal challenge facing Israel society is no less daunting that the external ones," Halevi writes. Given that in another article published last week, he and historian Michael Oren remarked on the appearance for the first time of Holocaust analogies in Israeli strategic thinking and took for granted the necessity of an imminent military confrontation with Iran, the claim that the internal threats are every bit as great is not a mean one. That internal challenge, according to Halevi, is "to recreate a society that is worth fighting for."
In no other country do citizens require such a strong sense of national purpose to prevent them from pulling up stakes and leaving.
It matters not that other countries may be equally corrupt, or that all other Western nations possess intellectual classes who identify with the country's enemies. In Israel, these things pose an immediate threat to the nation's very existence. In no other Western nation is so much demanded of the population in terms of military service, high taxes, and constant threats to physical security. And therefore in no other country, do citizens require such a strong sense of national purpose to prevent them from pulling up stakes and leaving.
Whereas the state's founding fathers envisioned a Jewish state engaging in normal relations with the rest of the world, and creating an enviable society within -- "externally normalized, internally exceptional." But just the opposite has occurred -- Israel's existence is still not accepted as normal by the nations of the world, and meanwhile her internal society has turned out to be anything besides exceptional.
In the nature of their critique, the writers surveyed differed in many details. But they all agree on two key points. First, in light of the external threats it faces, Israel cannot survive without a great deal of internal cohesion and sense of national purpose. And second, these qualities are notable today primarily by their absence.
These forceful critiques also contain a powerful message for the Torah community of Israel. We must do everything in our power to create the type of society that can serve as a model to other Jews of what a Jewish society might look like. Only then will be able to convince our fellow Jews that the Torah offers the answers for all that threatens our ability to summon up the will power to survive and prevail in our rough neighborhood.
This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman.
(39) Bob Van Wagner, January 7, 2018 3:49 PM
BH, GH.
In this war a dear friend of my children died as a lone soldier. Are we all lone soldiers? Where is G-d's Greatness?
(38) Marvin Finkelstein, October 29, 2015 3:37 PM
What can we make of recent events
This is quite interesting.
It is also ironic that much of the individuals who are ambivalent about Israel, also practice other religions alongside Judaism(I quit that at the end of 2012).
(37) Gerald M. Pergament, March 30, 2007 4:59 PM
The American Model?
It would seem, at least from those of us who were born in America, that Israel, in an effort to encourage Americans and Canadians to visit Israel and make financial contributions to it infrastructure and growth have adopted American values along with American money. But America's history collides with Israeli history. Early Americans' conquest of the land, together with domination of those who resided here first provided a model for all future activities. Israel, while it did take land from some, in many cases had already purchased land from its Arab neighbors. Also, a motto in America has always stated that expansionism shall be the rule. Borders don't exist. Israel had well defined borders until the Six Day War. The fact that Israel made the decision to keep the land it won and make it part of Israel to create a buffer zone while seeming to be a replay of U.S. policy, was different. U.S.policy has been if we take land in war, we keep it; it matters not where that land happens to be. After World War II ended, the U.S. decided to keep Guam, an island in the south Pacific Ocean. Here, Israel is different in that the land it kept is directly connected to what its original borders were, but having kept it was copying a U.S. model.
My oncern is that should Israel give all of the land back that it captured, instead of bringing peace will inevitably bring another war. The Arabs will view that act, the same as they did Israel giving back Gasa, as a sign that Israel is too weak to defend it.
I would turn the tables on Saudi Arabia and have them make Mecca an Open city and return all land it captured during its wars, first. If they do that, Israel will return its land. The lands that Arabia captured are mostly oil fields!
(36) Sanford D. Horn, March 18, 2007 1:13 PM
Solid, honest commentary about a potential bleak future for Israel
Jonathan Rosenblum presents a solid, honest commentary about the potentially bleak future Israel is facing. COmplacency has set in, just as it has in the US explaining why intemarriage rates continue to soar and population rates continue to plummet. In Israel, the introduction of pork products, for example, is an example of the chipping away of Jewish society. Little by little we are finishing the job of the all those dictators and ancient societies that no longer exist because we have become too soft. Perhaps the situation involving a nuclear Iran will be the wake-up call so severely needed.
(35) Dr Ken Rossi, March 18, 2007 8:24 AM
How can I help?
