Weaknesses in the "Land for Peace" paradigm:
1. Presents a false dichotomy in which Jews need peace and Arabs need land
2. May presume a secular orientation, pushing both sides to forgo aspects of their identity
3. Has lead to a calcification of a status-quo which is "not bad enough" to induce difficult changes
1. Presents a false dichotomy in which Jews need peace and Arabs need land
2. May presume a secular orientation, pushing both sides to forgo aspects of their identity
3. Has lead to a calcification of a status-quo which is "not bad enough" to induce difficult changes
Roi Ravitzky: The National-Religious Public and the Prospects of Peace with the Palestinians – Between Scuttling and Leading Available Here
Anonymous Jerusalem rabbi, interview with Roi Ravitzky
If we as Jews believe that our return to the Holy Land to establish a state in it is part of the Divine plan and the fulfillment of the prophecy, then we must also believe that the presence of another people in the land is part of the same Divine plan. On the basis of this belief, it is clear to me that we must resolve the conflict between us, not because fate has decreed that we must live here together, but because we are fortunate that fate has destined us to live here together and fulfill God’s will.”
If we as Jews believe that our return to the Holy Land to establish a state in it is part of the Divine plan and the fulfillment of the prophecy, then we must also believe that the presence of another people in the land is part of the same Divine plan. On the basis of this belief, it is clear to me that we must resolve the conflict between us, not because fate has decreed that we must live here together, but because we are fortunate that fate has destined us to live here together and fulfill God’s will.”
Rav Menachem Froman: My Hasidim Laugh at Me p.2
Many people cannot accept that the call to freedom can also be a religious matter. Despite what the Rabbis taught that "there is no free person other than one who is involved in Torah," most religious people are still educated to believe that they must renounce their freedom for the sake of religion.
This is found in other spheres. For example, in the political sphere. Most settlers think that settlements are an obstacle to peace, rather they prefer settlement to peace. They cannot understand that the settlements are for the sake of peace. And so too between men and women. Many men think that to be free is to be single and to get married is to give up your freedom for the sake of a woman, relationship, children, house etc.
But for me, freedom is itself a religious value and my wife is my freedom as the poet said, "With you I know that I am only free with you." [At this point, Rav Froman would begin to sing and to cry].
And settlements are fingers of a hand outstretched in peace and that protect peace. [At this point he would show his hand and how when one shakes hands one's one fingers are in the palm of the other person's hand and he compared them to settlements that exist in the heart of the Palestinian population].
Many people cannot accept that the call to freedom can also be a religious matter. Despite what the Rabbis taught that "there is no free person other than one who is involved in Torah," most religious people are still educated to believe that they must renounce their freedom for the sake of religion.
This is found in other spheres. For example, in the political sphere. Most settlers think that settlements are an obstacle to peace, rather they prefer settlement to peace. They cannot understand that the settlements are for the sake of peace. And so too between men and women. Many men think that to be free is to be single and to get married is to give up your freedom for the sake of a woman, relationship, children, house etc.
But for me, freedom is itself a religious value and my wife is my freedom as the poet said, "With you I know that I am only free with you." [At this point, Rav Froman would begin to sing and to cry].
And settlements are fingers of a hand outstretched in peace and that protect peace. [At this point he would show his hand and how when one shakes hands one's one fingers are in the palm of the other person's hand and he compared them to settlements that exist in the heart of the Palestinian population].
Rav Menachem Froman: My Hasidim Laugh at Me pp. 77-78
And in truth this was a significant matter for him [Rav Froman z'l] that he returned to constantly in his speech and in his actions: how can faith not turn into opacity. And, in this regard, he constantly quoted what Bialik wrote, "I shall go into the field and hear what God has said from the sheaves." And he said this is true humility. And he returned to this many times and said "humility is reality."
And so it was in many spheres. For example, in the political sphere - once he saw one of the students in the yeshiva who was going around with a t-shirt that said on it "if there are no Arabs there will be no terror attacks." And he turned to him and in front of everyone said, 'and what should we do when there are Arabs! What do we do when there are!" And he repeated and said this many times that the basis for any political thinking is that, unlike our ideological prior assumptions, the Holy Blessed One placed us in a land that has Arabs. This is reality. This is what Hashem says to us know from the sheaves.
