Zionism: Stage Two

By Guy Rakover


Rape, corruption, partisan politics and retreat from tradition shroud our state in confusion and result in stagnant social and cultural development. The things we choose to tolerate in our society define our daily lives, and the future of our country. At the time of the founding of our modern day state we were unified in the struggle to be independent. The lack of a homeland and the desire to build one united religious and secular in a common goal. After many wars and economic developments, the modern day tribes of Israel, be it Shas or Likud, Meretz or the NRP, are retreating into themselves, worrying about their parties or particaular segments of society rather then the greater good of the state. This detachment from the nation of Israel at large causes us to revert to pre-WWII Jewish society. We have once again become a group of disconnected communities that deal with each other only because we have to, not because we are looking to finally after 2000 years of exile be united as a nation.

The result is that the ultra-orthodox and the extreme left are living as if there was no war, no return of the exiled to our national homeland, and are once again either waiting for heaven to live their lives for them or trying to forget they are Jewish. The gap grows, and though different in their life styles, they are similar in their treatment of their concept of Klal Yisrael, the nation of Israel in its entirety.

The only true movement that has the interest of the nation as a whole, whether in Galut or here in Jerusalem, is Zionism. HaRav Kook said that the Zionist movement, be it secular or religious, is holy in that it is the individual Jew’s effort to connect with the nation of Israel as a whole. Zionism is what brought us together and is what our state and the future of our nation is built on.

The first stage of Zionism is now complete. In 1948 we established our state and in 1967 we completed her borders. Jews from all over the world have returned to the land to take part in the building of our national homeland, the center of our culture and the future of our nation. We have developed economically, militarily and have established ourselves on the world stage.

It is time to begin the second stage of our Zionistic future. Now that we have united on our land and built our state we must develop our society. This is the key to our future. We don’t need demonstrations fighting for Arab rights, we need to fight for Jewish rights. We need to look internally and bridge the gaps, which have developed from our false sense of security and comfort. 60 years ago, a minor blip in our grand history, we were still a stateless nation, refugees with no home nearing the end of a long exile. We have grown fat, taking the success of the last half-century for granted.

We cannot sit and wait. We must unite the nation.

The second stage of Zionism, in my opinion, requires us to take a good look inside of ourselves, and first and foremost to insure that each Jew is connecting to the nation as a whole, be it in prayer or in uniform. We have always lived in tribes, but they united under one flag. We must unite. The barriers between our groups and parties must be destroyed as far as to allow us to truly mean it when we say, “My brother.” Each of us, the Hassidic Jew from Meah Shearim in Jerusalem to the secular Jew in southern Tel Aviv, must first look internally and ask the question, “Am I really connected to my brothers? Is my life connected to the nation as a whole?” It is not what the nation can do for the Jew, but what the Jew can do for the Jewish nation. Any other behavior is only a reversion back to ghetto life or the complete loss of our national identity.

I, for one, am not ready to live as a Galut Jew. We must unite under our flag. We must take pride in our cause and build our country into what it truly is: The redemption of the nation of Israel.