We now see the problem. You have pointed the way to Jews going to falure. But you fail to mention what one can do to help. Where does one start to work on this problem as you see it. What might help to turn the devastation of Isreal to the direction of the Torah. It just may be that we are going in thwrong direction and must re-study. It may be that we must make changes that will hurt since the public in Isreal are tired of fighting, winning, and as you write in this artical. The people did no better in the Torah and again they suffered... May be this is what must happen again. They have to hit bottom to rise. Why does this artical not give any suggestions to what might help the glue of the Isreal? What can an one people do to aid it's alling people? I think suffering is the answer to wake them up. I know this, I will die with ever it takes to be alined with the Torah.
(34) Simcha Babaev, March 16, 2007 10:58 AM
Good Job!
Thank You!
(33) yehoshua, March 15, 2007 3:06 PM
we need inspiration
thru all channels!! we need all of us to inspire the jewish people!!!
(32) Anny Matar, March 13, 2007 5:45 AM
for a bvery very long time we, in Isrtael ignored the writing on the wall that we're actually growing a fifth column in our midths. What "Zionist Fathers" thought of creating here was a society of people who don't need to be taught Zionism because we've achieved it !!! What a joke !!! we have fought for every stone in this country and every millimeter of our land is soaked with our blood but the blood has been forgotten and is now considered as useless loss of life, we've destroyed and are doing so daily, our glorious past our right to be here is questioned more by our "post Zionists" than by the world outside. Nationalism, Zionism, the Torah our history- our past had been erased by "the left", Everything possible had been belittled but not a thing has been offered instead, n othing to hold on to, nothing to believe in,a void without an idea or ideal behind it just absolute destruction nothing for our youth to build on. The "intellectuals and the old guardia" believed that we have built a country on intellectuals but most of the people need leaders, ideals and not empty words !!!! what we need is Begin's-Jabotinsky's retoric where everyone feels part of a whole. Our "leadership" if you can call it thus has n othing but corruption to offer and therefore we have lost all crdibility and respect of the world; we don't respect each other nor are our children and grandchildren taught this, so why should the world.
Being a Nationastic Israeli all I can do is cry for my lost dreams which started in the ghettoes of Europe, still I'm NO POST ZIONIST NOR ARE MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN i'M PROUD TO SAY.I hope that soon we'll have a leader who'll make us proud Israeis again, not only is it important for us but every Jew in the Diaspora can hold his head high and not fear the Holocaust because WE ARE HERE to look after them as well, the way the ant-semitic world looks today they might be in dire need of help sooner than they fear, for fear they do and rightfully so.
(31) JULIUS ROMANOFF, March 11, 2007 10:49 AM
The state of the Israeli State depends on it's people' goals.s
The siren call that has lured Jews away from the mission G-d offered them has been the prospect of "Assimilation". The desire to be accepted, and be like others has created a schism in world Jewery. Secular Jews don't want to be identified with the orthodox Jews, with their black hats and clothes, Tsitsis, and payis. To follow the commandments of man's behavior requires sacrifice and commitment. Davening 3 times a day interferes with one's pursuit of money, and business practices must be ethical. One can't compete with all these restrictions. Thus first generation Jews in the United States were blinded by the upward mobility available to them, and shed the clothes and restrictions of their religion, and climbed the ladder of financial success. In Israel's early struggles self preservation was the dominant need. Everyone was united in this mission. After winning each war, Acceptance is still not forthcoming. Who to blame? Some blamed the Orthodox Jews with their many restrictions, and prohibitions regarding Sabbath observance, Kashruth, etc. Others blamed the Settlers, who originally were hailed as Israel's first line of defense, but now are viewed as causing Palestinians unrest, since they prevent the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.
It is time the Jews realized that you can't change your spots. The Holocaust proved that. Intermarriage didn't even help. Jews need to define their goals and unite to accomplish the preservation of the State of Israeel. The land of Israel must have defensable borders, and must be determined by the Israel Defense Force. The World Leaders will shout and decry this is against the U.N. Partition Plan, but the Arabs never accepted the Plan. Why should Israel be held to the Plan? No matter what Israel does, it is blamed. Israel now has to stand up for what helps it's people and the country. If the present Israeli leaders are tired of fighting, and winning, and their policies do not strengthen Israel's resolve, they should be replaced. A major thrust is needed to unite all Israelis to establish one view - Israel' safety is our prime goal.
(30) Elaine Bouranis, March 5, 2007 5:16 PM
I agree with Jonathan Rosenblum
It breaks my heart to see Israel keep on giving back as if they stole land. What happened is that the land was won, fair and square when the surrounding Arab nations came against them, and not only once. Israel gives back land, and they are still attacked. All Arab countries want Israel to be gotten rid of.