And he particularly emphasized this point at the end of his life when his illness was revealed to him. The doctors said it was an advanced stage and he did not have much time to live. and he immediately began to prepare himself for death. And he learned and taught about this from Zohar and other books. And many people around him from the family and among his students etc. tried to encourage him, saying that he should not despair and should believe that he could still emerge from his illness and live. And he said, "everything is possible for the Blessed God to do" and then he continued to prepare for death. And I saw by him, from the one hand, penetrating understanding of the facts, with all the difficulty they contained and full acceptance of reality, and on the other hand, this gaze did not turn him into someone who despaired or to someone who was passive. The opposite was true. It was as if he celebrated his illness. He learned with curiosity and with diligence what God was saying to him from the pains of his body. One could feel how it was that his "it is what it is" did not diminish his belief that "God can do everything" and this is a great spiritual innovation.
He used to repeat the joke that he heard from his father about a Hassid from Gur who was on his the verge of death and when he was truly on his deathbed his friend bent over him and whispered: "Leyzer say a She'Chechiyanu blessing, it's the first time you're dying!"
And in truth this was a significant matter for him [Rav Froman z'l] that he returned to constantly in his speech and in his actions: how can faith not turn into opacity. And, in this regard, he constantly quoted what Bialik wrote, "I shall go into the field and hear what God has said from the sheaves." And he said this is true humility. And he returned to this many times and said "humility is reality."
And so it was in many spheres. For example, in the political sphere - once he saw one of the students in the yeshiva who was going around with a t-shirt that said on it "if there are no Arabs there will be no terror attacks." And he turned to him and in front of everyone said, 'and what should we do when there are Arabs! What do we do when there are!" And he repeated and said this many times that the basis for any political thinking is that, unlike our ideological prior assumptions, the Holy Blessed One placed us in a land that has Arabs. This is reality. This is what Hashem says to us know from the sheaves.
And he particularly emphasized this point at the end of his life when his illness was revealed to him. The doctors said it was an advanced stage and he did not have much time to live. and he immediately began to prepare himself for death. And he learned and taught about this from Zohar and other books. And many people around him from the family and among his students etc. tried to encourage him, saying that he should not despair and should believe that he could still emerge from his illness and live. And he said, "everything is possible for the Blessed God to do" and then he continued to prepare for death. And I saw by him, from the one hand, penetrating understanding of the facts, with all the difficulty they contained and full acceptance of reality, and on the other hand, this gaze did not turn him into someone who despaired or to someone who was passive. The opposite was true. It was as if he celebrated his illness. He learned with curiosity and with diligence what God was saying to him from the pains of his body. One could feel how it was that his "it is what it is" did not diminish his belief that "God can do everything" and this is a great spiritual innovation.
He used to repeat the joke that he heard from his father about a Hassid from Gur who was on his the verge of death and when he was truly on his deathbed his friend bent over him and whispered: "Leyzer say a She'Chechiyanu blessing, it's the first time you're dying!"
Ariel Zev Schwartz and Levi Morrow: Rav Shagar: Zionism and Exile Within the Home available here
Rav Shagar remarks on the very literal internalization of exile within the home that is manifest in the state of Israel’s national anthem, ‘Hatikvah.’ Hatikvah was not written by a citizen of the state in order to commemorate it’s victories, because it was written before the state existed, before the state could be anything more than a hope. It was written by Naftali Imber in Romania in 1877, and you can feel his exilic existence underlying every line of the poem. It’s all about not having a home, but hoping to have a home one day. This is matched, Rav Shagar notes, by a deeply melancholic melody.
There’s something deeply strange about this anthem. Most other anthems, as I mentioned, celebrate victories, and they have proud, bombastic tunes. They’re meant to inspire confident, patriotic national identities. Hatikvah inspires a national identity of meek hope, confident in the future but not in the present. Inspiring that identity in the citizens of a sovereign state is a paradoxical, even radical departure from the norm. For Rav Shagar, it opens up the possibility of exile within the home, of maintaining the good things we learned from exile even after returning to the land.
