By all indications, Israel Apartheid Week, that intellectual and ideological
abomination I call Anti-Israel Week, is a flop.
Apartheid did not mean
keeping peoples apart; it separated individuals by race. IAW’s
institutional infrastructure is as shoddy as its intellectual
foundations. Scattered, poorly-attended events by noname political hacks
take on global pretensions because a website lists about 60 locations where
these events take place in March. Just as you cannot transpose apartheid’s
color-obsessed racism to the national conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians, IAW represents marginal local events, not a mass
movement.
Still, as Rahm Emanuel taught, never waste a crisis – or the
appearance of one – especially because spreading big lies against Israel has
become a global pasttime. But while mocking IAW’s failure, and condemning
Palestinians’ political culture for not identifying this apartheid lie and
delegitimization business as obstacles to peace, we need positive messages.
Let’s ask the real question behind today’s Zionist questioning – why do we need
a Jewish state, anyway?
Newsflash: Theodor Herzl’s Europe is gone. Most Jews
today live in welcoming, open, civil societies like the US and Canada. A modern
Zionism reacting to anti-Semitism is old-fashioned. Today, even in France, Jew
haters like designer John Galliano are disgraced and fired, not
lionized.
This good news feeds a growing split among Jews. For Israeli
Jews, a Jewish state encourages the natural expression of the Jewish people’s
right to self-determination. The French have France, Germans have
Germany, the Dutch have the Netherlands, Jews have Israel. As Daniel Patrick
Moynihan said, Zionism began “as nothing more than the assertion that the Jews
were a people and had the same rights to nationhood that other such people were
then asserting.”
The Jewish state’s Jewishness is also
normal. Once we understand that Judaism involves a national identity and
not just a religious identity, a Jewish state can be democratic yet not
theocratic. Such national-cultural expression is not unique to Israel. In most
countries the majority culture enjoys the right to shape the public character,
yet democratic countries nevertheless protect minorities’ full political and
civic rights. The UK might have a cross on its flag and a national church at its
collective heart, the US has “In God We Trust” on its currency and a national
holiday on Christmas, yet atheists and non- Christians enjoy full civil rights
in both.
But why should happy American Jews, who have never visited
Israel and will never live there, care about a Jewish state; what’s in it for
them?
TO ANSWER that question, we must define what Judaism is, noting the
central assumption shaping the previous paragraphs – that Jews are a people.
Judaism is not just a religion. Years ago, my teacher Dr. Steve Copeland
compared Judaism to an Oreo cookie – just as the Oreo requires both cream and
cookie parts, Judaism entails overlapping religious and national
parts.
Is Passover a holiday of religious redemption or national
liberation? “Yes.” Is the Western Wall a holy religious site or a
national historical site? Again, “yes.”
Belonging to a people, not just a
religion, fills our identity. It roots us in the sweep of history, binds us to a
community, connects us to a rich values conversation, ties us to national
moments, making us a part of something bigger than our selves. In a world
where for most Westerners the physical basics – food, clothing, shelter – are
covered, but where we often feel emotionally, ideologically, existentially
starved, naked and exposed, we are lucky to have this peoplehood treasure
trove.
I am not arrogant enough to claim that Jewish stories, ethics,
ideas or ideals are the best; nor am I foolish enough to renounce these
wonderful frameworks that deepen my life and my family life – and belong to
us.
If you like peoplehood, you should love statehood. “The essence of
the Zionist argument is that to express a national identity to its fullest,
territory is basic,” Prof. Ruth Gavison teaches. “You need a majority culture,
not just a minority culture where you are in constant conversation with the host
culture.”
Especially for nonreligious Jews, but then again, especially
for religious Jews, having a national Jewish culture enhances, enriches,
encourages and ennobles Jewish identity.
Just this week, another study
showed that camps offering 24/7 Judaism build Jewish identity. Having a Jewish
state takes 24/7 Judaism to a higher, more natural level, living in Jewish
space, not just Jewish time, with a full-time symphony of Jewish sounds, smells,
tastes, events, memories, associations, connections, values and dreams. No state
is perfect, but our core values can improve it. While Israelis define different
forms of political Zionism, Diaspora Jews should cultivate identity Zionism
based on four Bs – Being Jewish provides a sense of Belonging, which helps in
Becoming a better, more idealistic, more fulfilled person through our home
Base.
Any homeland places an individual into a lifelong color movie
rather than an occasional black-and-white snapshot; our homeland is consecrated
by history. Just as in antiquing a 4,000-year-old jug is infinitely more
precious than a four-day-old cup, just as in baseball a hitting streak becomes
exponentially more significant with each new plateau, our relationship with
Israel is magnified by its age, and by our many-layered connections to this
place.
Herzl was right. In what he called the altneuland, old-new land,
we can enjoy the best of today and yesterday, creating a dynamic modern identity
anchored in tradition. Such dynamism should be embraced and celebrated,
which is why our holidays use memories to affirm values, and why we would never
devote a week to denigrating others.
The writer is professor of history
at McGill University in Montreal, a Shalom Hartman research fellow in Jerusalem
and the author of Why I Am a Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges
of Today
and The Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
. giltroy@gmail.com