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| IDF Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, meets new Charedi officers |
There is a fascinating, albeit very lengthy, article by Amit
Segal that discusses how Religious Zionism reflects this principle and how it
has fared in its various incarnations since its founding. The title of the
article expresses what I believe is the right approach to the State of Israel: Serve
the State and Keep It Holy. This is the ethos of the Religious Zionist
movement, with which I largely agree.
I do, however, exclude the messianic component of Religious
Zionism. I do not believe, as does the author and most Religious Zionists, that
the return of Israel to Jewish hands after 2,000 years of exile necessarily
marks the beginning of our final redemption. Even after the Six-Day War, when
the entire Land of Israel came under Jewish control. That is especially true
given the way things stand today.
But aside from that, the land of Israel is our ancestral
homeland, promised to us by God several times in the Torah, a promise He never
took away. It is our land. Full stop.
At the same time, I am a realist. I do not believe we should
act in ways that antagonize the indigenous Palestinians living in certain parts
of Israel. Doing so alienates much of the rest of the world, including much of
the center-left here in the United States.
Then there is the very real, practical reason to support
Israel. Which is the need to provide a home for millions of Jews who have
nowhere else to go. This was particularly true in the immediate aftermath of
the Holocaust, when millions of survivors lived in displaced persons camps
because their homes in Europe had either been destroyed or occupied by locals
while their rightful owners were being slaughtered in death camps. There is
absolutely no alternative to our remaining in our homeland and defending our
right to live there in peace. And if necessary, going to war to achieve those
aims.
But there is also the religious dimension to the State of
Israel. It is what gives us the right to be there in the first place. As such,
Israel cannot simply mimic what its closest ally does by separating religion
and state. The right way to be a Jew in Israel is to follow Halacha without
compromise while serving the physical needs of the state. Not that the state
mandate religious observance. But that it accommodates it in its entirety.
Fulfilling this mandate means that religious Jews must
contribute to the common good as soldiers and in every other field of endeavor
that defines the country. One must be a full participant. One cannot isolate
oneself from society and simultaneously claim to be part of it. Nor can one
ethically isolate themselves from society while taking advantage of all its
blessings, earned through the sacrifices of others.
This is what separates Religious Zionists from the extremes
on both the right and the left. The Charedi world, for the most part, seems to
care little about the country in which they live and from which they benefit.
They seem to focus only on the piece of the pie they believe they are entitled
to. The secular left, meanwhile, has no moral claim to a Jewish state if it
rejects the very basis of Israel’s existence Which is God’s deeding the land to
the Jewish people as described several times in the Torah
If one is secular to that extent, there is no more
justification for living there and ruling over an indigenous population than
there is for living in any other country and doing that…
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