Can you imagine how well off the Arabs would be if, instead of hating, and killing Jews, and spending millions and millions of dollars on arms to fight this small country, they would get along and allow the Jews to help them live better, and show them how to turn the desert into a viable land? But No, they live to hate, and teach their children to hate, too. G-d help us!! I no linger have much hope of the help coming from any other source but G-d.
(29) Dennis Cast, March 4, 2007 7:26 PM
Israel
Alot of this reminds me of when I was a little boy.In 1967 I remember being glued to the T.V. wandering about this little nation fighting for its life.I remember being so intrigued.Why would somebody want to destroy them???
Some of the problems Israel faces come from medaling U.S. politicions imposing unrealistic peace processes on them
(28) LennSan@aol.com, March 4, 2007 9:14 AM
Sounds like the period before the fall of the Roman empire
major need is invigorating new leadership
(27) Dehaluyi Wadegei, February 24, 2007 5:32 AM
Let the TIRED find rest OUTSIDE Israel!
Mr. Rosenblum wrote:
'First, in light of the external threats it faces, Israel cannot survive without a great deal of internal cohesion and sense of national purpose. And second, these qualities are notable today primarily by their absence.'
I saw Israel become a nation! I saw her win, against all odds, every battle she ever fought! I saw her rise from the ashes of Europe! I was proud, very proud.
Now I look & what I see astounds me! First, an "inch" was given, then a "mile"! What has the giving up, the "giving back" , the giving & giving done for Israel? It has weakened her, made her seem ever-willing to keep on giving! It isn't the PEOPLE of Israel, the remarkable citizens of this remarkable nation who "give", but the leaders, the elite, the powers that be who decide, is it not?
What would Ben-Gurion say? Dayan? Would they echo Olmert's claim that Israel is tired? I hardly think so! I wish they were alive to answer him!
Is life better now that Israel has given up so much? NO! Will it be better if she gives up one more inch? NO! Not if she gives it ALL up will anything be better for Israel!
As ONE, as one voice, one heart, ALL of Israel must renew their commitment, their vows, their decision to claim Israel, to RE-claim the lands that are their birthright! And, perhaps, get rid of the leaders who are "TIRED"!
(26) Sandra, February 23, 2007 1:01 AM
He sadly got it so right!
Living, laughing, crying and contributing from '83 - 94 qualifies me as part Israeli. I saw the writing on the wall back then. Wrote to minister of education re lack of teaching Jewish values, just festivals and food; brought back road trauma material from Australia and had a poem translated and handed to schools; worked with Ethiopian students....a hard taskmaster - Israel. I saw the Arab tilling the strawberries instead of us; watched the hedonism grow; the tired syndrome and wept as I do now at the results. We are at the crossroads -post-Zionism is here, and I don't know if we're equipped to handle it. And yet, on the other hand (as Tevye said) there is hope that rises when I know that Israeli and Palestinian youth are making music together; cooking and planning and endeavouring to cross the boundaries that are evil. We have to have hope that somehow we have the strength and belief in our ability to rise above the horror and apathy.
A concerned Sandra
(25) yafa lown, February 19, 2007 9:18 PM
;very interesting articles.
(24) Anonymous, February 19, 2007 9:10 PM
I wonder what Rosenblum means when he says, in his final paragraph, "the Torah offers the answers for all that threatens our ability to summon up the will power to survive and prevail in our rough neighborhood." Is he suggesting a Jewish state based on Torah law? If so, doesn't that essentially amount to a theocracy? I, for one, feel the Middle East has a sufficient number of theocracies within its midsts, including their secular counterparts---dictatorships.
(23) Also Tired, February 19, 2007 4:12 PM
Kill the enemy or be prepared to have him kill you.
Israelis like "every population gets the government it deserves".
Throw them out from top to bottom find men & women of vision, heart, pride and the will to fight to win.
(22) Anonymous, February 19, 2007 1:35 AM
I really agree with what has been said in this article. It is filled with truth and with true
sadness. It is, or rather it should be, a national sadness. There are so many blinded
eyes and also such a sense of fatalism that denial has become a way of life. If you
live in a constant state of denial you never have to face the bald truth right in front of
your eyes. Another sad truth is that as dangerous as a nation that is ready to give
away parts of their G-d given land, from the time of Abraham, it is more dangerous
to allow "cousins" to get the idea that Israel is just too tired to defend herself, and
that she really doesn't care what it takes to be left alone. The danger in that kind of
thinking is that the "cousins" are never going to be satisfied with the "bits" given here
and there. They will always want more and more and more!! It will never be enough!!
A sense of National Pride is needed very desparately and also a sense of never
ending watchfulness. Although G-d already has said that He will always be with His
chosen people, He still wants them to be watchful, wary and always ready to defend
their homes and each other.
