Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
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There are two Israels.
No, I'm not talking about the religious vs. secular, or the right vs. left, or those who hate Bibi and those who love him.
I am talking about the real Israel and the fictional one that the world sees.
The world sees an Israel filtered through the eyes of the media, so-called "human rights" NGOs, Palestinian and other Arab antisemites, and "progressive" anti-Israel organizations on college campuses.
The real Israel has no resemblance to that other Israel.
The real Israel is messy and beautiful. It has diametrically opposed viewpoints and surprising amounts of consensus. It has passion and cynicism, the heights of joy and the depths of sadness, incredibly serious decisions that affect people's lives and black humor.
I am a proud Zionist and I embrace all of these.
I have infinite respect for those Zionists who live in Israel - secular and haredi, Jew and Arab, Christian and Druze, college professor and bus driver, every shade of skin color, speaking every language under the sun. Their opinions on the important issues of the day are much more important than mine, because they are directly affected by those decisions.
While Israel must never discriminate against its non-Jewish minorities, it is and must remain a Jewish state. That is what makes it special. It is the only place in the world where a Jew can be him or herself without apologetics, without explanation, without fear. I am still tickled when I visit and see so many tiny examples of living in a Jewish state - Talmudic expressions in graffiti, quotes from Tanach on the side of a delivery truck, buses whose electronic signs with everyone a happy holiday in Hebrew, the automatic "Shabbat Shalom" said by cashiers and in emails on Fridays and "Shavua Tov" Israelis say on Saturday night.
There is a reason that the expression "Shver tsu zayn a yid" (It is hard to be a Jew) is in Yiddish and not Hebrew. Because for all the problems in Israel, it is much easier to be a Jew in Hebrew-speaking Israel than it ever was anywhere in the Diaspora.
After a pause of a few decades, antisemitism is becoming mainstream again,, often disguised as "progressivism" or "human rights" or whatever else is trendy. And I am glad to know that no matter what, Israel is there and will welcome me.
Israel is wonderful. Israel is maddening. Israel is glorious. Israel is frustrating. The real Israel is filled with Jews who want to do the right thing, and disagree strongly and passionately on what that is. The reason they can be so earnest, so loud and so argumentative is because they are all family - and people are more comfortable raising their voices at their own family members than at strangers.
There are deep divisions in Israeli society. But there always have been. Debates about the wisdom of "land for peace," about "who is a Jew," socialism vs. capitalism, frictions between Likud and Labor, and between Ashkenaz and Mizrahi, have been no less passionate.
The real Israel is a balagan, but without that constant chaos it wouldn't be Israel.
75 years is an incredible accomplishment. Mazal tov, Israel!
