Q&A: Can Determined Secular Zionism Still Exist Today?
Can Determined Secular Zionism Still Exist Today?
Question
Hi Michi,
I’d be very glad if you could make time to address my question: do you think determined secular Zionism is still possible today?
Until the kite-and-balloon terror began, I didn’t think that nowadays determination would again be needed in order for secular people to go on living here.
What stood behind the rationale of Palestinian terror was their belief that they would succeed in making life here unbearable for us. After all, in the 1980s there was major emigration from Israel, but then the great immigration from the USSR came and upset the Palestinians’ calculations.
The rationale of Hamas, backed by Iranian funding and guidance, is apparently to cause us to launch some military operation that would force us to “flatten” Gaza, all under the microscope of hostile international media. And then even el-Sisi won’t be able to ignore the anger of his people, and certainly not Abdullah of Jordan, and likewise the Saudis.
Maybe the army has some cards up its sleeve that, for its own reasons, it prefers to keep hidden.
But we mustn’t assume that “things will work out.”
Unexpected things always happen [even if there are people who saw them coming], and one has to prepare for everything.
Right now I mean a process of slow erosion, where rational people will ask themselves: why do I need this?
And then naturally, precisely people with needed skills will leave the country, and little by little a process could develop that would destroy the high-tech economy.
As you already know, my Zionism is based on arguments that are not free of a connection to the Written Torah.
Do you think it’s possible to formulate a valid Zionist idea for secular people as well, people committed to enlightenment and rationality?
Thanks in advance, and have a good week.
Answer
Like any other secular nationalism. I don’t think this is a matter of formulating some ideology. It’s a question of feelings, not of values. If the secular public’s attachment is strong enough, it will hold up; and if not, then not.
Look, listen, it’s obvious that you’re afraid. If you believe the way one ought to believe, you have nothing to worry about. You yourself said there would be high-tech economic destruction if high-tech people leave the country… so what?
Therefore regarding your question, whether it’s possible to formulate a Zionist idea that is also valid for secular people committed to enlightenment and rationality—well then, would it be precise? Would it be true for all those secular people? No. There are different kinds of rational secular people with all sorts of views, differing in how extreme they are. What’s good for one isn’t good for another; what suits one doesn’t suit another. And even if they stream out of the country, so what? Whoever leaves the country is simply risking assimilation.
As a believing person, you shouldn’t worry about the news—in both senses of the word—because there is nothing new under the sun. The Torah is eternal—if we keep it, we will survive in this land, prosper, and succeed. If we don’t keep it, a small remnant will survive and suffer. Hint: Ezekiel said to the enlightened rationalists: “What enters your mind shall never come to pass. As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with poured-out wrath I will reign over you.” My brother—don’t get worked up over politics, or over rational predictions of the future, or anything else. “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be moved.” Be blessed. In short, I agree with Rabbi Michi, who said briefly that no ideological formulation will help. When is the seculars’ connection strong? When the religious people’s connection is weak! It’s a balancing scale, my brother. And the most important thing is that you should know and understand that this is not about quantity but quality. What’s the proof? “If there are fifty righteous men… will You forgive for the sake of the fifty?” Until it kept going down and down—because how could such a quantity help save entire cities, compared in crude numerical terms to a huge secular population? Rather, this teaches you that the quality of the righteous is what matters. See that Lot was saved by Abraham’s merit. But everything depends on the state of secularity; sometimes even if there is one righteous person, it doesn’t help—for example Noah, in whose days there was a destructive flood. And although he was righteous, it didn’t help save the other inhabitants. And why? Simply because they had become too corrupt. Therefore we need to wake up, because the cards in our hand are weak, and if God does not save us—who will save us? “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.” Renew our days as of old. Amen! The Lord reigns—the Lord has reigned—the Lord will reign—forever and ever!