(21) Anonymous, February 19, 2007 1:33 AM
You touch on a very sensitive issue.
For hundreds of years the Diaspora successfully instilled decadence,
hedonism, irresponsibility, desdain for patriotism, lust for ever increasing
riches and becoming a celebrity--to use some quotes.
Now, the successive Jewish generations in the foreign lands eventually
embraced these evil, nation-destroying ideas and attitudes--even though they
were sheltered and advised about the original intent of these efforts.
What we have is the boomerang effect. Our youth of the past few generations
became the victims of unintended consequences. The American would say: "What
goes around, comes around"!
Sincerely,
(20) Yisroel Pensack, February 18, 2007 8:02 PM
Israel must choose: Which is it?
Ohr LaGoyim or Orla Goyim?
(19) Yacov Rubin, February 13, 2007 5:58 PM
Israel must stand up and be noticed
Being an american jew keenly interested in Israel's history and development as a democratic and hopefully moral state, we must stand up and let the world know that of any nation in the Mideast, we are the most democratic and moral of nations that respects human life and our peoples history and the law of Torah, when surrounding nations have no value of citizens rights and freedom. it is a struggle that must be won no matter what the internal obstacles may be.
(18) Andy, February 13, 2007 4:00 PM
leadership needed. Moses learned he was a Jew at 80
It seems that Israel is on the ropes. With effort it can be great. God won't quit on us but if we quit on ourselves it'll be much harder. If some can't accept Torah in it's entirety work for social justice. Ibn Giverol [minority opinion but make a good case] claims that Moses was raised an Egyptian who only learned he was Jewishh at the burning bush.He was raised as a royal prince and went out to see his people [common Egyptians]He was outraged by the brutality he witnessed and slew the Egyptian and then had to run away. If he can accomplish so much after learning at 80 who he truly is there is great hope for us all.
(17) david ginsburg, February 13, 2007 12:10 PM
The next step
The next step must be to remove the tall barrier that separates between observant and non observant Jews in this country.
Joyce, January 10, 2012 7:06 AM
YES - LET US JEWS UNITE NOW
I fully agree with these comments. This barrier of the observant and non observant, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, converts, still exists in many other parts of the world too. Thank G-d for the many people becoming more and more flexible towards each other. Let us all realize the gravity of the situation and stop all the discrimination and become one in the real sense of the word. We are all G-d's children. This discrimination may even be disliked by G-d. The time is now. Let us pray for the Messiah now more than ever. G-d is a merciful G-d and will listen to our prayers when he sees that we all love one another. Maybe our Respected Rabbis at Aish can even suggest some prayers or Psalms for us to recite for peace and for the Messiah.
(16) Ralph, February 13, 2007 1:22 AM
renew ISRAEL
It not correct to condemn all the people. How many young men and women gave their live and are still ready to do it for Israel.
There are people which call themselves religious ,young and old , which don't
respect the basic laws of the Torah and
don't have any Derech Eretz and on the other side there wonderful religious and not religious people which help every day poor and sick persons.
Instead ob being so negative give anybody an education which respects others .It begins within the family and ends with one's death.
Ralph
(15) Anonymous, February 13, 2007 1:15 AM
Internal threat
A very very good and thruthful article, yet very saddening.
(14) Marybeth Langendorf, February 12, 2007 10:26 PM
I believe Israel has a purpose to exist. It has a right to exist.
There is a need for Israeli nationalism because Nationalism is will keep the people together. I am a part of the Zionist movement more so because I am Jewish. I love israel thats why I chose to go this summer to live on Kibbutz Ketura. The Israeli people should stick together and fight to Israel in existance.
(13) Cathy, February 12, 2007 6:56 PM
Israel's survival
If we act in whole-hearted accordance with Torah principles, we establish a connection with the Light (God). If we maintain that connection through constant observance of those principles so that they become part of our nature and govern how we deal with everyone, our survival is assured. However, there cannot be a dichotomy in how we observe the Torah - in other words, we can't apply one set of rules for certain people and certain circumstances and then behave differently under other conditions. If we do this, we will break the connection, and by doing so we will expose ourselves to the various forces that are at play in the universe, and we may die as a result.
(12) Avraham Barak, February 12, 2007 12:23 PM
Sorry, Shmuel you have missed the point
Although you mean well, you do not have a grasp of reality. Any injustices the Arabs (you call them Palestinians) have suffered are almost totally of their own making. There has been untold millions of dollars handed out to these people but they still live as they do because the destruction of Israel is more important to them. They could have had their "state" on numerous occasions but that was not what they wanted. They want ALL of Israel. Why can liberals not see the facts for what they are?
