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| Pâ•qidꞋ Yi•rᵊmᵊyâhꞋu |
2000.07.30, David Weinberg, The Jerusalem Post, p. 6 – "The failure to reach agreement at Camp David does little to ameliorate the theological upheaval under way within Religious Zionism. For this ideological camp, the diplomatic process of territorial withdrawal which began at Oslo and undoubtedly yet will continue (whether before or after the upcoming war with Yasser Arafat's army in the territories) – is an earthquake.
"The most interesting and tangible result of this earthquake is a rethinking within religious Zionism of the messianic concept as it is applied to the modern State of Israel.
"Leading Religious Zionist thinkers now argue that 'the messianic process' demands that their community's energies be refocused on 'rebuilding' Israel with more emphasis on the social and spiritual – not territorial – side of things.
[It's about time these 'great thinkers' discovered what the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ have been saying for 20 years! However, the "not territorial" is a non sequitur. Nevertheless, emphasis on the spiritual and social (to reorder Weinberg's wording properly) healing is both the priority and long overdue.]
"More than a little settling-of-accounts factors itself into the 'refocusing' process too. Listen to Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, yᵊshiv•âhꞋ of Har Tzi•yonꞋ, the country's largest and most prominent yᵊshiv•atꞋ hësᵊdeirꞋ – an institution generally not associated with the Land of Israel messianic line of Gush Ë•mun•imꞋ or Rabbi Kook.
" 'I deplore the absolute certitude about Divine will and the territories that so forcefully has accompanied the bold religious messianists – as if they were plugged into the celestial central switchboard! For many years they heaped scorn on anybody not as certain as they were that settling all parts of Yᵊhud•âhꞋ and the Shom•ronꞋ was Ël•oh•imꞋ's Personal Will and Immediate Demand. Today, these people ought adopt for themselves a little more modesty, instead of 'enlightening' us with the latest theological update from Ël•oh•imꞋ's Web site,' asserts Rabbi Lichtenstein.
[A hearty " â•meinꞋ!" to Rav Lichtenstein! But, and he probably realizes it, they won't heed his call.]
" 'Greater humility is called for regarding our ability to read Ël•oh•imꞋ into the ups and downs of political history,' he says.
"Rabbi ShᵊlomꞋoh Riskin, chief rabbi of Ë•phᵊr•âtꞋ and dean of Ōr Tor•âhꞋ Stone Institutions, agrees, and puts things into historical perspective.
" 'The pure messianism that dominated our religious Zionist community over the past 30 years – all that talk about 'inexorable messianic clocks' and the impossibility of territorial setbacks – is very similar to the pure messianism of Rabbi A•qiꞋvâ and Bar-KōkhꞋvâ of 2,000 years ago – which failed.
" 'Historically, it was the 'normative messianism' of Rabbi Yō•khãn•ãnꞋ Bën-Za•kaiꞋ, who sought to make the best out of a bad situation with the Beit ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ about to be destroyed, that prevailed. Like Yō•khãn•ãnꞋ Bën-Za•kaiꞋ, we have to re-emphasize religious identity and spirituality over absolute territorial sovereignty,' explains Riskin.
[Of course, several centuries before Ta•lᵊmudꞋ was compiled, Hebrew Ma•titᵊyâhꞋu (see English reconstruction: NHM) documented that Yō•khãn•ãnꞋ Bën-Za•kaiꞋ's emphasis on religious identity and spirituality over absolute territorial sovereignty derives – conspicuously – from the teachings of his father's contemporary: RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa!]
'Our task today,' continues Riskin, 'is not to gain more land but more souls. We can do this by re-emphasizing the elements within tradition that stress ethics and morality, and the universal aspects of Judaism. We must pour our emotional, religious energies into transforming Israel spiritually, not territorially.'
[While Rav Riskin is undoubtedly correct in the sense that the higher priority must be placed on transforming Israel spiritually, this cannot be achieved as long secular Jews see that the Orthodox community refuses to admit, and clean up, the dirty laundry of the hypocritical, corrupt and arrogant rabbis within the Orthodox – particularly the Ultra-Orthodox, Kha•reid•iꞋ – community: rampant lᵊshonꞋ hâ-râꞋ, sin•atꞋ khi•nâmꞋ and khi•lulꞋ י‑‑ה.]
