Questionnaire: Echoes of Herzl

"I don’t believe in resting on one’s laurels and prefer to move on to the next task at hand. But I always make sure to let my mother know."

By JERUSALEM POST
robert wistrich_521 (photo credit: Douglas Guthrie)
robert wistrich_521
(photo credit: Douglas Guthrie)
Robert S.Wistrich
Age: 65Profession: University professorPlace of birth: Lenger, KazakhstanCurrent residence: Jerusalem
The route to Israel was a winding one for Prof. Robert S. Wistrich. Born in Kazakhstan, he and his family lived in Poland, France and England before he made aliya in 1982. It is perhaps this path that helped pave the way for Wistrich’s far-reaching scholarship in his field of anti-Semitism. Today he is the director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has been called by peers ‘the leading scholar in the field of anti-Semitism.’ He has published 24 works, most recently ‘A Lethal Obsession: Antisemitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad’ (Random House, 2010), which was this week was named the Best Book of 2010 on the topic of anti-Semitism by the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism.
What gets you out of bed in the morning? To switch on the 6 a.m, morning news and find out who is the next dictator to fall in the Middle East.
■ What keeps you up at night? Worrying about the future of the Jewish people. I believe we are at one of the greatest crossroads in our history but there is a lack of leadership and vision.
■ What’s the most difficult professional moment you’ve faced? Nearly seven years ago, when I had to address a very hostile UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva as an “expert witness.” My task was to defend Israel and expose the double standards of the commission only a short while after the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
■ How do you celebrate your achievements? I don’t believe in resting on one’s laurels and prefer to move on to the next task at hand. But I always make sure to let my mother know (she’s 100 years old) because it gives her a lot of pleasure.
■ If you were prime minister, what’s the first thing you would do? I would extend our day of rest to a two-day weekend. I am sure this would increase Israeli morale and productivity.
■ Which Israeli should have a movie made about him? Natan Sharansky. I believe his story has universal significance. He embodies the eternal striving for freedom as well as the struggle for human rights and the need for a Jewish national homeland.
■ What would you change about Israelis if you could? The appalling lack of consideration of drivers which has turned our roads and highways into a battle zone. This should be a major target for education and improvement.
■ iPad, BlackBerry or pen and paper? Pen and paper.

■ If you had to write an advertisement to entice tourists to come to Israel, what would it say?
Come to Israel – land of divine promise and perpetual motion. Of brave hearts and wild adventures. If you believe in miracles this is the land for you! You will never be the same again.
■ What is the most serious problem facing the country?
Our most serious problem is to rediscover who we really are, why we are here and what our mission really is. Once we know that, everything else will fall into place.

■ How can it be solved?
This is not merely a “problem to be solved” but an educational and moral issue that requires a major national debate. We also need to develop, both individually and collectively, a more positive way of thinking about the present and the future.

■ In 20 years, the country will be?
A beacon of light for the Middle East and the rest of the world if we behave sensibly, avoid unnecessary wars and develop good relations with our neighbors. That may sound like utopia, but Theodor Herzl was surely right when he said, “If you will it, it is no dream.”