The Essay

Powerlessness is no longer the main problem facing the Jewish people. Instead, the complex relationship between Diaspora Jews and the countries they inhabit has taken on new dimensions in our time.

During the last century, Jews have made great strides in establishing and solidifying their power and influence. Clearly, the crowning achievement was the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Israel's membership in the United Nations, its success in defending its borders, and its recognition by other countries as a sovereign nation proves that the small Jewish state has reached a significant level of international respect. The real problem of Jewish life in the Diaspora remains one of identity, including Jews relationship with Israel. Prior to 1948, Jews were merely guests in other countries without a homeland to visit or take refuge in. Now that Israel has been established, how does its existence affect the understanding between Diaspora Jews and their respective lands?

The Jewish people are guided by its own leaders, set of laws, and judicial system. Yet, in most cases, it is still regarded as a religion rather than a nation. This label is partly a consequence of the dispersion and assimilation of the Jewish people throughout the world. A nation is usually defined as a community settled in one general area, but the dispersed Jewish nation does not fit this description.

In Herzl's time, Jews lived in isolation from the general population. They were often unassimilated into secular culture. They were autonomous communities with their own leaders, stores, places of worship, butchers, tailors, and tradesmen. They attended separate schools that only taught Jewish subjects, denying Jewish children an education that would enable them to venture out into the secular society. Therefore, many European governments had trouble accepting the Jews merely as members of a minority religion. For hundreds of years, foreign rulers have struggled with the question of whether the Jews are a religion within a nation or a nation within a nation, unable to find an answer. As a result, leaders felt threatened by the uncertainty of Jewish loyalty. In response, some countries segregated, ostracized, and oppressed their Jewish populations. Others tried to force assimilation into mainstream society. Because of the perceived threat to the countries that they inhabited, European Jews led unbearable lives. Unfortunately, they lived in a time in which the state of Israel did not exist. They did not have a place to call home, to return to, to take refuge in. Therefore, they had no alternative but to live under intolerable restrictions.

In 1948, the Jewish people finally founded the state of Israel, a home to give them protection when other governments were unwilling. The existence of Israel has added new dimensions to the endless question of the classification of the Jewish people: religion or nation? When any Jewish individual may immediately be granted citizenship in the state of Israel, how are we, the Jews in Diaspora, to comprehend and act upon our role? We are of the nation of Israel but not residing in the nation of Israel. Our allegiances are still suspect and questioned. Are we visitors in foreign lands, or are we integrated members of a foreign and secular society? In the face of anti-Zionist sentiments, Diaspora Jewry's support for Israel is vital.

The founding of the state of Israel created new challenges for the Diaspora Jews, but it has instilled them with more security then they ever had in the past. Now that a Jewish state exists, the Jewish nation has never been stronger. We learn from our past that the Jewish people can never get too comfortable in their homes in the Diaspora, but now we are fortunate to have Israel's security when history repeats itself once again.