Thousands of issues divide the different denominations of Judaism. Even
belief in G-d and the importance of the Torah are not issues about which
all Jews agree. For the last fifty years, however, Jews have had one
uniting factor: indiscriminate support of Israel, regardless of political
or religious beliefs. Unfortunately, in recent years, American Jews have
begun to forget their loyalty. At first, these Jews were simply
exercising the right to disagree with the Israeli government. Somewhere
in the last few years, Jews from all sides have crossed a line between
what is acceptable criticism of Israel and what is not.
Jews cross this line when those opposed to the peace process create
effigies of Israel's former prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and jeer him
as another Adolf Hitler. Jews cross this line when, as happened two years
ago, dozens of synagogues across the United States cease the annual high
holiday campaign for Israel bonds to show their disgust with the Israeli
government's policies. Several Jewish organizations have gone so far as
to lobby the U.S. Congress to sabotage the Israeli peace process.
American Jews are not just attacking the Israeli government; they attack
the state itself. The acts of ceasing monetary support of Israel and
attempting to sabotage Israel's foreign policy efforts are tantamount to
opposing the existence of the state itself.
Israel has always been a country of hotly contested and high stakes
elections, but the most recent election was different. After Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election last May, the story began to
shift. Labor Party supporters forecasted imminent doom for Israel before
Netanyahu had even taken office. Across the U.S., organizations
associated with the Labor Party started withdrawing monetary support from
Israel. One national organization would not even sign a general statement
of support for Israel because of its political convictions. When things
like this happen, it is obvious that people on all sides have lost track
of one of the fundamental aspects of being Jewish.
Since the beginning of the peace process, and in Israel since the
assassination of Rabin, the dynamics of support for Israel have changed.
Israel was created by both the extremely traditional Jews and atheistic
Jews, but they were all always united in their support of Israel. This
is no longer the case. I have been intentionally vague about exactly
which denominations and which organizations have committed anti-Israel
acts, because virtually all of them have done so. The only thing that all
Jews can actually agree upon is that any unequivocal, unified support
right now for Israel is a total illusion. The lack of support
among Jews in the U.S. is analogous to the lack of unified support
within Israel. When I visited Israel last year on my high school senior
class trip, I witnessed a side of Israel which I had previously only read
about and never really understood. I saw, first hand, pure and unbridled
hatred between Jews. Even more common than this hatred between Jews was
an open denunciation of the state of Israel. Israelis talked candidly
about moving to the U.S. because they opposed the Israeli government.
This has become a huge controversy of late. Even my classmates who had
gone on the trip thinking seriously about making aliyah in the future
reconsidered this option because of their intense disagreements with the
Israeli government and the rampant hatred they witnessed among Jews.
Not only do Jews harbor resentment against each other, but they also
fear each other. This current situation draws more and more closely to
the story of the destruction of the Second Temple. Almost two thousand
years ago, the Romans were preparing to attack Jerusalem. At the same
time, the Jews inside the walled city were at each other's throats.
Ultimately, Jerusalem fell because of a Jewish civil war. The Talmud
states that the Second Temple was destroyed because of sin'at chinam, or
hate between fellow Jews. It is this hate which makes the impossible
possible. It makes it possible for Jews to oppose their homeland. It
makes it possible for Jews who have been homeless for two thousand years
to sabotage the efforts of their homeland's government to bring peace to
the region. How dismally ironic it is. Israel, which in the past
has united all Jews when nothing else could, today is the ultimate
example of sinat chinam. It is every Jew's right to agree or disagree
with the Israeli government and its policies. It is also, however, every
Jew's sacred obligation to support Israel regardless of the direction in
which its government takes it. An imperfect Jewish state is better than
no Jewish state at all. It is not peace itself that Jews are so
hopelessly divided over. The only major issue to debate is how to achieve
peace, and this is what has caused so many Jews to hate each other and
cease their support of Israel.
This view of the conflicting ideas in the peace process is much too
simplistic to actually present any real solutions to these problems.
Clearly, no one knows exactly how to combine the two versions of the
peace process. If anyone did, Oslo Eighteen would be concluded by now and
Netanyahu would not receive death threats from extremist Jews. The peace
process is trying to reconcile a land-for-peace policy with people that
believe that any ceding of land to another country is divinely forbidden.
Maybe, in order to achieve peace, this reconciliation is not where we
should be starting.
Instead, all Jews should first unite in unequivocal support of the state
of Israel and of the concept of Klal Yisrael, community of Israel.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Israeli government's policies,
whether one spends time in Mea Shearim or in Tel Aviv, all Jews have a
connection with Israel. All Jews can feel more secure in their daily
lives because there is an Israel, and all Jews owe Israel their
unequivocal loyalty, no matter how much one disagrees with its direction.
Without Israel there is nothing in the world around which all Jews can
unite. Maybe Jews need to realize the importance of this concept first,
as a precursor to any views they develop about Israel and about their
fellow Jews.
Jews of the twentieth century are privileged to live in a time when
Israel exists and when Jews can live together in the homeland of our
forefathers. Let us realize that our support of Israel must be
unwavering. Let us realize based on this that our quest for unity in Klal
Yisrael must never end. Let our goal be to unite and not to divide. Jews
must recognize that we have different viewpoints, but we need to work out
our differences to survive. The underlying basis of this unification is
unmitigated support for Israel. Who wins elections in Israel should be
of less concern to a Jew than support of Israel regardless of the
results. In the end, the only ones who will take care of the Jews are the
Jews. In the end, we only have one Jewish homeland.
Jeremy Bob is a Columbia College
freshman.
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