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July 9, 2004/Tamuz 20 5764, Vol. 56, No.42
Jerusalem of old
Politics, peace, terror. What about soul?
JOSEPH AARON
Chicago Jewish News
When American Jews talk about Israel, we talk a lot about a lot of things.
We talk politics. Do we like Sharon or hate him? We talk peace. Are the Palestinians potential partners or a bunch of terrorists? We talk terror. How awful what just happened is; how good that less has been happening.
Politics. Peace. Terror. That's what the lectures and sermons and fund raisers are all about. Which is why so many are tuning out.
I've just read two fascinating studies. One shows that for all the bellyaching we do about media coverage of Israel, the truth is that it has virtually no effect on how Americans view the Middle East conflict. The study shows that Americans no longer pay attention to stories about the Middle East, that they've decided nothing there will ever change, both sides will keep killing each other, so what's the point.
Another study shows that an increasing number of American Jews also pay no attention to news about Israel, that they don't see it as part of or relevant to their lives. That's because when we talk about Israel all we talk about is politics, peace and terror - which may engage one's head and even heart from time to time but never one's soul.
When Israel was created, it was the Jewish soul that was most involved. This was Jewish history come to life, the fulfillment of a 2,000-year-old dream. Israel was the places named in the Torah once again in our hands, a fully Jewish place, with Jewish mailmen and a Jewish president, with Jews speaking our historic language on streets with Jewish names.
It was amazing, stirring. What we talked about most when we talked about Israel was what united us, what inspired us. A Jewish homeland. Jewish values. Jewish culture. Making the desert bloom. Being a light unto the nations.
Even though Israel's very existence was far more in jeopardy in its earliest days than it is today, back then we focused much less on security, felt much less fear. We felt pride in the bravery of the young Israeli soldier, male and female.
Four recent events have come together that told us loudly and clearly how much things have changed and what we have lost.
First came the death of Naomi Shemer, the songwriter and singer who embodied Israel as it was. Her song "Jerusalem of Gold'' expresses the bond between that city and the Jewish people. With her passing goes another connection to the Israel that used to be.
Then there was the news that Avraham Burg, former Knesset speaker, is leaving Israeli politics. Burg is religious but tolerant, faithful to tradition but modern, very much of the 21st-century world while recognizing the eternal values of Judaism. He is exactly the kind of ethical, principled, caring person Israeli politics so needs. He said he's leaving because he's disgusted with a system he finds corrupt and unrepresentative of the people.
The third news story is about a new study that finds current Israeli government policy decisions do not take the Diaspora into consideration. It used to be different. Israel in the 1940s more than doubled its population, absorbing Jews from every corner of the world. Israel in the 1950s rescued Yemenite Jews and Iraqi Jews. Israel in the 1970s and 1980s issued the necessary papers and opened its doors to more than one million Soviet Jews. Israel in the 1990s reconnected Ethiopian Jews with the Jewish world.
Israel was there for the rest of us, aware of how much what it did affected the rest of us and reflected on the rest of us, acted in ways that made us proud, took us into account before it acted. In today's Israel, government policy decisions do not take the Diaspora into consideration.
The fourth story is the most telling of how far Israel has strayed from what it was, from what made our souls sing. It involves 11 Jews who drowned off Israel's beaches.
Israelis go on strike at the drop of a hat, a legacy of the socialist roots of the nation's economy and the stranglehold unions still have there. Israeli workers strike for more money, without considering the consequences to the country.
Three weeks ago, at the height of summer, when the beaches are packed, Israeli lifeguards went on strike. Since then, 11 people have drowned. While lifeguards are entitled to the same rights as other workers, the responsibility they bear should mean something. Being a Jewish lifeguard in the Jewish state should mean a whole lot. It should mean not abandoning your post when lives are at risk.
I mourn for Naomi Shemer, whose loss stills a voice that beautifully reminded us of what Israel should be. I mourn for those 11 drowned Jews whose loss is a piercing cry reminding us of what Israel has become.
Reach Joseph Aaron, publisher and editor of the Chicago Jewish News, at jaaron@chicagojewishnews.com.
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