Q&A: What Do We Need the State of Israel For?
What Do We Need the State of Israel For?
Question
I know this is an irritating question, but I am sincerely wondering: what exactly do we need the existence of the State of Israel for?
Officially, the reason for establishing it was to protect Jews from antisemitism. In practice, the state’s existence increases antisemitism throughout the world, and the number of Jews killed and injured by antisemitism in the State of Israel since the Holocaust is many times higher than abroad. The place where there is the highest chance of mass destruction of Jews is here. Beyond that, the place where Jews are most hostile to one another is Israel, because of the struggle over the character of the state. So what have we actually gained?
From a religious perspective, there is settling the Land, but I am doubtful whether that is worth the above price, especially since it may be that the fact that the official representative of the Jewish people is an explicitly secular entity is a drawback that outweighs the virtue of settling the Land.
I have heard the claim that the State of Israel saves millions of Jews from assimilation. But I am not sure that is such a good thing. What interest do we have in the existence of many sinful Jews? Wouldn’t it be better if there were fewer Jews, but they kept the Torah?
(I do not mean to sound like Neturei Karta… but I am trying to think about the matter rationally.)
What do you think?
Answer
First of all, who said we need it? If you think we do not, then no. You can go to Australia. I want there to be a state, and that is why I stay. These are common Haredi claims, and in typical Haredi fashion they are also astonishingly stupid.
Your assumption is that the establishment of the state was meant to protect us from antisemitism, or to gain this or that benefit, or even settling the Land. But that is a plainly mistaken assumption. The state was established because we were fed up with the gentiles and wanted to live independently within and together with our own people. That is all. Consequentialist thinking usually suffers from shallowness and misses important points. These are rationalizations that people (shallow people) make after the fact. They establish a state for certain reasons, but when they come to explain it to themselves or to others, they feel a need to come up with consequentialist arguments. Those are not really the reasons.
Think about the Palestinians. They want a state. What for? The price they have already paid for establishing it is enormous. When it is established they will pay an even greater price, because it is likely to be a terrible state for them, like any self-respecting Arab state. So why do they want a state at all? Because they want independence and to live with their own people. That is all.
Preventing assimilation and settling the Land are also religious rationalizations that arise after the fact. Various creatures think that if we do not have a source or justification from a verse or from Jewish law, then it is impossible to regard any step as legitimate. Everything has to be anchored in Jewish law or in some commandment. That is nonsense. Therefore I will not address your arguments about preventing assimilation or settling the Land, although I do not agree with them even on their own terms.
Discussion on Answer
I answered. Whoever does not think so should not live here.
I find it hard to understand what is gained by “living independently within our own people.” How does that show up in day-to-day life? Does an Israeli have more freedom to do what he wants than an American or an Australian?
If you mean in terms of a feeling of independence, I do not understand why it matters to a non-religious person to be an independent Israeli rather than an independent American. What is the difference? In what way is he different from him?
(The Palestinians are a very bad example of rational conduct…)
I also doubt the claim that this is mainly because of the desire for independence, because many other minorities live in various countries and have no aspiration to establish a state of their own. What drove the Jews was antisemitism and persecution by the gentiles, and about that I am asking: we have not solved that problem at all.
I am not asking what I want, but why in your opinion there is benefit in the existence of the state that justifies the price, and whether that is rational.