Thoughts to Ponder: A Phenomenon called Israel

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Cardozo Academy
12 March '10
(1st Post, 30 April '09)

Throughout the many centuries, historians, philosophers and anthropologists have struggled with the notion called “Israel” more than with nearly any other topic. While trying hard to place Israel within the confines of conventional history they constantly experienced academic and philosophical frustration. Whatever definitions they suggested, they would always discover that these definitions would break down due to some serious inconsistencies. Was Israel a nation, a religion or an altogether mysterious entity which would forever stay unexplainable? Sometimes it was seen as less than a nation and more as a religion, only to be challenged by others who believed the reverse to be true. Again others claimed that it could not fit into any of these categories.

What was clear was that it was impossible to fit “Israel” into any specific definition or known scheme. It resisted all historical concepts and generalities. The uniqueness of Israel necessarily thwarted the people’s natural desire for an explanation since explanation always implies arrangement in categories. Anything which flies in the face of such an attempt is alarming and most disturbing. This fact became even more obvious once the Jew was forced out of his country by Titus the Roman and specifically after the collapse of the Bar Kochba rebellion. It was at that moment that the Jew was hurled into the abyss of the nations of the world. Since that day the Jew was confronted with a new condition: Ongoing insecurity. While mankind at large has always been confronted with moments of insecurity, it was the Jews to whom destiny has denied even the smallest share of a dubious security which others possess. Whether Jews were aware of it or not, this people always lived on ground that could at any moment give way beneath its feet.

Since 1948 Israel became once more a country. But many forgot that it also became a country. That it became again a country, but not only a country. All the other dimensions, such as nationhood, religion, mystery, the lack of definition and insecurity continued to exist. Today, the people of Israel does not find itself exclusively in the land of Israel and instead of one Israel, the world now has two. But the second new Israel has up till now been seen as responding to the demands of history, geography, politics and journalism. One knows where it can be found. At least one thinks that one knows where it is to be found. But it becomes clearer and clearer that the new and definable Israel is now seriously on the way to become as much a puzzle and mysterious entity as the old Israel always was. In fact it already is.

Throughout its short history, the State of Israel has gone through the most mysterious notions modern man has ever seen. After an exile of nearly two thousand years in which the old Israel was able to survive in contradiction to all historical criteria, it returned to its homeland. There it found itself surrounded by a massive Arab population which was and is incapable of mentally making peace with the idea that this small mysterious nation lives among them. After experiencing a Holocaust in which it lost six million of its members, it was not permitted to live a life of tranquility on a tiny piece of land. Once more the Jew was denied the right to feel at home in his own country. From the outset Israel was forced to fight its enemies on all fronts. It was attacked and condemned for fighting for its very existence and defending its population. Over the years it had to endure the policy of double standards employed by the international community.

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