Question

Hi Michi,
I’m sending you an article intended mainly [not only for the Nir David bulletin], but your opinion [as always!] is very important to me, and you’ll immediately understand why.
All the best, and happy holidays,
A.
On Prayer and Recovery
“What can I tell you”—the attitude of the public, from old to young, toward me after my return from surgery is truly astonishing and moving. And I’m not discovering America when I say that a significant part of healing, and of health in general, is the feeling of togetherness.
But there is another aspect to togetherness, and now I have a golden opportunity to present it: another factor in the recovery process is the recognition that my presence and my actions have value in the society in which I live. In my specific case, my sense of responsibility toward my descendants, and also toward “just children” here in our community, is the strongest factor motivating me to be able to identify existential dangers and look for opportunities to improve the situation. So here we are, we’ve gone through the Tishrei holidays—near my apartment, in “Beit Shaked,” part of the public gathered for Yom Kippur prayers. I admit—it stirred in me more than a trace of envy for that togetherness, for which it is certainly worth taking a time-out from the routine of daily life, part of which is eating [which I really love!]. But my intellect recoils from it. Because that slope is very slippery. Whoever casts his lot with rituals and religious worship asks fewer questions and struggles less! For those who don’t know—the word “dat” in ancient Persian means “law.” When religion dictates my way of life, I ask less! And when I pray a prayer of supplication, that means I expect the Creator of the world to come to my aid. I am not denying the Creator of the world—God. I’m only aware that human prayers do not cause Him to act. [Okay—so there are a few testimonies that God did in fact act… “There is a God!” cried one woman who survived the massacre on the blood-soaked bus near the Country Club in Tel Aviv in 1978…] It is very important for me to clarify—one should hope! To expect—not desirable…
And now a surprise—my friend Rabbi Michael Abraham, who is a well-known Orthodox rabbi and also has a doctorate in physics, also argues that there is no point in supplicatory prayer to the Creator of the world! I won’t go into the details of his arguments here.
Why did I bring up the subject of prayer here? Prayer and worship are part of our national identity, because whether we want it or not, our national identity was also shaped by our religion, even if we do not believe in it. And because of that we live here in the Middle East. As a result, our descendants living here are also exposed to the dangers characteristic of this geographical region. So—we are the generation that grew up against the background of the Holocaust; we were circumcised because our parents knew that our very Jewish origin was enough to expose us to threats of annihilation, and therefore “the sign of the covenant” does not increase concern for the child’s safety. We in turn followed that same path when we circumcised our sons. And now our sons are circumcising our grandsons and great-grandsons. Why? How important is it to us to continue the generations?
I remind you that the reason for my philosophizing here stems from my desire to explain that my feeling of responsibility and commitment to the generation of my grandchildren is what strengthens me in the recovery process.
We believe and are intellectually convinced that in order for our descendants to be able to live here safely, we must find a way to coexist respectfully with the Palestinians, different from the one the religious right is willing to accept. But we are aware of the fact that the Religious Zionist camp is far more determined than we are. The Religious Zionists see living throughout the Land of Israel as the fulfillment of a religious commandment. We have no commandments we are obligated to—but we are obligated to the future of our descendants! Broadly speaking, one can say that a religious Jew is more committed to the chain of generations than to the future of his descendants! Even so, we do have a strong bargaining chip against the nationalist right, a card that needs to be used carefully, kept subdued and disguised. With the right one needs to speak aloud about seeking shared values, about the social values of Judaism. But one must make right-wing people understand that if the strength of the State of Israel matters to them, they must show that they are “the responsible adult” and seek ways for the secular public also to feel that the State of Israel is its home, with which it identifies, and not go looking for its happiness overseas. Let’s admit the truth—none of us would tear his garments if one of his descendants preferred the fleshpots abroad to the Holy Land, or even if he converted to another religion! Although this balance of power seems obvious to everyone, still it is impossible to wave it in public, because it could arouse blunt reactions from the right, along the lines of: don’t do us any favors, let them leave already…
The leaders of the Religious Zionist camp were educated on the teachings of Rabbi Kook, and they are aware of the fact that without “the Messiah’s donkey,” that is, the secular Zionists, there can be no “beginning of redemption.” So even if their vision regarding the building of the Temple does not exactly match our scale of values, we need to find a way in which we can live together with the Religious Zionists according to our values—until our righteous messiah arrives…
One more important point of clarification: everything I’ve written here applies only in relation to the Religious Zionist sector; the Haredi camp has no interest at all in Zionism.
Since a not insignificant portion of graduates of Religious Zionist education eventually “take off their kippot,” it may be assumed that this public could be a relatively easier target for persuasion and ideological conversion in the direction of compromise on settlement in Judea and Samaria. For such a conversion to be possible, it is essential that the candidate for conversion feel that he is being addressed with the expectation that, as a graduate of religious education, he will be willing to shoulder national tasks even if they are not all that rewarding materially!
But it seems to me that perhaps, with the right presentation of things, it may also be possible to find a way to cooperate with the more messianic wing of national Zionism. The word “perhaps” is there because the secular camp today is not a cohesive camp and has no elevated leaders who could lead it. Perhaps this situation is a hindrance to us, and perhaps דווקא it could challenge the leadership of the Religious Zionist public to formulate a humane, social system of values that would be consistent with the values of the enlightened secular public and with the Religious Zionist public?!