As you said Levi, this anthem is a powerful example of Rav Shagar’s idea of ‘Exile Within the Home.’ Most countries want their anthems to help their people forget any form of national exile or imperfections; instead the anthem should focus on national victory, perfection and success. Rav Shagar says that even the melodies of these anthems are usually very upbeat and militaristic which expresses national power and strength. In stark contrast, Rav Shagar points out that the song ‘HaTikva’ has a melancholy melody which expresses a deep yearning; its lyrics are from the point of view of a weak exile Jew longing and hoping for the ideal redemption.
Rav Shagar interprets HaTikva as a reminder that the years spent in exile were not a waste of time nor an embarrassment; that living in the physical land of Israel is not considered our ultimate success. Another way of saying this is that even while we are physically living in our homeland, we must never forget all the spiritual and ethical dreams and yearnings that we had during our years spent in exile. Here again, we can see Rav Shagar’s attraction to the paradoxical truth of ‘Exile within the Home.’
In this way, Rav Shagar sees HaTikva, the national anthem, almost as a mantra, a spiritual meditation, that helps a Zionist keep a balanced mindset. We must always remind ourselves of ‘Exile within the Home.’ On the one hand, we are proud that we have returned home, we are a living nation, with a real army, language, economy and political system. On the other hand, ‘HaTikvah’ literally means ‘The Hope.’ We must never forget our thousands of years spent in exile hoping and longing for a righteousness, religious, and God-focussed State of Israel.
Rav Shagar says that the anthem – due to its melancholy melody and lyrics which focus on a future redemption – helps to humble us so that we will never be completely satisfied with the status quo. There is always more the nation of Israel can and should hope and aspire toward. As Rav Shagar writes:
"This anthem is not an anthem about a nation redeemed, but rather about a nation that anticipates redemption. This anticipation is commemorated at the time of redemption itself… a redemption that remembers and internalizes exile…this is the anthem of the state of Israel."
...
Yes, the distinction you made is very important. For Rav Shagar, post Zionism means two different things. 1) a focus on universal redemption 2) a focus on individual redemption.
In many places in Rav Shagar’s writings, he says that he is a student of Rav Kook, that he wants to follow the pathway of Rav Kook. Rav Shagar makes it clear that this does not mean that we should copy every idea that Rav Kook says, but instead, that we should follow in Rav Kook’s essential idea of being open to the values of the current generation, to seeing the divine providence (hashgacha pratit) in the current historical situation.
In one piece, Rav Shagar says that just as Rav Kook tried to find the good qualities in secular Zionism, so too, we must search for the good qualities in post Zionism.
"We need to revive the project of Rav Kook, where he was involved in searching and elevating the good qualities of secular Zionism. In a similar way, we need to elevate the good qualities of today’s post Zionism. We must search and elevate it and not push it away completely."
Rav Shagar remarks on the very literal internalization of exile within the home that is manifest in the state of Israel’s national anthem, ‘Hatikvah.’ Hatikvah was not written by a citizen of the state in order to commemorate it’s victories, because it was written before the state existed, before the state could be anything more than a hope. It was written by Naftali Imber in Romania in 1877, and you can feel his exilic existence underlying every line of the poem. It’s all about not having a home, but hoping to have a home one day. This is matched, Rav Shagar notes, by a deeply melancholic melody.
There’s something deeply strange about this anthem. Most other anthems, as I mentioned, celebrate victories, and they have proud, bombastic tunes. They’re meant to inspire confident, patriotic national identities. Hatikvah inspires a national identity of meek hope, confident in the future but not in the present. Inspiring that identity in the citizens of a sovereign state is a paradoxical, even radical departure from the norm. For Rav Shagar, it opens up the possibility of exile within the home, of maintaining the good things we learned from exile even after returning to the land.
