Spring Break
Current Issue:
As Zionists, we need to reassess the nature of our Zionist commitment as Israel celebrates its sixtieth birthday. We need to fashion a New Zionism. The old Zionism produced the revolution in the life of world Jewry. It brought Jews across the world out of the galut and inspired them to rebuild Israel out of the swamps into the advanced society it is today.
On Monday, the 4th of Sivan, 5767 (the 21st of May, 2007) I was in a group of Har-Etzion students led by Rav Yitzchak Levi that had the opportunity to visit Har ha-Bayit. This was no haphazard, trip-on-a-whim; we had prepared by learning the relevant halakhot with Rav Yitzchak Levi, by discussing the history of the site and the situation today, and by toveling the day before and the day of in a Mikvah.
What role does Am Yisrael’s status as the am ha-nivhar play within our belief system? The doctrine of am hanivchar - the election or chosenness of Israel — has been glorified and condemned, but mostly misunderstood, for the greater part of our history.
Religious Zionism is heavily associated with the thought and efforts of R. Avraham Yitshak Ha-Kohen Kook. More than any of the other early Religious Zionist thinkers, R. Kook was responsible for creating a theological framework for Zionism that ensured the compatibility of national aspirations and strong religious values.
I recently heard a prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi remark that “maybe the Satmar Rebbe was correct after all; maybe the State of Israel is not the beginning of the flowering of our redemption.” These words made me shiver. I can understand why the Modern Orthodox community’s attitude toward the state of Israel is being tested.
This essay has been written in dedication to my colleagues, David Lasher and Mattan Erder, and their incalculable efforts in reviving Kol Hamevaser; their product far surpassed my initial plans for the publication. May they continue to write, inspire, and write some more.
As Managing Editor of Kol Hamevaser, I would like to comment on my colleague Gilah Kletenik’s recent editorial, “And You Expect to Possess the Land?” Many people seem to be getting very excited about this article. And if it was an incendiary piece, written without care, or as an expression of hatred, then vilifying the article (in a style that maintains our obligations to God, the Law, and ourselves) might be appropriate.
Dear Kol Hamevaser, In his article in the previous installment of Kol Hamevaser, Ben Greenfield articulates the idea that God does not communicate with us through the language of history, specifically focusing on the opacity of gleaning lessons from the recent Mercaz haRav attack.
