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Commentary… a Religious Obligation

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Commentary… a Religious Obligation בס״ד relations) to be עש"ק פרשת נח 3 MarCheshvan 5780 ISRAEL NEWS violated to save a life. November 1, 2019 It also declares that if Issue number 1268 A collection of the week’s news from Israel someone comes to kill you, “rise From the Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of up and kill him first.” Jerusalem 4:10 For the same reason, national Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation Toronto 5:51 self-defense is considered one of the principal responsibilities of a Jewish leader, and possibly even Commentary… a religious obligation. The Bible itself merely states that some wars are obligatory without defining which wars fall into this category. Does Jewish Morality Require Israel to Leave the West Bank? But one interpretation, adopted inter alia by the great medieval By Evelyn Gordon Jewish scholar Maimonides, says it includes wars of self-defense. Zionism seems like a binary proposition: You’re either for or Obviously, this doesn’t mean anything goes. Even in wartime, the against the existence of a Jewish state. But a third option has become Bible sets limits on an army’s behavior—the original laws of war. increasingly popular, one I would call conditional Zionism. It holds But Jewish tradition utterly rejects the idea that morality requires that a Jewish state has a right to exist, but only if it meets certain national suicide. On the contrary, it views defending the Jewish conditions. commonwealth as a positive moral good. This position is spreading rapidly among liberal American Jews. In So what does all this have to do with the Palestinians? It’s very an essay in Haaretz in August, for instance, Abe Silberstein argued simple: Even if you accept the (false) premise that ceding the West that Israel must be coerced into creating a Palestinian state because Bank would actually satisfy Palestinian demands, the fact remains otherwise, the only alternatives are perpetuating the status quo or a that Israel isn’t there solely or even primarily because of the settlers, one-state solution—and any moral Jew would have to deem the latter who have repeatedly proven incapable of preventing territorial “infinitely preferable,” even though it would probably end Jewish concessions (see the Oslo Accords, the disengagement from Gaza, statehood. In other words, the Jewish state’s right to exist depends on the far-reaching offers made by prime ministers Ehud Barak and satisfying Palestinian (and American Jewish) demands. Ehud Olmert). It’s there because, based on bitter experience, most This position is also common among non-Jews. For instance, in a Israelis see no way to leave without committing national suicide. September essay for Mosaic on whether a Catholic equivalent to Withdrawing from parts of the West Bank under the Oslo Protestant Zionism was possible, Gavin D’Costa concluded, “If the Accords led to the lethal terror of the Second Intifada, which ended Israel-Palestinian dispute were to be resolved tomorrow, with the full only when the Israeli army retook control of these areas. agreement of both parties and with international support, I believe Withdrawing from Gaza resulted in 14 years (and counting) of almost official Catholic Zionism would emerge quite quickly.” In other nonstop rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel; a similar outcome words, the Church might someday accept a Jewish state, but only if would be far deadlier in the West Bank, which, unlike Gaza, is in Israel satisfies Palestinian (and Western) demands. easy range of Israel’s main population centers, economic hubs and Ostensibly, such positions could be dismissed as simple anti- international airport. Withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000 Semitism based on Natan Sharansky’s famous 3D test (demonization, enabled Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, to acquire a missile delegitimization and double standards). The relevant criterion here is arsenal greater than that of many national armies, aimed straight at double standards since no other country’s existence is deemed Israel. conditional on its behavior, even when said behavior is far worse than All this has convinced most Israelis that barring a radical and Israel’s. For instance, China has occupied Tibet for almost 70 years unforeseen change in Palestinian behavior, ceding the West Bank and currently holds a million Uighurs in detention camps, and many would be militarily suicidal. And since a one-state solution still looks people want these policies stopped. But nobody says a Chinese state demographically suicidal, that leaves some version of the status quo has no right to exist without such changes. as the least bad option—not only for Israel, but even for the Nevertheless, dismissing conditional Zionism as anti-Semitic Palestinians, as I’ll explain in a subsequent column. poses one obvious problem: Any rationale for a Jewish state, whether So