As you said Levi, this anthem is a powerful example of Rav Shagar’s idea of ‘Exile Within the Home.’ Most countries want their anthems to help their people forget any form of national exile or imperfections; instead the anthem should focus on national victory, perfection and success. Rav Shagar says that even the melodies of these anthems are usually very upbeat and militaristic which expresses national power and strength. In stark contrast, Rav Shagar points out that the song ‘HaTikva’ has a melancholy melody which expresses a deep yearning; its lyrics are from the point of view of a weak exile Jew longing and hoping for the ideal redemption.
Rav Shagar interprets HaTikva as a reminder that the years spent in exile were not a waste of time nor an embarrassment; that living in the physical land of Israel is not considered our ultimate success. Another way of saying this is that even while we are physically living in our homeland, we must never forget all the spiritual and ethical dreams and yearnings that we had during our years spent in exile. Here again, we can see Rav Shagar’s attraction to the paradoxical truth of ‘Exile within the Home.’
In this way, Rav Shagar sees HaTikva, the national anthem, almost as a mantra, a spiritual meditation, that helps a Zionist keep a balanced mindset. We must always remind ourselves of ‘Exile within the Home.’ On the one hand, we are proud that we have returned home, we are a living nation, with a real army, language, economy and political system. On the other hand, ‘HaTikvah’ literally means ‘The Hope.’ We must never forget our thousands of years spent in exile hoping and longing for a righteousness, religious, and God-focussed State of Israel.
Rav Shagar says that the anthem – due to its melancholy melody and lyrics which focus on a future redemption – helps to humble us so that we will never be completely satisfied with the status quo. There is always more the nation of Israel can and should hope and aspire toward. As Rav Shagar writes:
"This anthem is not an anthem about a nation redeemed, but rather about a nation that anticipates redemption. This anticipation is commemorated at the time of redemption itself… a redemption that remembers and internalizes exile…this is the anthem of the state of Israel."
...
Yes, the distinction you made is very important. For Rav Shagar, post Zionism means two different things. 1) a focus on universal redemption 2) a focus on individual redemption.
In many places in Rav Shagar’s writings, he says that he is a student of Rav Kook, that he wants to follow the pathway of Rav Kook. Rav Shagar makes it clear that this does not mean that we should copy every idea that Rav Kook says, but instead, that we should follow in Rav Kook’s essential idea of being open to the values of the current generation, to seeing the divine providence (hashgacha pratit) in the current historical situation.
In one piece, Rav Shagar says that just as Rav Kook tried to find the good qualities in secular Zionism, so too, we must search for the good qualities in post Zionism.
"We need to revive the project of Rav Kook, where he was involved in searching and elevating the good qualities of secular Zionism. In a similar way, we need to elevate the good qualities of today’s post Zionism. We must search and elevate it and not push it away completely."
אמר רב פפא היינו דאמרי אינשי רהיט ונפל תורא ואזיל ושדי ליה סוסיא באורייה
Rav Pappa says that this is in accordance with the adage that people say: An ox runs and falls, and its owner goes and casts a horse in its place. Although the horse is an inferior work animal relative to the ox, when there is no ox available, a horse must suffice. So too, after the Jewish people sin, it is as though the Holy One, Blessed be He, transfers their prominence to the gentiles.
רהיט ונפיל תורא ואזיל ושדי סוסיא באורייה - כשרץ השור ונפל מעמידין סוס במקומו באבוסו מה שלא היה רוצה לעשות קודם מפלתו של שור שהיה חביב עליו שורו ביותר וכשמתרפא השור היום או למחר ממפלתו קשה לו להוציא סוסו מפני השור לאחר שהעמידו שם כך הקב"ה כיון שראה מפלתן של ישראל נותן גדולתו לעובדי כוכבים וכשחוזרים ישראל בתשובה ונגאלין קשה לו לאבד עובדי כוכבים מפני ישראל:
When an ox runs and trips, a horse is placed in its stead and takes its yoke in a way that the owner would not have wanted had the ox not been injured since the ox is more beloved. And when the ox heals in a day or two from its fall, it is nonetheless hard to remove the horse from service to make room for the ox again. So too the Holy Blessed One observed the spiritual downfall of Israel and gave their greatness to Idol Worshippers. And when Israel returns in repentance and is redeemed, it is hard for God to destroy the Idol Worshippers for the sake of Israel.