Emmanuel Navon
For the Sake of Zion
09 August '10
“Behold” says the Bible: “I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your G-d …and a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your G-d” (Deuteronomy, 11, 26-27). While this warning is plain and straightforward, the Bible is obviously aware of the fact that pious people are not immune from suffering and that many renegades enjoy the good life. Hence the philosophical torments of Job, which end up with the idea that it is not for man to decide the rewards of his deeds.
Yossi Beilin will take none of that nuance –not to mention humility. Either you follow the policy of Yossi Beilin and you’re blessed, or you do not follow the policy of Yossi Beilin and you’re cursed. If reality happens to consistently suggest otherwise, all you have to do is to question with scorn the intelligence of people who challenge you. No need to debase yourself to a Job-like introspection.
Beilin recently published an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post called “The New Ghetto.” The narrative goes like this. Herzl and his peers wanted to assimilate in Europe but Europe didn’t let them. They thus figured that only a predominantly Jewish country would let them be. That country, whose main purpose is to be indiscriminately open to Jewish immigration, is a foreign implant which owes its legitimacy to the acceptance of the Arab states. Israel gained such acceptance with the peace agreement with Egypt and with the Oslo Agreements. But, today, Israel is ruled by nut cases –hence the curse of international isolation. For blessing to replace curse, all Israel needs to do is repent by walking again on the road to Oslo.
Beilin’s “reading” of Herzl is completely erroneous –indeed, one wonders if Beilin ever read Herzl to begin with. As shown by Georges Weisz in his masterly book Herzl –A Re-Reading most people who talk about Herzl never bothered to read what he actually wrote, or consciously travesty his thoughts.
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While the word "entitlement" has a negative connotation in most cases, I cannot find a better one to describe the relationship between a Jew and Eretz Yisrael.
ReplyDeleteIt all comes down to this: either you believe in G-d, or you don't. If you don't, then you can convince yourself that G-d is a myth and his Promise a fairy-tale, and the Land nothing more than a consolation prize.
But if you DO believe in the Almighty, then you'd better start paying attention to His Word and His plan, and treat the Land as the great Gift He promised His people.
A Jew should be able to walk the Land FREELY from Dan to Beersheba and from the Jordan to the sea. No apologies to the world!
"It is true that we aspire to our ancient land. But what we want in that ancient land is a new blossoming of the Jewish spirit."
"Our opponents maintain that we are confronted with insurmountable political obstacles, but that may be said of the smallest obstacle if one has no desire to surmount it."
"If anyone thinks that Jews can steal into the land of their fathers, he is deceiving either himself or others. Nowhere is the coming of Jews so promptly noted as in the historic home of the Jews, for the very reason that it is the historic home. "
- Theodore Herzl