(11) Esther Cameron, February 12, 2007 12:10 PM
Confronting the deepest obstacles
I would like to hope that we in Israel and the West can still pull out of this nose dive. To do so, however, we need, jointly and severally, to wrestle with the tendencies that prevent positive movements from getting started, e.g.: a) vested interests (everyone has some stake in the status quo however bad it is, and must be prepared to make some sacrifice), b) pride (ME? admit my past mistakes?! not that!) and c) envy, which has cut down many potential leaders before they got to first base. Positively, we need to cultivate humility and the willingness to acknowledge truth. May G-d help us to do this.
(10) Rae, February 12, 2007 12:09 PM
YOU ARE RIGHT
It is all the countries of the world who today deserve the poor leadership they have, there is no moral compass individual or group who will stand up for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, this is true of all the countries of this globe, including the people of countries who allow a few bad apples to speak for them all as a whole. A little bad and ugly, is like a little gossip, it goes ten times around a whole lot of good and beautiful. There are good, even great, peoples all over this planet, overshadowed by a few very bad individuals who lead to dark days instead of sunny days.
(9) Gerard Bambolini, February 12, 2007 1:19 AM
best article in decade!!
O Israel keep it up- listen to what this man say.
Wake -up and know you have a friend down here in South Africa to help.
Shalom!
(8) Anonymous, February 11, 2007 10:41 PM
Scandal after internal scandal'''
I srael is the self proclaimed Light to the Nations... but with all the sexual and monetary scandals.. betrayal of the tenets of country and Zionism particularly, and pursuit of the high life, remember Warsaw was the Paris of Poland before 1939 and the Warsaw Ghetto... I hope that the Light is not flickering in the wind...
(7) nehamashira, February 11, 2007 8:28 PM
Israel's greatest threat
We need to return to G-d, for He said "if MY people who are called by MY name will humble themselves and pray and TURN from their wicked ways...I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and HEAL THEIR LAND". The solution is not in the strength of the IDF, but in our resolve to return to our calling to be a "Light unto the nations".
(6) Jack Lauber, February 11, 2007 5:00 PM
An excellent overview of Israel's moral and philisophical problems.
Zionism has been abandoned by some for materialism and hedonism. Only a return to traditional Zionist and spiritual principles can restrengthen Israel in her war against Islamofascist enemies.
(5) Anonymous, February 11, 2007 3:26 PM
Possible solution
What if all major thoroughfares of Israel
had banners across them pronouncing 'LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF' in all necessary languages...that would be a focal point for Israel society, which is so splintered and judgemental of fellow Jews....
(4) Shmuel, February 11, 2007 12:50 PM
You have missed the point.
There is more to Israelis' decreasing vision in their state than post-Zionism. Israelis are starting to realize that the constant terrorist threats posed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc. do not justify the injustices that Palestinians face on a daily basis, including land confiscation, house demolitions, and living in Palestinian bantustans.
(3) Diane E. Kehrt, February 11, 2007 12:05 PM
Where are our Golda Meir's and David Ben-Gurion's And those faithful to all of Torah? May my prayers be heard that the G-d of Abraham will cause us to become a land of Davids again. Elisheva
(2) Pierre A. Kleff, Jr., J.D., February 11, 2007 11:41 AM
Symptoms Of A Sick West
This article deeply saddens me. While written about Israel, it could equally descibe the United States. A summation could easily read that "our moral backbone is badly injured". Frankly I believe that it may be too late for Western Europe without a major tragedy. Unfortunately the same signs of decay are rampant in the U.S.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to be an optimist. God help us all.
(1) Sharon, February 11, 2007 5:45 AM
I agree with the conclusion
Your conclusion that the Torah society must set an example to cure the ills of Israeli society is right on target. This requires however, full participation in all sectors including professional, military, political. This is something the Haredi world have strongly opposed, in fear of being influenced rather than influencing. They alongside the national religious must be willing to make the necessary concessions in order to trully influence Israeli society. I speak not of halachic leniencies, but of willingness to step outside the confines of their insulated worlds and share Torah values with the rest of Israeli society. Sometimes we must expose ourselves to some degree of risk in order to save many others. This applies on the spiritual level as well as the physical. The first step would be to trully love our co-religionist and understand that everyone possesses qualities from which we can learn and grow. Only from a place of respect can we hope to have influence. I am optimistic that as low as our society has sunk, there is a positive upturn in store for us. May Hashem direct us in that direction without too much more suffering on the way.