is conditional Zionism anti-Semitic? That depends on the religious or secular, rests on the Jews’ claim to be a distinct people conditions. But nowadays, the key condition usually involves suicidal with a distinct religion, language and culture. And that very heritage Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. Thus today’s conditional deems the Jewish people’s right to remain in its land conditional on its Zionists require one nation, of all the nations in the world, to destroy moral behavior. This isn’t a minor detail; it’s a core element of Jewish itself for another’s sake. And yes, that’s anti-Semitic. (JNS Oct 30) theology. It’s stated repeatedly in the Bible. It’s included in the Shema prayer, Judaism’s closest approximation to a credo, which observant “Aliyah” Seems to be the Hardest Word By Ruthie Blum Jews recite twice daily. It’s the reason given by the rabbis of the At its three-day board of governors meeting in Jerusalem this Talmud for both the first and second exiles (they attributed the first to week, the Jewish Agency for Israel, which recently turned 90, murder, idolatry and forbidden sexual relations, and the second to revealed a new plan of action. Addressing the Jewish leaders who baseless hatred). Indeed, it’s precisely because this is so fundamental convened in the Israeli capital on Sunday, Jewish Agency chairman that it still seems self-evident even to secular Jews who have Isaac Herzog announced that the organization, which “founded the abandoned almost every other vestige of Judaism, or a Catholic State of Israel and brought 3 million Jews on aliyah,” is now Church that has downgraded the Hebrew Bible in favor of the New “refining our strategic mission for the coming decade, based on the Testament (the main reason Christian Zionism is a Protestant challenges Jews are facing today.” phenomenon is because Protestants give greater weight to the Hebrew Herzog, who kicked off the event with a ceremony to honor and Bible than Catholics do). mourn the victims of last year’s attack on the Tree of Life*Or So does that mean conditional Zionists are right, and Israel’s right L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 Jews dead and six to exist depends on satisfying Palestinian demands? Not at all, because others wounded—explained the mission as one aiming to “provide there’s a crucial distinction between modern conditional Zionism and concrete solutions to the greatest challenges facing the Jewish people the biblical version: Neither the Bible nor the talmudic Judaism it at this time: mending the rifts among our people, building a two-way engendered ever insisted that Jewish morality requires the Jewish bridge between Israel and world Jewry, encouraging aliyah and polity to commit suicide. providing security for Jews around the world.” Indeed, another fundamental principle of Judaism is that following The only thing really new in this mission lies in its reduced God’s laws leads to life, not death (see Deuteronomy 30:19 or emphasis on immigration to Israel. When it was established in 1929 Leviticus 18:5). Consequently, the Talmud allows almost any religious as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish commandment (except murder, idolatry and forbidden sexual Readers are requested to please mail contributions to: BAYT - re: Israel News, 613 Clark Avenue West, Thornhill, Ontario. L4J 5V3 Annual Rates: Friend - $36, Supporter - $50, Benefactor - $180. Dedications are welcome at $120/week. Call (905) 886-3810 for further info. See Israel News on the internet at www.bayt.ca and www.frumtoronto.com or email [email protected] to request to be added to the weekly email. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of BAYT. Agency’s main raison d’être was aliyah, absorption and the building of unavoidable, particularly in a world that deems causing “offense” to communities in the Jewish state. someone practically worthy of the electric chair. But if Herzog This subtle yet significant gradual shift in the perception and imagines that the kind of Israel-Diaspora unity he has in mind will description of the Jewish Agency’s job has coincided with the put even the slightest dent in the deep political/ideological rifts at the evolution of the concept of “Zionism.” Once considered to be the heart of the divide, he has another think coming. (JNS Oct 29) ideological basis for Jews striving to live in their ancestral homeland- turned-state, it now is a general term denoting anything from a strong love or political backing for Israel to the wishy-washy, often veiled Fear itself isn’t the only thing American Jews have to fear anti-Israel claim that it has a “right to exist.” As long as it behaves By Jonathan S. Tobin itself, of course. With impeccable timing, a new American Jewish Committee Long gone are the days when legendary Israeli Prime Minister survey came out only days before the one-year anniversary of the Golda Meir was able to cause Diaspora Jews ill ease—even outright Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
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