" 'But still,' asks Rabbi ShᵊlomꞋoh Lei•wiꞋ, head of Har Tzi•yonꞋ's ko•leilꞋ, why did we have to lose Yᵊhud•âhꞋ and the Shom•ronꞋ? There must be spiritual roots to the diplomatic setback!
[No, "must be" is non sequitur. Not every ill is directly traceable to somebody's sin. That's a dangerous error. The ugly ramifications of this error made the news (in Israel) a few years ago when a schoolbus of Israeli Jewish children was hit by a train, killing some. Some irresponsible rabbi suggested some of the parents had sinned and brought about their deaths. There "may be." And, in this case, I agree that the symptoms suggest that the wholesale (90%) secular disregard for Tor•âhꞋ is more than sufficient cause of י‑‑ה to suspend the 'messianic process.' But this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Nor should anyone have "prophesied" about 'messianic clocks' which fail to take account of Israel's disregard of Tor•âhꞋ on such a scale. See Dᵊvâr•imꞋ 18.21-22.)]
"Many religious thinkers, he notes, have blamed secular Israeli society – for its corruption, its hedonism and materialism, its abandonment of classic Zionist values.
"But in a painfully self-critical essay published in ha-Tzoph•ëhꞋ, the National Religious Party's [Hebrew news] paper, Lei•wiꞋ prefers to look inwards. Religious Zionism, he says, has its own failures (with ever increasing numbers of its youth dropping out of a religious lifestyle); an over-emphasis on money and material success; internal rivalries and conflict that have sapped its strength, and more. It is religious Zionism's imperfect attainment of its own lofty spiritual goals that has led to the political setbacks.
[A whopping understatement. It is also responsible for the rejection of hypocritical sanctimony – "pious religiousity" – by the 90% – which has caused Israel's direction as steered by that 90%.]
"Rabbi Yu•valꞋ Sirlow, head of the yᵊshiv•atꞋ hësᵊdeirꞋ in PëꞋtakh TiꞋqᵊw•ëh and one of the most profound, young religious Zionist leaders, takes this argument one step further. Religious Zionists thus far have failed to properly and fully appreciate the broad dimensions of 'redemption,' he says.
"In a searing piece to be published soon in the [revenant] journal, Nᵊkud [point], Sirlow writes that redemption means more than the Jewish people's return to the land of Israel after 2,000 years of dispersion. Redemption means the comprehensive building of an all-Jewish societal infrastructure – with Jewish values informing the legal, ethical, business, arts and media sectors of society.
"With its over-emphasis on settling the land, Sirlow says, Religious Zionism has failed to meet the Divine challenge of fashioning a sufficiently Jewish state and Jewish society. 'We haven't developed the theological underpinnings nor the practical channels for building state or cultural institutions that are truly Jewish, in consonant with traditional values,' says Sirlow.
"Sirlow uses a familiar allegory about the relationship between Ël•oh•imꞋ and the Jewish People from Shir ha-Shir•imꞋ (5.6, 'my beloved has turned away and was gone') to put the failure into perspective.
"We missed an Ël•oh•imꞋ-given opportunity to 'open the door' to bring about redemption. But not all is lost; as in Shir ha-Shir•imꞋ, Sirlow argues, there will be other opportunities to advance our society if we create them."
This impresses Weinberg as profound. 
Sirlow's formula is nothing but a retread of the Israeli axiom which is rapidly falling out of favor: yiꞋhᵊyëh bᵊ-seiꞋdër (it'll be ok; i.e., don't worry). Until the Orthodox community excises hypocrites from its ranks and cleans up its act the 90% will continue to be revolted and estranged from Tor•âhꞋ, and the 'messianic era' will continue to elude 'Religious Zionists' along with the rest of Israel.
The Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ have only proclaimed against this hypocrisy for 2,000 years now. In the words of the popular song: ♫ "They're not listening still…" ♪
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